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Schedule has no holes in 1999

Arizona starts off the season with two away games that could make or break its national championship bid.

The first at State College, Penn. against the No. 3 ranked Nittany Lions shapes up as being one of the biggest games all season, while the second on the road against a Texas Christian University, who defeated Southern Cal in the Sun Bowl, could cause some problems.

After these early tests, the road keeps going uphill.

This Saturday, the Wildcats face a Penn State team that is ranked No.1 by Sports Illustrated, No. 3 by the Associated Press and has four All-American candidates on a star-studded defense.

Senior quarterback Keith Smith said the team has prepared for this game just like they would any other.

"We've done most of our physical work at Camp Cochise," Smith said. "Right now, we are just focusing on film and we've basically been preparing for Penn State this whole summer. You just can't overlook a team like Penn State."

TCU posted a 7-5 record last year running a dangerous option offense that featured junior running back LaDainian Tomlinson. The Horned Frogs averaged 239.1 rushing yards per game, 26 yards more than the Wildcats averaged last season.

The first home game of the season is against Middle Tennessee State, a Division I-AA team last year that will compete for the first time as a Division I-A football team this season.

The Pacific 10 Conference season opens Sept. 18 against the Stanford Cardinal, a team that features the conference's most unbalanced offensive attack. The Cardinal finished last in rushing offense and first in passing offense in the Pac-10 a year ago.

Washington State has earned a bad reputation with the arrests of five players this summer. Despite that, the Cougars' defense yielded over 31 points per game last year, but with nine returning defensive starters, the Cougars' will have a chance to better that statistic this year.

The USC Trojans were the top-ranked defense in the Pac-10 last year, but they've lost Butkus Award winner Chris Claiborne, as well as first-team All-Pac-10 players, cornerback Daylon McCutcheon and free safety Rashard Cook. Quarterback Carson Palmer, running back Chad Morton and wide receiver R. Jay Soward round out a balanced offensive attack.

Senior free safety Rafell Jones said that the USC game is something the team will be looking forward to later in the season. The two schools haven't played football against each other for two years.

"We haven't beat USC since I've been here," Jones said. "It's definitely a game down the line, but it's something to look forward to, an opportunity for us."

Texas-El Paso was only 3-8 overall last year and are a schedule-filler on Oct. 16.

After a thorough shellacking last year in late October, the Oregon Ducks will return to Tucson with only three starters back on offense. However, running back Reuben Droughns returns this year after sitting out the greater portion of last season with an ankle injury. Droughns ran for 824 yards in only five games during the 1998 season.

Revenge might be difficult for the Wildcats when they travel to Los Angeles to play a UCLA team that features one of the top receiving corps in the country.

UA quarterback Keith Smith vividly remembers the home loss to UCLA last year and in the back of his mind, Smith has the Oct. 30 date in mind.

"I think the UCLA game is marked down on the calendar for sure," Smith said. "They came and embarrassed us on our home turf and we want a chance to get them back."

Washington has a new coach in Rick Neuheisel, but still has the same secondary that gave up more passing yards than any other in the conference last season.

Another team with a high-profile coach is Oregon State. Former Seattle Seahawks and Miami Hurricanes coach Dennis Erickson will guide the Beavers this year. The Beavers have a lot of youth and inexperience on their team and could surprise some teams in the Pac-10 with an offense that looks to pass first and run later.

Whenever the Wildcats come into the Arizona State game there's always some sense of dread, but this season the Sun Devils might lack the defense to be the roadblock they have been in the past. However, their offense is high-powered and multi-fauceted with quarterback Ryan Kealy, running back J.R. Redmond and wide receiver Tariq McDonald.