Now the waiting begins

Ian Mayer Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior linebacker Marcus Bell (40) stops ASU tight end Todd Heap (80) in his tracks during Friday's game at Arizona Stadium. Bell had a game-high 21 tackles, 11 of which were unassisted, finishing the year as the Pac-10's leading tackler.

Which one still lies up in the air.

Saturday's game between No. 3 UCLA (10-0) and Miami (7-3) at the Orange Bowl will decide Arizona's postseason fate once and for all. That has some of the Wildcats already planning out their weekends around the game.

"Kick back, grab a Smoothie, get some chicken wings and watch the UCLA game," UA junior running back Trung Canidate said of his plans for Saturday.

A Bruin win will likely propel them into the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship, leaving the Rose Bowl free to pick the No. 6 Wildcats (11-1).

A Bruin loss would send them to the Rose Bowl, and UA would head for a Holiday Bowl showdown with No. 13 Nebraska (8-3) in San Diego Dec. 30.

"Yeah, I guess we've gotta be UCLA fans," UA junior quarterback Keith Smith said with a shrug after Friday's win over Arizona State. "If they win, I think the Rose Bowl really needs to take a hard look at Arizona."

UA head coach Dick Tomey said the team is "in a helpless position."

"These guys have done everything they can do," he said. "This team deserves a reward for this season."

The official announcement will come on ABC at 1:30 p.m. Sunday when the Bowl Championship Series selection show is aired. Two of the Wildcats are planning to watch the selection show in a relaxed atmosphere.

"Trung and I are going to be at my house and at 1:30 we're going to order a large Zachary's pizza, kick back and watch the show," junior right guard Yusuf Scott said. "Hopefully they will pick us for the Rose Bowl and not some small bowl."

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Tomey said the team has been "very euphoric" in the days following the 50-42 win over ASU.

Because of that, and the long layover until the bowl game, Tomey said no one has been focusing too heavily on the negative aspects of the Sun Devil game.

"There were some things," he said. "We've been trying to keep Coach (Rich) Ellerson from slitting his wrists."

The reason UA's defensive coordinator may have been upset was that the Wildcats pass defense, and pass rush, struggled through most of the game as ASU sophomore quarterback Ryan Kealy was able to put up 511 yards through the air.

"We had some match-ups with (Todd) Heap and (Kenny) Mitchell that didn't go well," Tomey said of the freshman tight end (84 yards on four receptions, 2 TD) and senior wide receiver (game-high 170 yards on nine receptions).

Mitchell, though, wasn't high on his performance after the game.

"We didn't make enough (plays)," he said. "It's not acceptable to lose to these guys. We aren't going to accept it as a compliment. It's unacceptable."

As for good things on defense, Tomey was pleased with how the Wildcats shut down the Pacific 10 Conference's No. 2 rusher, J.R. Redmond.

"The neat thing is we were able to stop their run," he said.

A big part of that was UA junior inside linebacker Marcus Bell, who had 21 tackles, 11 unassisted.

"I just wanted to go out and play the best game I could," Bell said on Friday.

Bell has 139 tackles on the year, 82 unassisted, leading the Pac-10 overall and tying Stanford's Tim Smith in unassisted.

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With the week off from practice, most of the Arizona coaching staff will be hitting the road for recruiting.

"We don't have as many scholarships this year," Tomey said, referring to the small size of this year's senior class leaving fewer scholarships available for the 1999 team. "But we think we'll get a little national visibility this year. We'll be able to recruit better than before."

Chris Jackson can be reached via e-mail at Chris.Jackson@wildcat.arizona.edu