Arizona Throws the Book at Stanford : Pac-10: Angered by Walsh’s ‘jokes,’ the Wildcats start fast and roll to a 34-10 victory.

Hose this down, oh Genius.

Having joked that Arizona’s Wildcats were “mercenaries” who one would like to “hose . . . down,” and having done it in a manner guaranteed to attract their attention--in his book, “Rough Magic”--Stanford Coach Bill Walsh had to endure the inconvenience of an actual game with Arizona on Saturday, which the “mercenaries” won, 34-10.

Stanford now will travel to Notre Dame, whose coach, Lou Holtz, was described by Walsh in the book as “a spoiled little brat.”

“They’re a terrific football team,” a chastened Walsh said of the Wildcats. “I’d really like to think we’ve got more like them in the Pac-10. They’ll represent themselves well in whatever bowl game they go to.”

Said Arizona safety Tony Bouie: “We heard about (the book) all week long. It added fuel to the fire. He was calling us mercenaries and animals and whatever. That stuff, if you’re going to say it, you just have to say it to your team. When we heard about it, it just teed us off more.”

Walsh, a Hall of Famer who spent a career in the NFL without furnishing bulletin-board material, has discovered a new calling since returning to college football--indiscretion.

In a talk to a booster club in Sacramento that leaked to outsiders, he criticized Washington’s program and several others. Asked to rate his team this season, Walsh said that if UCLA was going to be the class of the conference, the Cardinal would be right there.

In “Rough Magic,” Walsh noted how few of the Arizona players were home-grown, adding that after games one would like to “hose them down.”

Walsh noted he had been joking.

Arizona wasn’t laughing.

“We knew this was the Pac-10 opener,” said Ontiwaun Carter, Arizona’s star halfback from Granada Hills Kennedy High. “That fired us up.

“Bill Walsh said some things that fired us up. Everybody was talking about our defense and not our offense. That fired us up.

“There were a lot of people saying we weren’t capable, that we couldn’t score enough points, that all we had played was Georgia Tech and New Mexico State. Who is Northwestern and San Jose State (Stanford’s first two opponents)?”

Ranked in preseason polls and cursed with a Sports Illustrated cover proclaiming it No. 1, Arizona opened with an unimpressive escape against Georgia Tech. Stanford beat that, tying Northwestern.

As usual, most of Stanford’s best players were on its offense.

As usual, most of Arizona’s best players were from out of state, especially California. On the Wildcats’ traveling squad were 34 Californians, 20 Arizonans. Of the 22 starters, 15 are Californians, four are Arizonans.

Walsh promised an aerial circus, but his team got off to a bad start when star quarterback Steve Stenstrom’s third pass went to Arizona safety Brandon Sanders.

Moments later, Walsh’s punt returner, Leroy Pruitt, fumbled a punt at his 14. Three plays later, Carter danced 10 yards around right end and Steve McLaughlin’s extra point made the score 7-0.

Then Arizona drove 78 yards for a 14-0 lead, with quarterback Danny White going to wide receiver Richard Dice for 14 yards and the touchdown.

Then Davis blocked Stanford’s chip-shot field goal, leading to a three-yard run for a touchdown by Carter and a 21-0 lead only 3:42 into the second quarter.

After that, conservative Arizona became downright reactionary. Stenstrom had two passes intercepted, one of which was returned 49 yards for a touchdown by Bouie.

Stenstrom was also sacked seven times.