Throwing it back

It wasn’t throwback Thursday, but the Wildcats changed up their uniform scheme nonetheless.

UA debuted navy blue facemasks for Saturday’s game, a look that — when paired with white helmets, navy jerseys and white pants — was reminiscent of the Wildcats’ breakout season of 1998. Arizona last wore the navy facemasks during the John Mackovic era in the early 2000s.

Arizona didn’t go full throwback, though. The Wildcats wore their regular jerseys and pants, and the white helmet was without the red and navy stripes that were a hallmark of the Dick Tomey-era team.

Putting the ‘USC’ in Tucson

For $67,000 a year, you can also not learn how to spell “Tucson” pic.twitter.com/omyuF9Sujl

— ZonaZoo (@ZonaZooOfficial) September 28, 2018

Like Arizona, USC has alumni everywhere, including the Old Pueblo.

The graduates’ love of USC may have led to an unfortunate typo. The Tucson chapter handed out gold t-shirts for Saturday night’s game. Tucson was misspelled — T-u-s-c-o-n — on the shirts.

Eh, it’s not the first time.

Jake Olson’s message

Former Salpointe Catholic and USC standout Kris O’Dowd had his jersey number retired at halftime of Friday night’s Salpointe Catholic football game.

O’Dowd was accompanied by Jake Olson, a USC long-snapper and his decade-long friend.

Olson and O’Dowd spoke to students from the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind before Friday’s game.

Olson suffers from retinoblastoma, a form of eye cancer. He became blind at 12 years old. O’Dowd played center at USC at the time, and the two bonded.

O’Dowd said he still looks to his friend for strength.

“As much as he looks up to me, I truly believe in my heart that I look up to him more,” O’Dowd told the Star last week. “That is somebody I’d like to model my life after and to wake up with the type of energy, passion and dedication that he puts into everything that he touches. ...

“What ended up being one meeting ended up into a beautiful friendship and a relationship that I will hold close to me for the rest of my life.”

More history

As it has all season, Arizona honored a former player during Saturday’s game. And it was a good one: Ricky Hunley, the Wildcats’ two-time consensus All-American linebacker, served as the honorary captain. Hunley has a history with both the Wildcats and Trojans: He starred at Arizona from 1980-83 and then, following a career with the NFL’s Broncos, Cardinals and Raiders, went into coaching.

Hunley’s first job: Graduate assistant at USC, where he worked for his old college coach, Larry Smith.

Los oficiales se hablan espanol

Gatos 😼vs. Troyanos 🗡 pic.twitter.com/0oTFAORBGh

— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) September 30, 2018

Saturday marked Mexican Heritage Night at Arizona Stadium, and the atmosphere was appropriately festive.

The scoreboard read Gatos, Spanish for Cats, and Troyanos, Spanish for Trojans. Wilbur T. Wildcat sported an all-white sombrero.

During the opening coin toss, the main official spoke entirely in Spanish. A group of mariachis performed during halftime. While it wasn’t an exciting game to begin with, Arizona Stadium was still a fiesta Saturday night.

The Big Number

80

The total percentage of games USC had won against Arizona entering Saturday.

Another Big Number

145

The teams’ combined penalty yards in the first half.

He said it

“$300,000. ... He looked over and said ‘Your boy just saved you this money by the hard work and dedication he’s shown us on the field.’ My mom started to cry tears of joy. And that’s when I felt what accomplishment truly meant.” — O’Dowd, on what Pete Carroll told his family when he signed with USC.