By
Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Loss to Beavers increases importance of matchup against Arizona State
The cold weather of Saturday's 33-9 loss to Oregon State was nothing compared to the lack of heat generated by the Arizona football team.
In defeating the Wildcats, the Beavers became a step closer to a Pacific 10 Conference title while Arizona continued to stumble through its late schedule.
The No. 8 Beavers improved thier chances of going to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1964 with a victory against the Wildcats at Arizona Stadium.
The victory was OSU's first-ever win in Tucson.
The loss for the Wildcats now makes their Nov. 24 matchup against in-state rival Arizona State even more important.
"It's just a devastating loss for us because we worked so hard to get to this point in the season, and we never envisioned it to be this way," senior defensive end Joe Tafoya said. "My main thought right now is we got to keep the team together because we still have one more game to play and this game means the world to us."
A win against ASU would not only determine whether the Wildcats (5-5 overall, 3-4 Pac-10) become bowl eligible and have a winning season, but it will be an opportunity to salvage a disappointing second half of the season.
"We got a bye week to get everyone healthy and, basically, it is a game that can make all the seniors on this team feel they can go out feeling good about the season," senior quarterback Ortege Jenkins said. "We know the chances we had and the opportunities we had, and we just didn't take advantage of them."
Since starting off the season with a 3-0 conference record, UA has lost four consecutive Pac-10 games.
The Beavers (9-1, 6-1) dominated the Wildcats in all aspects of the game Saturday night.
After jumping out to a 3-0 lead on a 42-yard Sean Keel field goal on the Wildcats' opening drive, the Beavers scored on their next five possessions.
Arizona could only muster 64 total offensive yards in the first half and allowed OSU to take a 23-3 lead into halftime.
"We came out playing hard, but they were just the better team early off," Tafoya said. "When you get behind by such a large margin going into halftime, it's hard to recover from it."
Nothing seemed to go right for Arizona, as the Wildcats were held without a touchdown for the first time since losing to Oregon 10-9 in 1994.
In the second half, Arizona could only muster two more Keel field goals.
The Wildcats were able to maintain the nation's sixth-best rusher, tailback Ken Simonton, holding the Heisman Trophy candidate to a season-low 73 yards rushing on 19 carries.
It was OSU's spread offense and passing attack, however, that did the Wildcats in.
Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith connected early and often with wide receiver Chad Johnson who caught seven balls for 109 yards and one touchdown.
Smith finished the game completing 17-31 passes for 231 yards and one touchdown.
"We were able to stop the run, but we did not stop the pass," senior linebacker Adrian Koch said. "That was very discouraging."
Arizona head coach Dick Tomey said that UA's performance was due in part to coaching.
"The last three games we played some good football, but tonight we did not and when you are not good at something it hurts," Tomey said following the game. "It hurts as a coach because your team's performance is a reflection of coaching and a that's a very bad reflection on all of us - mainly myself - and I think none of us feel very good."
Maxx Wolfson can be reached sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.
