"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Harbaugh’s NFL ties gives Stanford a recruiting advantage

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh is 2-0 against the UA. The Cardinal has won five of the last six against Arizona and six of the last eight games in the series.

By Javier Morales

One of the Pac-10 reporters I was fortunate to meet during my days as beat reporter for the UA hoops team was the Oregonian’s Ken Goe, who has years of experience covering the conference.

Reading opinions of knowledgeable folks outside of Tucson and Arizona — especially on the West coast — is always a good barometer of what the perception is concerning Arizona athletics. I bring this to your attention because Goe posted his weekly “Two-minute drill: An irreverent look at the week in Pac-10 football” on Thursday and in it included noteworthy items about Arizona.

The most important is Goe agrees that the referees and the replay officials in the booth blew it last Saturday at Husky Stadium. That’s refreshing because for a while there I felt polarized. This is what Goe writes:

Why do we have instant replay in college football, anyway?
1. Duh. More chances to pitch ads for beer and erectile dysfunction.
2. Only possible explanation for bringing the UW-Arizona game to a complete stop and still missing the call.
3. Had these guys been on the case, Dewey beats Truman.
4. What could be more exciting than seeing 22 players stand around while a guy in a white hat talks to the replay booth.
5. Let’s see, the ball is brown, the field is green and Delashaun Dean‘s shoes are white — how hard could it be?
6. Replay officials don’t work with black-and-white monitors. Or, do they.
7. The Huskies got hosed the week before, so what goes around comes around.
8. What made this Arizona’s turn?
9. Uh, have you seen Arizona coach Mike Stoops in full tantrum mode?
10. Dude makes Freddy Krueger look like a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

I always give Stoops the benefit of the doubt because of how he has worked hard to turn Arizona’s program around. But it’s difficult to realize he is seen in this kind of light by those who don’t call Tucson home. His tirades make opposing fans boo and referees to become red-faced. But come on. My brother brought this to my attention Thursday night: Stoops is similar to John McEnroe: They are known to have argued vehemently with officials, but how often were they wrong?

What does this have to do with Saturday’s game with Stanford? The Cardinal has head coach Jim Harbaugh, a certifiable players coach with a presence about him that exudes control. He can get animated but he always seems to play the part of a quarterback — which he did well in the NFL — executing a two-minute offense with the game on the line.

The Cardinal’s recruiting is impressive, mostly because of Harbaugh’s NFL background and his inclusion of former NFL assistants such as Ron Lynn on his staff. The Cardinal so far have commitments from five four-star athletes, according to Rivals.com, and 23 commitments overall for the Class of 2010. Arizona has one four-star athlete — Trent Spurgeon, a 6-8, 270, offensive lineman from Owasso, Okla. — and nine known commitments at this time.

This is not a knock on Stoops. It’s more of a credit to Harbaugh, who certainly has the Cardinal program headed in the right direction. Stoops is at the cusp of making the UA program enticing to more recruits, sideline tantrums or not.

If image is everything, Harbaugh, two years younger than Stoops at 45, has his counterpart beat, but winning — starting Saturday against the Cardinal — is the great equalizer for the UA coach. Harbaugh is 2-0 against Stoops and Arizona.

Now on to facts you may not know (avoiding the mindless variety you couldn’t care less about such as women blink nearly twice as many times as men):

