JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat Thousands of fans rushed the field on Saturday night after the Wildcats' 27-22 homecoming victory over the University of Washington.

The UA football team may not have a chance to play in the Rose Bowl ÷ or any bowl game, for that matter ÷ and can't finish its season with a winning record.

But none of that mattered after Saturday's Homecoming victory over the Washington Huskies.

Hoards of fans stormed the gates and poured onto the Arizona Stadium turf during the waning moments of the Wildcats' second win of the year, a 27-22 upset win that sophomore running back Mike Bell called the best he's ever been a part of.

"All my life playing football, that was the biggest win I've ever had," said Bell, who led the way for Arizona with 222 yards rushing and three touchdowns. "Even when I was in Pop Warner and we won the championship, this is the biggest win of all time."

A melee ensued at midfield as fans celebrated with UA players while others dangled from goalposts at the stadium's north end zone.

WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat An enthusiastic Wildcat fan clings to the uprights at Arizona Stadium after the team's victory on Saturday. Fans were unable to bring down the goalposts.

The Wildcats had lost eight straight overall and hadn't won a Pacific-10 Conference home game since defeating Washington State two years ago in a triple overtime thriller that also led to an on-field postgame celebration.

Media arts junior Mike White said he and his friends started planning to rush the field near the beginning of the fourth quarter.

"For some reason, we were surrounded by a lot of parents and their kids," White said. "Right when the game was about to end, they started sheltering their kids. Everyone just flooded out of the stands."

UA senior linebacker Joe Siofele said he was speechless after seeing fans start to climb the neon-yellow goalpost.

"I don't know what to say. This is one of the greatest wins I've been a part of," said Siofele, who tallied five tackles and a sack.

Undeclared junior Robert Skoby, a member of the UA cheer squad, said the Arizona Stadium crowd has never been so loud.

"It was just beautiful," Skoby said. "What's a good word to describe it? Orgasmic."

Skoby's cheer squad teammate Eddie Madrigal, a media arts senior, said he was glad that so many fans turned out. A season-high 48,319 were in attendance for the win.

"The fans were great and our student section was awesome," Madrigal said. "Homecoming always brings a lot of people together ÷ old alumni and new fans."

JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona head coach Mike Hankwitz shares an embrace with his wife, Cathy, after his Wildcats upset Washington 27-22 in the UA's Homecoming game Saturday night.

UA sophomore defensive back Darrell Brooks' father Leslie, who made the trip to Tucson from Riverside, Calif., said this was the most impressive win he had seen since Darrell came to the UA from Moreno Valley High School in Southern California.

"I think the ÎPack the House' campaign worked," said Brooks of the UA athletics department's Homecoming Weekend marketing. "People were excited and it showed."

"This was just incredible. I don't know how to describe it," said redshirt freshman tight end Matt Padron. "The fans were just great tonight, and after the game · wow."

White said he'd never seen anything similar to Saturday's events while growing up a UCLA fan in the Los Angeles area.

"At the Rose Bowl, you can't do anything like this," White said. "We were surrounded by football players and cheerleaders. I don't think I've ever hugged so many random girls before."

Psychology sophomore Dennis Bastron said he didn't expect stadium security or police presence to stop such a large group of fans from getting to the field.

"As soon as it was over, they were going to let us on the field as long as we didn't go to the goalposts," Bastron said.

University of Arizona Police Department Sgt. Eugene Mejia said there were no injuries or arrests during the celebration. Mejia said he didn't expect more police to be on hand during the Wildcats' game next weekend against Southern California, the No. 2 team in the nation.

"We normally hire the same number of officers (for each game)," Mejia said.

While many fans stayed on the field for close to 30 minutes after the game ended ÷ as the last few gave up on their attempts to tear down the north goalpost ÷ one special UA fan was quietly waiting near the south entrance of McKale Center for the team to come by.

Diana Born, a Tucson native who now resides in Show Low, Ariz., said she was anxiously waiting to see that familiar No. 33 Arizona jersey on its way back to McKale Center, worn by her grandson, senior defensive back Clay Hardt.

"I imagine he feels really great (after the win) because he's really been feeling a little down lately," said Born of her grandson, who led the Wildcats with 14 tackles against the Huskies. "I'm glad that he's ending his season on an up because the year so far has really been kind of down."

Brooks' dad said he was confident that his son's mood would similarly be flipped after the win.

"The last big win (Darrell) had was the Utah game last year," he said. "He just seemed so excited about coming to this game. He said they were going to work hard to try and win this one."

White said that, as big as Saturday's win was for the team and its fans, a win over national championship hopeful USC this Saturday in Arizona Stadium would be even sweeter.

"(It would be) the biggest upset in college football history, hands down."