October is often known as a month of scares, and in the last two seasons, the UA football team has had a lot to be afraid about.

Since the arrival of head coach John Mackovic, Arizona has gone 0-7 in October.

With Halloween approaching, things get even scarier. The Wildcats close out October next weekend with a home game against No. 9 Washington State, who is coming off a bye week.

The Wildcats have now started their Pacific 10 Conference season at 0-3 for the second-straight year. Last season, Arizona didn't get its first conference win until its sixth game, when it beat Cal 38-24 on the road. The Wildcats have lost 14 of their last 16 Pac-10 games, including three in a row.

With the 16-6 loss to Stanford over the weekend, Arizona dropped to the Pac-10 cellar at 3-4 overall and 0-3 in the Pac-10.

The headlines in the two local Tucson newspapers ÷ the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen ÷ were not kind to the Wildcats.

The Star headline in Sunday's paper read "Cats hit bottom." In the same story by beat writer Charles Durrenberger, he wrote how the Wildcats lacked "fire and intensity."

The story in the Citizen read just the same, as the headline read "Cats hit low point, lose to Stanford."

Also, longtime columnist Corky Simpson warned the UA faithful to get used to being in last place in his column.

Things aren't looking good when the local media turns on the hometown team.

The second half was the big difference-maker in the Stanford game. The Cardinal outgained the Wildcats 214-93 in total yards and held the ball 22 out of the 30 second-half minutes.

Arizona was shut out in its three second-half possessions, including one drive in the third quarter that lasted only six plays and ate up a meager three minutes.

Saturday marked the first time all season the Arizona offense was held without a touchdown. Junior kicker Bobby Gill provided all of the Wildcats' points with two first-half field goals from 25 and 23 yards out.

Mackovic held out wide receiver Andrae Thurman and linebacker Kirk Johnson for the first half against Stanford.

Both players had personal fouls last week for taunting and were suspended as a result.

The injury bug bit the Wildcats again in Stanford, Calif. Junior offensive tackle Brandon Phillips was hurt in the loss over the weekend when someone landed on his knee.

Phillips will be out at least two weeks, but could be lost for the season.

"There isn't anything we can do about (injuries)," Mackovic said. "For the most part, they just happen."

Senior defensive tackle Young Thompson was also injured in the loss, but Mackovic said he does not expect him to miss any time.

After Arizona's fourth-quarter loss to Washington a week earlier, the team might have been a little worn down emotionally, as well as physically, Mackovic said. A lot of young players saw action for the Wildcats and it caught up with them at Stanford.

"Maybe they reached a point where they just couldn't dig down anymore," Mackovic said.

Whatever the problem, the Wildcats can ill afford to be unprepared in this week's Family Weekend match-up against Washington State.

One player that didn't look worn out was freshman cornerback Darrell Brooks. Brooks played in his first game since Sept. 28 against North Texas. Brooks hurt his back, but there were no side effects this weekend when he went head-to-head with Stanford receiver Teyo Johnson.

Brooks covered Johnson for most of the game and held him to just one catch for only two yards.

Another bright spot for the Wildcats was senior receiver Bobby Wade. Wade continues to lead the Pac-10 in receptions, receiving yards and all-purpose yards. He managed 8 catches for 121 yards.