SPORTS EXTRA / FOOTBALL ‘99: COLLEGE PREVIEW : PAC-10 : IT’S COMING UP ROSES : Arizona Already Out of National Picture, So It Can Focus on Trip to Pasadena

Now what?

This was going to be the year Arizona rid itself of the Scarlet “A” stigma as the only Pacific 10 / Big Ten conference school never to have earned a berth in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl.

This was going to be the year Arizona earned the right ......... and declined the invitation to accept a national title bid to the Jan. 4 Sugar Bowl.

But another Pac-10 case of tackle-itis last week has the Wildcats’ back on a Pasadena track.

Penn State’s 41-7 thrashing of Arizona on national television in the Pigskin Classic all but doomed the Wildcats’ national title hopes.

While the loss was early, it was awful, an act of ineptness that won’t soon be forgotten by poll-voting writers and coaches.

Playing for the Pac-10 title and the school’s first Rose Bowl appearance is a nice consolation prize, but the question now is what kind of psychological impact the Penn State loss will have on Arizona.

“This game can help us,” receiver Dennis Northcutt insisted. “It shows us where we’re at right now.”

The preseason hype was not unfounded. Arizona finished with a school-best 12-1 record last year, and returns its top skill players at quarterback, tailback and receiver, plus nine starters from the Pac-10’s second-ranked defense.

In Happy Valley, though, quarterbacks Keith Smith and Ortege Jenkins were silenced, star tailback Trung Canidate was held to 31 yards in 10 carries and the defense allowed up 504 total yards.

Coach Dick Tomey was certainly right when he cautioned before the season: “We understand nothing is guaranteed just because you won a few games a year ago.”

Arizona and high expectations haven’t always gotten along. In 1994, Tomey’s Wildcats made the cover of Sports Illustrated, touted as a “Rock Solid No. 1.” Arizona started 4-0 but fizzled to 4-4, the touted “Desert Swarm” defense downgraded to a gathering.

To warn his players of the possible impact of an early-season loss, Tomey need only to lecture about the fate of cross-state rival, Arizona State, which entered began last season with national title hopes and ended up finished 5-6.

“There are lessons every week in college football,” Tomey said. “The older players understand that, the younger players probably don’t.”

Maybe they do now.

The loss doesn’t mean Arizona can’t still be the real deal. With Smith and Jenkins, the Wildcats have two talented quarterbacks who don’t whine about sharing the position.

Smith’s 174.17 efficiency rating last year would have ranked second nationally had he thrown enough passes to qualify. Jenkins’ last-second touchdown leap to beat Washington was the play of the year in the Pac-10.

Canidate, the defending conference rushing champion who was touted as a Heisman canidate, got off to a rough start against Penn State, but he will soon be feasting on Pac-10 defenses again.

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LOOK WHO’S BACK

1998 Pac-10 standings with returning starters:

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Team Conf. Overall Starters W L W L O D UCLA 8 0 10 2 6 8 Arizona 7 1 12 1 7 9 Oregon 5 3 8 4 6 6 USC 5 3 8 5 9 7 Washington 4 4 6 6 6 9 Arizona State 4 4 5 6 5 8 California 3 5 5 6 8 8 Oregon State 2 6 5 6 6 6 Stanford 2 6 3 8 9 10 Washington State 0 8 3 8 8 10

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