Stoops wants his Wildcats to finish

TUCSON — Arizona is out of the Pac-10 race, and it's easy to see why.

The Wildcats haven't learned how to finish games. They led in the fourth quarter of all three of their conference losses.

Last weekend's 44-41 double-overtime loss to No. 11 Oregon was the latest in a string of heartbreakers for the Wildcats. This one hurt even more because it ended Arizona's hopes for its first Rose Bowl berth in 32 years as a Pac-10 member.

With trips to Arizona State and USC looming, the Wildcats (6-4, 4-3 Pac-10) have lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.

"We understand that you've got to play 60 minutes," coach Mike Stoops said Monday at his weekly campus news conference. "Our players understand that very well now, that you've got to play a full game."

In Arizona's first Pac-10 loss, the Wildcats led Washington 33-21 with 3 minutes to play in Seattle. After the Huskies drew to 33-28, Arizona's Nick Foles threw a pass that deflected off receiver Delashaun Dean's foot and into the arms of a Huskies defender who returned it for the decisive touchdown.

In their second conference loss, the Wildcats led California 16-15 with 5 minutes left in Berkeley. The Golden Bears took a two-point lead, but Arizona had marched into Cal territory when Foles caught his own deflected pass and then threw the ball again, drawing a penalty that pushed the Wildcats out of field-goal range.

Then came the Oregon loss, easily the most deflating.

Arizona blew a 10-point lead in a 5-minute span in the fourth quarter but rebounded to take a 31-24 lead with 7:41 to play. Needing only a field goal to ice the game, the Wildcats moved into Oregon territory, but Foles threw an interception in the end zone with 3:11 to play. Given new life, the Ducks went 80 yards on 15 plays and tied it after a touchdown pass from Jeremiah Masoli to Ed Dickson with 6 seconds left.

Arizona kicked a field goal to take a brief lead in the second overtime, but Masoli won it with a 1-yard run.

"This is how close we really are, and we've done it over a period of time," Stoops said. "We're close. We've just got to keep moving forward and keep trying to get better."

Arizona blew a chance to break its Rose Bowl drought, but Stoops said he came away from the Oregon game with a good feeling.

"Saturday night was a huge success to me," Stoops said. "There are no moral victories. But it's about your players — their attitude, their preparation, their ability to go out and execute, and I think they did everything we asked. So that, to me, is very successful."

Some of the players were still coping with the loss when they reported for practice on Monday.

"I still have a bad taste in my mouth," senior linebacker Xavier Kelley said.

The Wildcats don't have long to dwell on the Oregon defeat. Next up is the 90-mile trip on I-10 to Tempe, where they'll face rival Arizona State (4-7, 2-6).

Arizona wraps up the regular season at No. 24 USC on Dec. 5.

Even though Arizona's title hopes are gone, the last two games are pivotal because the Wildcats are jockeying for bowl position in the tightly competitive Pac-10. Seven teams are eligible for the league's six bowl slots.

Arizona needs a split of its last two games to finish with a winning conference record for the second year in a row. It may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but the Wildcats haven't had consecutive winning seasons in the Pac-10 since a three-year run from 1992-94.

Last year, the Wildcats went 5-4 in the conference, 8-5 overall.

"We certainly feel as if we're a much better program than we were a year ago," Stoops said. "Sometimes the record reflects that, sometimes maybe not so much. Hopefully it will."