UW Football | Woebegone Wildcats set for struggling Huskies

The Arizona football media guide was frank in its statement of the goals for the Wildcats.

"This year's club should be bowl bound," it says in the fifth paragraph of the 2007 Outlook section.

Eight games into the season and carrying a 2-6 record, however, Arizona's hopes are all but dashed.

The Wildcats would have to win out — including a victory over Washington on Saturday at Husky Stadium — just to get to 6-6 and bowl eligible. Few expect that to happen, considering Arizona already has home losses to New Mexico and Stanford.

All that seems left is seeing whether the Wildcats can do anything to save the job of coach Mike Stoops, who is 14-28 in four seasons, having yet to lead Arizona to a winning record.

"As year careens downhill, expect some heads to roll," read one headline in Sunday's Arizona Daily Star after Arizona's 21-20 loss to Stanford.

Another columnist wondered recently if Stoops' failure might also threaten the job of Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood, who was the AD at Washington State from 1987-1993. Livengood hired Stoops in 2004 to clean up the mess left by John Mackovic. Mackovic was hired in 2001 after longtime coach Dick Tomey was forced out two seasons after a 12-1 year, with the feeling that the Arizona program had gotten in a rut.

Instead, neither was able to duplicate Tomey's success, and Arizona hasn't had a winning season since 1998.

Stoops said Monday, "It's an extremely difficult time," but that he was looking no further than Saturday.

"We're just talking about the next game, and that's all that really matters," said Stoops, the younger brother of Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, for whom he served as defensive coordinator before heading to Tucson. "Sunday is a hard day, but then you come back Monday and you start all over again. You've got to let it go."

Arizona was a chic preseason darkhorse pick in the Pac-10 with 19 starters returning, including 10 on a defense that last year ranked fourth in the conference. Arizona's offense was ninth in the Pac-10 a year ago, but Stoops hoped a switch to a spread-passing offense similar to that used by Texas Tech — former Red Raiders co-offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes was hired to run it — would make the difference.

But while the offense has improved — Arizona is second in passing, at 289 yards per game, and scored 48 points against Washington State — the defense has regressed a bit, ranked seventh in scoring.

Arizona's biggest problem may be an inability to come through in the clutch. The Wildcats are ninth in the Pac-10 in third-down conversions (34.5 percent) and tied for last in red-zone offense, scoring touchdowns on 13 of 31 possessions. That has contributed to three close losses — by one point against Stanford, 29-27 against New Mexico and 20-13 at USC.

"We had a lot higher expectations than [where] we are sitting right now," Stoops said. "But our team continues to play hard and play relatively well at times. We just have to make a few more plays in these games. They are all competitive, and it comes down to just a few plays."

On Saturday, Arizona couldn't convert on a fourth-and-one at Stanford's 43-yard line with just under four minutes left, ending a drive that could have won the game.

"That's a tough loss," safety Nate Ness told the Tucson Citizen. "It really hurts."

But Stoops said he's confident his players will find it in them to battle the Huskies.

"We always have," he said. "I don't see Washington quitting, so we are certainly not going to quit, either. Both teams are going to show up and try to get a win. That's what coaches do. We'll be well-motivated and ready to play, I promise you that."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com