Wildcats ready to put 2002, off-season distractions in rear-view mirror when Miners come to town tomorrow

The summer of 2003 had to seem like one of the longest in Arizona football history.

The team fought with the questions of last year's player revolt, the status of senior running back Clarence Farmer and receiver Andrae Thurman, the resignation of receiver coach Mike Borich, and being picked to finish last in the Pacific-10 Conference by virtually every national and local publication.

The good news: Summer unofficially comes to an end tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. when the Wildcats open their 2003 season against the University of Texas at El Paso at Arizona Stadium.

"This is definitely a statement game," said sophomore free safety Darrel Brooks. "It has been a long off-season and we're just ready to get out there and play."

"We're really excited to go out there and hit someone other than ourselves," said senior linebacker Matt Molina.

The Wildcats enter the 2003 campaign coming off a 4-8 (1-7, Pac-10) season that saw them lose seven of their last eight games, and the Miners could be just what the team needs to start the season out in the win column.

UTEP finished last season 2-10 (1-7, Western Athletic Conference) ÷ at the bottom of the WAC.

Both teams enter Saturday night's game with inexperienced quarterbacks, and both defenses will try to use that to their advantage.

The Miners will start sophomore quarterback Orlando Cruz, who had only 58 passing attempts last season.

"We want to upset (Cruz)," Brooks said. "We don't want to let him know what's coming or where it is coming from. We want to attack him and put a lot of pressure on him and just confuse him."

"We are going to come at (Cruz) from all angles and hopefully we can get him rattled," Molina said.

The Wildcats will counter with their equally inexperienced quarterbacks, red-shirt sophomore Nic Costa and red-shirt freshman Ryan O'Hara. Head coach John Mackovic expects the Miners to try and confuse them much like his defense will try to do to Cruz.

"I will expect that they are going to pressure us a lot," Mackovic said. "They are a good pressure team and we have to be prepared for that and be able to adjust."

Both teams use multiple formations on offense and expect each other to be pretty balanced between the run and the pass.

Saturday night's match up will also be a renewal of an old WAC rivalry between the two schools. Between 1946 and 1978, the Wildcats and Miners faced off in 32 of 33 seasons. Arizona holds the all-time series edge at 37-11. The Wildcats are currently on an 11-game winning streak over UTEP.

The last time the two schools met was in 1999, with the Wildcats prevailing 34-21 at Arizona Stadium.