Publication Date: Wednesday Oct 15, 1997

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Rose hopes wilting

Yes, Stanford's Rose Bowl hopes took a hit on Saturday night in a 28-22 loss to host Arizona, but it's not as devastating as it could be. If the Cardinal wins the rest of their games--all in the Pac-10--then the visit to Tucson becomes nothing more than a bump in the road.

Should Stanford--ranked 16th before the game but No. 25 this week--stumble again somewhere along the way, then Saturday night's defeat looms larger.

Until that happens, Stanford can look at the loss to Arizona for what it was: a lost opportunity to put some distance between themselves and several of the Pac-10's bowl contenders. Instead of being one of three undefeated conference teams, the Cardinal falls into the next level of contenders which include UCLA, Arizona State, and now, Arizona, which won its first conference contest.

Hey, it could be worse. Just ask John Robinson at USC.

Opportunities lost came in the form of eight fumbles, five of them recovered by the Wildcats, and two critical penalties on Arizona's opening scoring drive.

In Stanford's last two contests, victories over Notre Dame and Oregon, it did not turn the ball over. Saturday night was like a sieve. And when the Cardinal wasn't fumbling the ball away--sure-handed receiver Troy Walters fumbled the ball away twice in four plays in the first quarter-- quarterback Chad Hutchinson was getting harassed by a quality Arizona pass rush. He was sacked four times.

"Turnovers killed us," Hutchinson said, succinctly.

The simple fact is Arizona, the No. 2 defensive team in the Pac-10, shut down the Stanford running game, and didn't allow Hutchinson to get the ball downfield with any consistency. The adage that a good defense beats a good offense was in evidence on Saturday. The three points Stanford scored in the fourth quarter were the first points given up by Arizona in that period this season.

"They got pressure all night. It changed the structure of our offense," said Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham. "They made it difficult. I knew they had a great run defense, and that posed a problem."

Stanford was on a running high entering the game, having rushed for 322 yards against Notre Dame a week earlier, its highest single-game total in 13 years. All of that came to a crashing halt thanks to a Wildcat defense that resembled a brick wall.

Cardinal running backs Anthony Bookman and Mike Mitchell each had rushed for over 100 yards in each of the previous three contests. Was Arizona impressed? Afraid not. Stanford's running game totaled 11 yards. Bookman had 21 yards and Mitchell had 12. They averaged 1.9 and 1.5 yards, respectively, per carry. Fullback Jon Ritchie, who had 13 yards on three carries, averaged 4.3.

Stanford (2-1, 4-2) just can't run against Arizona. Including Saturday, the Cardinal now has a grand total of a minus-eight rushing yards in the past four meetings with the Wildcats. The two-year hiatus in the series didn't do anything to dull Arizona's thirst for the running back.

And if Arizona is the Pac-10's second-best defense, what is Stanford up against this week when Arizona State (2-0, 4-1), which features the Pac-10's top-rated defense, comes to visit on Saturday? After that, it's road trips to USC and Washington State.

Hutchinson did throw for 225 yards and two touchdowns against Arizona, but without the support of the running attack, he won't be able to carry the offense. Stanford, under Willingham, cannot be a one-dimensional team and expect to be successful.

If Stanford was looking for some good news, it came in the special teams department. Punter Kevin Miller had another fine game, averaging 42.1 yards a punt. That was below his conference-leading 44.9 average, but still effective enough.

Stanford also blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown. Jeff Byrd, a senior who has been an extraordinary special teams player the past few years, not only blocked the punt, but knocked the Wildcat punter out of the game. Frank Primus picked up the block and returned it 21 yards for the touchdown.

Defensively, Stanford limited Arizona to 270 yards, but losing makes that nothing more than a trivial matter. Rose Bowl?

"This doesn't change our ultimate goal," Willingham said. "(But) It makes our progress a lot more difficult, because now we have to start watching what other teams do." 

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