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Unfinished business

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Bryan Rosenbaum

The season kicks off with a bang to-morrow when Penn State hosts Arizona in the Pigskin Classic. As hard as it may be to take the energy off this one, remember that it is just a non-conference game.

Like it or not, it's the Pacific 10 Conference and a trip to the Rose Bowl that means everything to the UA football team.

All eyes are going to be on Arizona. UCLA went through it last year, but the one thing that separates this year's Wildcats and last year's Bruins is hunger. Don't think for a minute that last year's 52-28 loss to UCLA hasn't stuck in the heads of every player who was on the field. It was evident in the season-ending wins over Arizona State and Nebraska that Arizona had recovered from the original shock, but they go into this season with some unfinished business that needs to be taken care of.

Top to bottom, the Pac-10 is still a solid league even with the loss of quarterbacks Cade McNown, Akili Smith and Brock Huard. Arizona is a clear favorite and will be unless UCLA can do something to stop that leak in its defense, and that hasn't looked like it will happen. USC is dangerous, even with pretty-boy Carson Palmer at the helm at quarterback, but the loss of linebacker Chris Claiborne and cornerback Daylon McCutcheon could prove to be too difficult to replace for the Trojans.

Everyone else is a long-shot.

Oregon, who has been known to cause a splash in the Pac-10 when you least expect it, returns Reuben Droughns, a running back who may be just as good as Trung Canidate. Washington always holds the risk of pressing the self-destruct button, even if head coach Rick Neuheisel traded his sporty black Colorado sweater-vest for a purple one.

Arizona State, who decided against promoting themselves as preseason favorites for the national championship this season, should recover and make a bowl this time around, but let's just say the quality that was missing last year won't return this autumn.

California, Oregon State and Washington will fight for seventh, eighth and ninth-place in the conference, while Stanford is the firm favorite to finish last in the Pac-10.

Nationally, Pac-10 teams play some difficult opponents. Aside from Arizona facing Penn State - UCLA tackles Ohio State, Washington faces Colorado, BYU and Air Force, ASU and USC play Notre Dame, Stanford plays Texas and Cal travels to Nebraska. Pac-10 teams may be at the wrong end of the scoreline in many of these matchups, but hopefully the experience will make them better prepared for the conference season.

As for the Wildcats, it's hard to imagine the team playing in anything less than the Rose Bowl. No team in the Pac-10, possibly the country, is as good on both offense and defense as Arizona is. This team is focused on the task at hand and has learned from the experiences of the 1994 football team and the 1997-98 basketball team, who were disappointing, to say the least.

Never before has this campus anticipated something so much, outside of "A new U." Go out, cheer your brains out and have some fun. The Wildcat will bring you all the important stuff you need to know, all season long.