Ross Hammonds

Ask yourself: where were you when it happened? Since you're reading this, chances are you were in the stands.

If you were there, then you had to have felt it. It was the first time I actually have, but hopefully not the last.

It took the eighth-best football team in the nation to cause it and the No. 18 sports college to respond to it. I have to admit, I was a non-believer and it changed me.

You see it on ESPN, you read about it in Sports Illustrated, and you hear about it from your high school friends at other colleges, but here it has never happened. Not in the three years I've been here. It's ours now and we should never let go.

Somewhere between Northern Arizona and North Texas, I figured we would never find it, but we did.

Someplace between Utah and Wisconsin it showed a flicker of life, but then it faded. On Saturday, on the brink of oblivion, in the face of being lost forever, it came and stayed for the second half, just as everyone else did.

The bars were held empty for longer, the parking lots stayed full and the students stayed proud ÷ after all, there is a first for everything.

Maybe it was the Red-Zone chant of "Bobby" that inspired Wade, maybe it was the student section that wouldn't shut up and leave Jason Fife alone; or maybe, just possibly, it was when there was a real football game unfolding in front of us.

Wherever along there, it happened öö and it better not go anywhere now.

The watermark has been set. The mold has been broken. The Wildcat is out of the bag.

All you had to do was look, feel and listen. The person next to you knew, you could see it in their eyes but they didn't say anything. You could feel it change inside you, but you didn't tell anyone because you just weren't quite sure. All you had to do was listen öö silence on offense and deafening on defense. Well, almost.

We are learning.

Entwined in the first half was the rhyme, and unraveled in the second was the reason. A 14-7 lead that was not an accident and a 17-14 deficit that was not a crisis. Maybe it was luck; luckily, that's a big part of the game. Luckily, UA only had one turnover; unluckily, it turned the game.

But that was of no matter: Much wasn't expected from the Wildcats, but as Jason Johnson put it, "We went toe-to-toe with the No. 8 team in the nation for a long time." Undeniably. Johnson threw for 302, Oregon's QB öö 244.

The Wildcats punted eight times, only one more than the Ducks. Time of possession was only a 40-second difference in the Ducks' favor. Impressive. Oregon only completed 18 passes, while Wade alone caught 12 for 151 yards, most impressive.

"Oregon is a great team," said Wade. "They know how to win. When the other team knows how to win like that, a little adversity means nothing to them."

Sorry Bobby, you have to at least give me the first half, when it looked like a hell of a lot of adversity ÷ and probably to a couple thousand others, as well.

No, the stands weren't full, but there were only about 9,000 empty seats. Not bad for a team that was predicted to lose 117-20, combined by two Wildcat staff writers including yours truly. And, for the first time in what seems like forever, those 47,356 people actually stayed around for a reason no greater than to see the home team hang with a ranked opponent.

Everyone saw what Iowa State did two weeks ago and what Ole Miss had done earlier on Saturday. Most people almost certainly walked into Arizona Stadium eyeing those goal posts and thinking how bad they wanted to see them horizontal and then carried anywhere, like Fourth Avenue or planted in the Old Main fountain. UA came close two years ago, in triple overtime against Wazzu, but the attacking force of students wasn't nearly enough.

Don't worry; UA gets another chance with the Cougars this year. Currently No. 13, they come to Tucson on Oct. 26, and No. 25 UCLA follows on Nov. 9. Those are the only two home games left this season before that satanic school to the north that is scheduled on Thanksgiving weekend, but they're not worth the price of goal posts.

The heart of Arizona football was revived last weekend and, if you don't think that, at least pretend you knew it was. Don't let it die there; UA almost beat Washington up there last year. Maybe I'm just superstitious, but I'll predict another blowout win by the Huskies, even bigger this time; it seemed to help. In the end, the UW is only ranked No. 12. That's four spots lower then Oregon ÷ these Wildcats can handle that. If nothing else, Wildcats eat Huskies too.