CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona free safety Darell Brooks intercepts a pass intended for Louisiana State receiver Michael Clayton in Arizona's 59-13 loss on Saturday. Brooks finished the game with 11 tackles and one interception.

Wildcats try to put last week's rout by LSU behind them

Arizona football is done dwelling on its poor performance against Louisiana State last weekend, and is now pondering how to respond to the 59-13 blowout.

It might be a lot easier to forget a game like the one the Wildcats played last weekend when they have an even more important game coming up.

"This game is important for a lot of reasons," senior tackle Brandon Phillips said. "One, it's our first Pac-10 game and it is the most important of the ones we've played so far, and we'll (also) find out how our team reacts to some adversity."

"We're definitely over (the LSU loss) now and we are focused on Oregon," freshman quarterback Ryan O'Hara said.

Arizona opens its Pacific-10 Conference schedule Saturday at home against the Ducks. Not only will it be important for the Wildcats to show their resilience and bounce back from the embarrassing loss on national television, but they also must set the tone for the remainder of their schedule and Pac-10 play.

"The first (conference) game either puts you in first place or last place," UA head coach John Mackovic said. "We have to create opportunities, and we have to take advantage of those opportunities."

"There will be a breakthrough game, but I don't know when. Hopefully, it will be this week," he said.

Mackovic's struggles usually few and far between in September

The past two seasons under Mackovic, September has been extremely kind to the Wildcats. The team went 5-2 in September of 2001 and 2002, but this year should be a little tougher for Arizona.

Coupled with their loss to LSU to open the month, the Wildcats have to play Oregon, Purdue in West Lafayette and Texas Christian back in Tucson to close out September.

"We have looked all along at the month of September as a month that was important for us in order to grow, develop and improve with a team that is basically very young," Mackovic said. "The team has to find something that it can really hang its hat on."

September's results should give a good indication of how the rest of the season will go. If the UA comes out of the month .500 or better, it may show that they can compete with any team in the Pac-10. However, if the team goes winless in the month, it could be an even longer October and November for Mackovic's team.

QB competition still too close to call

September will also likely be important to Arizona's quarterback situation.

Mackovic said he will continue to split time between sophomore Nic Costa and O'Hara until one separates himself from the other and shows he can handle the starting duties better.

"We still need to play (Costa and O'Hara). There is no way for us to build some kind of experience in that position if we aren't willing to play some guys," Mackovic said. "We are not going to jeopardize the game if we get to that point of just rotating for the sake of rotation. If one plays a little better than the other, then the game plays will come a little more to him during the game."

The quarterbacks have split time almost 50/50 over the team's first two contests, and have put up comparable numbers.

O'Hara said it will take a big performance in a big game to win the position outright.

"It's probably going to take a win in a big game ÷ maybe this week against Oregon," O'Hara said. "We'll see what happens."