Wednesday, October 7, 1998
These days,
Tomey the toast
of Tucson
Nine-game winning streak
By Bob Baum
has the former UH coach off
the hot seat at Arizona
Associated PressTUCSON, Ariz. -- Flash back to Oct. 25, 1997. Arizona had just lost to Washington State, 35-34, in overtime, leaving the Wildcats 3-5 overall, 1-4 in the Pac-10. Coach Dick Tomey's job was in serious trouble.
Nine victories, no losses and one incredible head-over-heels game-winning touchdown later, Tomey's Wildcats are ranked No. 10, and Tucson is a football-crazy town again.
"I'm the same guy I was back then," said the former Hawaii head coach. "I'm not any smarter or dumber than I was then. I'm just a guy trying to do a job."
It is a job that no doubt was on the line this year. After the team regrouped to win its last four and finish 7-5 last season, athletic director Jim Livengood gave the 60-year-old Tomey a one-year contract, not exactly a loud vote of confidence.
The pressure was on, and that makes Arizona's magical start even more satisfying to Tomey and his loyal players.
"Everything continued over from the last four games of last season," quarterback Keith Smith said. "We're on a roll. We've got a lot of confidence. There's a belief in this team."
Yesterday and Monday, fans lined up for hours to get the last of the tickets for Saturday's showdown with No. 3 UCLA, the first time two Pac-10 teams ranked in the top 10 have met since 1991.
Tucson has flipped over this team in the days following Ortege Jenkins' incredible cleats-over-tea kettle somersault into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with four seconds to play Saturday at Washington.
"It's unbelievable man," Smith said. "It's so great to see. It's definitely shown that football is back at Arizona. I can't wait to play in front of a huge crowd."
The Wildcats' 5-0 start is their best since they won their first seven in 1993. They haven't been ranked this high since October 1994. Four wins have come on the road. Arizona's first four wins -- over Hawaii, Stanford, Iowa and San Diego State -- were expected. Washington was the first big test.
"My biggest concern after four games was that it had not been difficult enough," Tomey said. "I was concerned whether we're tough enough mentally. I thought we might be. I think last week we showed we were."
Chris McAllister, perhaps the best defensive back in the Pac-10, missed the Washington game when he was suspended by the NCAA because he got an extra $14,000 from a loan he acquired to pay for an insurance policy. He will be back Saturday.
Wide receiver Jeremy McDaniel, who sustained a groin injury late in the Washington game, was feeling better yesterday and might be able to play Saturday.
They are key components of a team that has the defensive toughness that is a trademark of Tomey's 12 seasons at Arizona. The leader of the defense is quiet linebacker Marcus Bell, who had 21 tackles and a blocked field goal last week.
But it's the offense that separates this Arizona team from Wildcats of the recent past. With two standout quarterbacks (Smith and Jenkins), a game-breaking tailback (Trung Canidate) and two of the conference's best receivers (McDaniel and Dennis Northcutt), the Wildcats are behind only Oregon and UCLA in the Pac-10's offensive stats.
The team traces its emergence to that October day in Pullman, Wash., when the injury-plagued Wildcats were forced to use a bunch of inexperienced players, but nearly came away with an upset.
"I felt there was a real incredible energy out of that, the way we hung in there," Tomey said. "It's that old saying that on this day we were sewing the seeds that on other days would bear the fruit of victory."
