Another Day at the Office

The weather has never been this nice in mid-September.

A high of 86 degrees before the game and a cool breeze through the air during it.

While all along, a sense of ‘business as usual’ flowed throughout the stadium.

A little over 43 thousand people watched the Arizona Wildcats demolish the outmanned Bulldogs of South Carolina State 56-0.

Another "W" at Arizona Stadium.

By halftime—with a 28-point lead—about half of Arizona Stadium was empty.

The Zona Zoo was filled with a sparse selection of ‘die-hards,’ and the upper 200’s were empty by the third quarter.

It was a beautiful, yet different feeling.

If you checked my post last week, you would understand that a cultural shift has started on Arizona’s campus.

This win, a blowout victory—something Arizona hasn’t been accustomed to over the last decade—yet again seemed to be business as usual.

I remember much different feelings with our previous two coaches, John Mackovic and Mike Stoops.

The many ‘cupcake’ teams that were put on our schedule (sorry NAU ’02, ’04, ’05, ’07, ’09), were not to be taken lightly, even though they were, ‘buffer’ games.

I can remember sitting at these games, thinking all about how sloppy the team played, how disorganized the coaching staff was, or how unimaginative the play-calling was, even when the Wildcats were able to come away with the victory.

What it really came down to was a sense of overwhelming dread for the next game.

Seeing the mistakes and miscalculations were the precursor to what was yet to come, against a much better team.

So here we are, at that familiar junction.

A cupcake, and then the start of the conference schedule.

At Oregon.

 
Inside Autzen Stadium, the loudest in the PAC12.

Against the fourth ranked team in the nation.

And yet, don’t hit the panic button.

Yes, it’s a scary prospect, but it is also an opportunity. An opportunity to show the new cultural change taking place in Tucson.

Let us not pretend this isn’t a daunting task—but let us not expect a miracle either.

Let us hope that Arizona shows up in Eugene with one thing on their minds.

Business as usual.