New rankings not bothering UA football team

Tanith L. Balaban Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior cornerback Chris McAlister (11) takes a handoff down field during the 45-7 win against NLU Saturday night at Arizona Stadium. McAlister was nominated for the Jim Thorpe Award for the best defensive back in the country.

An ESPN.com poll showed only 11 percent of 15,000 voters said the BCS is the way to go, while almost 85 percent said they preferred a playoff.

Arizona head coach Dick Tomey, though, said the BCS is the best solution.

"It's a good thing," he said. "They've included all the necessary ingredients you have to include."

The BCS is made up of the two top 25 polls, the computer power rankings, strength of schedule and number of losses.

UCLA, the No. 2 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls, was ranked No. 1 in the first BCS poll because of its stength of schedule, which is tougher than Ohio State's.

Tomey serves on a committee of coaches, athletic directors and NCAA officials who will study whether or not the BCS is a feasible way to determine college football's national champion by placing the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the Fiesta Bowl at season's end.

Arizona is ranked No. 14 in the poll while this week's opponent, Oregon, is No. 11.

That hasn't fazed many of the Wildcat players.

"I haven't been trying to pay attention," junior linebacker Scooter Sprotte said. "I don't want to look at them till the last week of the season."

Sprotte agreed with Tomey that the system was good.

Tomey explained football isn't like basketball or baseball in terms of a postseason.

"You can't play a tournament like in basketball," he said. "Football teams can't play an extra four games. We're just not physically able to."

One thing about the BCS that does have Tomey worried is how conference championship games, like those played in the Southeastern and Big 12 Conferences, will affect team's rankings in the standings by having them play an extra game against a high-ranked opponent that teams like Ohio State and UCLA won't.

"It'll be interesting to see if Kansas State or Tennessee plays a strong team in the conference championship game that's highly ranked and leaps over someone," he said.

Ê Ê

Senior cornerback Chris McAlister has been named a candidate for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is rewarded annually to the best defensive back in the country.

McAlister leads the Pacific 10 Conference with 11 passes broken up on the year and also has two interceptions and 19 solo tackles. He has also returned both a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns, the latter coming against Northeast Louisiana last week.

"I'm not even thinking about it," McAlister said. "I'm more worried about the team right now than any personal things."

Last week McAlister was matched up on Northeast Louisiana wide receiver Marty Booker, who was averaging 111 yards per game, for almost the entirety of Arizona's 45-7 win.

He held Booker to 83 yards on five receptions, giving up most of those on a 37 yard catch which would have been difficult to stop.

"I can't say whether it helped (my chances) more or less," McAlister said. "Right now we're just trying to win and I'm doing everything I can to help us."

While McAlister is fairly humble, his coach isn't.

"He should win it," defensive backs coach Duane Akina said. "There's no DB in the country that has to do what he does every week."

McAlister and the rest of Arizona's secondary play man-to-man, rather than the zone most other teams play. Because of that, Akina said, McAlister doesn't have the "glossy stats" that some other cornerbacks have.

"He's always tracking the other team's best player," Akina said. "We keep trying to invite ways to get the other teams to throw to him."

Akina said that during the UCLA game they put McAlister on the right side of the field because that is where Bruin southpaw quarterback Cade McNown throws most of his passes. McNown only completed one pass when McAlister was matched up on the right side.

"Otherwise he would have thrown for 105 yards against us instead of five," Akina said.

McAlister is trying to become the second Wildcat to ever win the award. Darryll Lewis took home the trophy in 1990. Chuck Cecil was also a finalist in 1987.

Ê Ê

Arizona did not emerge from the blowout win over Northeast Louisiana unscathed, but after a few days, the Wildcats' walking wounded are looking a little better.

Sophomore running back Leon Callen had to leave the game after injuring his foot on a special teams play, but an MRI revealed no serious damage.

"It's cool," he said. "It's just really sore. I'm trying to run, but if I can't get up on my toes I can't run right."

Callen said the entire outside of his foot was swollen, but there was no ligament or bone damage.

"Who's to say what happens," he said in regards to playing against Oregon Saturday. "I want to but the injury needs to heal first."

The injury seems to be healing on its own, at least as long as Callen is not running on it.

"This morning it felt good but now it's sore," he said after practice last night.

Elsewhere on the injury front, safety LaChaux Rich seems to be back, though he has lost his starting job to redshirt freshman Greg Payne at strong safety. Still, Rich's return gives the Wildcats another body to throw into the fire.

"It definitely helps us with our depth," Payne said. "We've had guys out here and there and it never hurt us, but it came close a couple of times. It's going to help having him available off the bench."

Among others with bumps and bruises, junior wide receiver Brad Brennan is still not 100 percent but will play Saturday, sophomore defensive end Joe Tafoya is likely back after sitting out two games with a sore back and junior kicker Michael Johnson is listed as doubtful for Saturday's game after straining his hip in practice against NLU.

Chris Jackson can be reached via e-mail at Chris.Jackson@wildcat.arizona.edu.