• Not one coach on the field Saturday will match Lynn’s expertise. He was the defensive coordinator in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers (1986-91), Cincinnati Bengals (1992-93) and Washington Redskins (1994-96). He also was a secondary coach in the NFL with the New England Patriots (1997-99), Oakland Raiders (2000-03) and San Francisco 49ers (2004). His most successful run came during the first three of his four seasons in Oakland when the club won three consecutive AFC West titles and reached the Super Bowl following the 2002 season. Lynn worked under head coach Jon Gruden for his first two seasons and with Bill Callahan for his last two with the Raiders. He most recently was the secondary coach for the San Francisco 49ers in 2004. He planned to stay in retirement before Harbaugh called on him last year.
• Stanford’s tight ends/running backs/offensive tackles coach Greg Roman is only 36 yet he has 13 years of NFL coaching experience in a variety of positions. He most recently served as the assistant offensive line coach of the Baltimore Ravens from 2006-07 and also spent four seasons on the coaching staff of the Houston Texans, where he served as the tight ends (2002-03) and quarterbacks coach (2004-05). Roman began his coaching career with the Carolina Panthers, where he served as a defensive and offensive assistant coach from 1995-01.
• The other assistant with NFL coaching ties is wide receivers coach David Shaw, a former Cardinal standout who spent time coaching with the Ravens, Raiders and Eagles. Harbaugh, a 14-year quarterback in the NFL, was the quarterbacks coach with the Super Bowl-bound Raiders in 2002 before becoming the head coach at the University of San Diego.
• The NFL angle is important, similar to having a coach with NBA ties in college basketball: Recruits know these coaches have contacts with pro scouts and they realize they might have a better chance to become a pro under their tutelage. Stoops and his staff have never coached in the NFL, although Stoops can always boast that he has coached 29 future NFL players at Arizona and as a defensive coach with Oklahoma and Kansas State. Mark Stoops, a defensive back specialist, has groomed 14 future NFL defensive secondary players at Arizona and Miami, including Antoine Cason, Michael Johnson, Antrel Rolle, the late Sean Taylor, Edward Reed and Phillip Buchanon.
• Arizona is developing another talented secondary this season under Mark Stoops, the UA’s defensive coordinator. Since 2004, when Mark Stoops joined the UA staff, the Wildcats’ interception totals have increased each year: Only five in 2004, 12 in 2005, 13 in 2006, 15 in 2007 and 16 in 2008. The UA already has seven interceptions with seven games remaining.
• Sophomore cornerback Trevin Wade recorded his fourth interception of the year and eighth in his 18-game career against Oregon State. He is tied for No. 3 nationally with his four interceptions (0.8 per game) while his eight passes deflected (2.0 per game) rank in the Top 10. He has two career double-pick games, one last year against Idaho and another against Northern Arizona this year.
• Because of the improvement of Arizona’s secondary, Mark Stoops has not found it necessary to duplicate a practice performed by his Miami cornerbacks and safeties earlier this decade. Hurricanes defensive backs Maurice Sikes and Taylor surprised some by doing push-ups on the grass after flubbing interceptions in a 2002 game against Florida A&M. Stoops told Sikes and Taylor that it was not necessary to do push-ups if they dropped passes against Florida in the following game. ”I’ll probably still want to do some push-ups on the sidelines if I miss one,” Taylor told the media.
  
  

• Stanford is doing its best to promote its hard running, bruiser of a back Toby Gerhart for Heisman consideration, although the Doak Walker award given to the nation’s top running back is more within reach. Gerhart currently leads the Pac-10 and ranks fourth nationally in rushing average at 124.3 yards per game. He has rushed for 746 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. He also has four, 100-yard games, including a career-best 200-yard effort in Stanford’s 34-14 win over Washington, which ranked as the eighth-best single-game rushing performance in school history. ESPN is making it possible for fans to vote for their Heisman favorite. Harbaugh has openly campaigned for Gehart to receive Heisman votes. He recently posted on his Twitter account: “Each morning when you wake up, drink 16 oz of water, brush your teeth and cast your Heisman vote for Toby. EVERY DAY!” Some affluent Stanford alumni are considering posting a billboard of Gerhart in New York City.
• Quarterbacking in the Pac-10 was a question mark this season with so many new signal callers taking over. Arizona and Stanford each lost Willie Tuitama and Tavita Pritchard, respectively. It appears that UA sophomore Nick Foles and Stanford redshirt freshman Andrew Luck have eased concerns about a new quarterback taking charge. Foles ranks No. 1 in the Pac-10 in pass efficiency and has produced six touchdown passes in only 106 attempts. He did however throw his first two interceptions of the season late in the Washington game, though the one off the turf — er, Dean’s shoe — requires an asterisk. Luck ranks second in pass efficiency behind Foles. Similarly, Luck has six touchdown passes and two interceptions.
• Where did UA junior receiver David Roberts come from all of sudden? He had a career game at Washington, recording 12 receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown. Foles, Roberts and Co., should find some success against a Stanford secondary that is vulnerable — the Cardinal is allowing 223.8 yards passing a game, which ranks sixth in the Pac-10. Roberts told The Arizona Daily Star’s Ryan Finley recently that he wants to work for NASA: “I’m an aerospace engineer; did you know that? I want to work for NASA or Boeing – that would be very nice – but anything in aerospace engineering would be great. I was always into planes growing up; if I wasn’t into football, I’d still be an engineer.”
• Roberts’ 12 receptions against Washington was more than the 10 he had in the previous four games. He is now the No. 7 receiver in the Pac-10 and tops all UA receivers. Terrell Turner is next at 21.
• Arizona ranks last in red-zone defense among Pac-10 teams. Reason to panic? Put it this way: Washington State leads the Pac-10 in that category and the Cougars … well, I’ll be nice and leave that one alone. On 13 occasions, an opponent has been in the red-zone (within the 20-yard line) against Arizona and the Cats have allowed 11 touchdowns and two field goals. Opponents have entered the red-zone 28 times against the Cougars and have converted 19 times. The better stat to look at is how many times opponents enter the red-zone. ASU leads the conference with only eight, followed by USC and Arizona (13 apiece). Stanford is tied with Oregon State for eighth at 22. Teams have converted 20 times against the Cardinal. Red-zone offense is also a Cardinal weakness — it ranks No. 9 in the league converting on 17 of 22 opportunities (77.3 percent). WSU is last at 76.9 while Arizona is sixth at 83.3 percent (20 of 24).

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  This entry was posted on Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 10:51 AM and is filed under Facts You May Not Know. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.