KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior tailback Clarence Farmer grimaces in pain after injuring his knee Saturday against North Texas. He will undergo surgery today and miss 3-6 weeks.

Last season, the Wildcats went five games into their Pacific 10 Conference season before they got their first win.

This year the Pac-10 season hasn't even started and the Wildcats are off to a rough start öö despite having a 3-1 record.

Going into their first Pac-10 game this weekend against No. 8 Oregon, the Arizona injured list is longer than · well, its just long. And even the starting lineups resemble a MASH unit.

Late in the Wildcats' 14-9 win over North Texas, junior running back Clarence Farmer went down with cartilage damage in his left knee and will be out 3-6 weeks. He will have surgery on the knee today.

"You can't replace a guy like Clarence, but I have all of the confidence in the world in Mike (Bell)," head coach John Mackovic said.

Freshman Gainus Scott is also out with a broken ankle injury, leaving the running back duties to freshman Mike Bell, who will be the only back with any game experience.

"Mike is ready (to step in),"Mackovic said. "He knows what we are doing. He has a nice feel for our run game."

Bell, who has 124 yards on 35 carries this year, scored his first collegiate touchdown against North Texas on a 14-yard run in the second quarter.

The only problem is that Bell can't play the whole game and the Wildcats will use this week of practice to find another back that will give Bell some breaks.

"We have to be able to rotate players in," Mackovic said.

But as to who could share time with Bell, Mackovic said, "anything is possible."

Farmer will not be the only All-Pac-10 first Teamer who might miss the Pac-10 opener next weekend against Oregon at 7:15 p.m.

Senior linebacker Lance Briggs is listed as questionable with ankle problems. Briggs missed most of the second half against North Texas. Sophomore Patrick Howard filled in for Briggs nicely last week, recording six tackles and a fumble recovery.

"Pat Howard gave us more than what we expected. He stepped up," said Mackovic.

Another starter who is also listed as questionable is freshman cornerback Darrell Brooks, who re-aggrevated his back against the Mean Green. That adds to an already depleted secondary, which lost junior Michael Jolivette the week before the Wisconsin game, and junior Luis Nunez is questionable because of a hip injury.

With the injuries to the defensive back field, junior Gary Love and senior David Hinton both played well against the Mean Green.

Love had the returned blocked field goal for a score to close out the first half and Hinton intercepted a pass.

Senior offensive tackle Darren Safranek is still out with knee troubles. Junior defensive end Andre Torrey is also still out with hip problems. Freshman offensive tackle John Parada, who was injured against Utah, will also be out for the Oregon game after hurting his knee.

Injury Box
Player	Position	Year	Injury	Status
*Michael Jolivette	cornerback	jr.	knee	out
Gainus Scott	fullback	fr.	ankle	out
*Clarence Farmer	running back	jr.	knee	out
Darren Safranek	offensive tackle	sr.	knee	out
Andre Torrey	defensive end	jr.	hip	out
John Pasada	offensive guard	fr.	knee	out
John Vorsheck	offensive guard	sr.	concussion	out
*Lance Briggs	linebacker	sr.	ankle	questionable
Brad Brittain	Defensive tackle	fr.	knee	questionable
*Darrell Brooks	cornerback	fr.	back	questionable
Ricky Williams	receiver	so.	shoulder	questionable
Marcus Smith	defensive end		ankle	questionable
Luis Nunez	cornerback	jr.	hip	questionable
*indicates starters

With all of the injuries to the running game, the UA passing attack will have a little extra pressure.

After averaging more than 400 yards passing their first two games, the Wildcats have only thrown for a combined 327 yards in their previous two contests.

"They have to step it up. This is definitely a time when they will have to be front and center," said Mackovic. "They have to run routes, they have to catch that ball and they have to make plays."

If North Texas was the Mean Green, than maybe the Oregon Ducks should be called the Meaner Green.

Oregon came into Tucson and scored 63 points, which was the most given up by an Arizona defense during a Pac-10 game last season. Former quarterback Joey Harrington used the game as a personal Heisman resumŽ builder, as he had a part in five of the Duck's touchdowns.

The Ducks are currently ranked eighth in the AP poll and are coming off a bye week.

"Oregon will be the best defense that we'll have played up to this point," said senior quarterback Jason Johnson. "They are so physical up front, they have linebackers who are really savvy and both of their safeties are tremendous players who cover so much ground."

All practices for the week before the Oregon game will be closed to everyone and practices after this week will be decided on a week-to-week basis.

Mackovic said that the practices will be closed because of all of the injuries and the uncertainty of many positions.

Practices were previously open to just the media.