By Eric Wein
Arizona Daily Wildcat
At first, it seemed to resemble a controlled scrimmage. But it ended up looking more like Fan Appreciation Night.
An early-game storm didn't deter most of the UA faithful Saturday night, so the Wildcats made sure those fans got their money's worth.
By the time the puddles along the sideline had dried up, New Mexico State needed a standing-eight count.
The UA football team, which entered the game looking to improve, had virtually no problems against an overmatched opponent, a team that has served as the prey for two Top 10 teams so far.
"We were the best team," UA coach Dick Tomey said. "That was a good performance because it's hard to get a shutout."
So the No. 8 Wildcats (2-0) breezed through a 44-0 victory over New Mexico State (0-2) at Arizona Stadium.
"I think you can get a false sense of confidence if you take too much from this," quarterback Dan White said. "You can't get overconfident. They were not a Pac-10 team and we still have a ways to go."
It was all part of Watch The Wildcats Dominate Night, a tribute to the 52,889 in attendance.
Fans like big runs.
After one of the worst games of a solid UA career, Ontiwaun Carter had a stellar performance Ä149 yards on 18 carries. On his longest carry, Carter darted toward the left sideline and then found a seam to cut back all the way to the right sideline for 45 yards.
More importantly, Carter scored twice by stepping through gigantic holes created by the offensive line and avoiding tacklers for touchdown carries of five and seven yards in the first half.
He was given the ball continuously early and finished with a fumble-free game in contrast to his three in Arizona's first game.
"I think I redeemed myself," said Carter, who moved into third place on the UA all-time rushing list. "A lot of people had a lot of negative talk and I think I was a little bit eager to come out and prove to people what I can do."
Carter's backup, Gary Taylor, came back from his preseason shoulder injury for 77 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown in his first game of the year. First-game hero Kevin Schmidtke had just 20 yards on six carries.
Fans like passing.
After five straight running plays in the Wildcats' opening drive, Dan White dropped back and found Richard Dice near the sideline. Dice avoided a falling defender and dashed to the end zone for a 57-yard touchdown.
White (11 of 21, 198 yards) spotted Dice again near the goal line for a touchdown with 21 seconds remaining in the first half to put Arizona ahead 31-0.
"Dan put the ball right in my hands. There weren't any tough catches or anything," said Dice, who had five catches for 150 yards. "Everybody says I'm a possesion receiver, but I can catch people off guard every once in a while."
Arizona's offense moved impeccably most of the game for 561 total yards (334 rushing, 227 passing).
Fans like long field goals.
When the Wildcats couldn't bust open some long plays down on the New Mexico State side of the field, Steve McLaughlin lined up to try to kick it through the uprights.
McLaughlin had one of his better games Saturday night, booting three field goals from 50, 44 and 39 yards. His third quarter effort from 44 out was wide right.
"We handled the field goal situations well," Tomey said. "The kicking game plus having no turnovers were the most dramatic improvements."
Fans really like defense.
Arizona's starting defense had held New Mexico State scoreless, so that squad must have been ecstatic when the Aggies couldn't punch it in from six yards out on fourth down.
"That's our goal Ä we don't want anyone to score on us," defensive end Tedy Bruschi said. "We were satisfied with our effort."
The UA defense registered just one sack, by Bruschi, so the negative yardage wasn't as high as it could have been, making the rushing total a whopping 83 yards for New Mexico State. Arizona allowed 231 yards overall.
Most coaches don't think there's any dignity salvaged with a field goal when their team is getting beaten badly. New Mexico State coach Jim Hess didn't either.
"What difference would a field goal make?" Hess said. "I wanted to say we scored a touchdown on Arizona."
On a few occasions early on, New Mexico State quarterback Cody Ledbetter (9 of 28, 148 yards) connected with his receivers, especially wideout Lucious Davis (5 catches, 97 yards). Arizona's secondary had his receivers covered often, which forced Ledbetter out of the pocket on several occasions.
For the most part, Arizona knocked the Aggies around, including a gruesome hit when safety Brandon Sanders nailed New Mexico State receiver Marcus Polk in the air.
At the onset, the Aggies moved the ball through the air somewhat but it became almost impossible later on.
"It was raining and we had to get a good feel for the game," Sanders said. "We started to turn it up and make adjustments."
New Mexico State was drubbed by two teams Ä Florida (70-21) and Arizona. The Wildcats could have come out looking better because they didn't run up the score and they did manage to shut out the Aggies.
But the Aggies, a Big West team, almost certainly would be at the basement of the Pac-10.
"We have a lot of tests to pass," Tomey said. "We can't draw any great conclusions at this point."