Editorβs note: Throughout this fall without Pac-12 football, the Star will revisit Arizona Wildcats games that were significant for one reason or another.
Aug. 28, 1999: A fateful trip to Happy Valley
What went down: Arizona entered the β99 season with massive expectations after the greatest year in program history. The β98 Wildcats finished 12-1, capping the campaign with a win over Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.
The UA opened the following season ranked fourth in the country. Week 1 foe Penn State was ranked third. They would meet in the Pigskin Classic in State College, Pennsylvania.
The game at Beaver Stadium β played in front of 97,168 fans β started well for the Wildcats. The first two offensive plays saw quarterback Keith Smith connect with receiver Dennis Northcutt for 55 yards. From there, it was all Nittany Lions.
Penn State throttled Arizona 41-7. It was the largest margin of defeat for the Dick Tomey-coached Cats since 1996.
The Nittany Lions dominated the game in every conceivable manner, nearly pitching a shutout. They led 31-0 at halftime despite Smith and fellow QB Ortege Jenkins completing 14 of 15 passes for 141 yards.
βFootball is not about completion percentages,β Dino Babers, the UAβs offensive coordinator and QB coach, said after the game. βItβs about getting the ball in the end zone.β
Penn State outgained, outrushed and outhit the Wildcats. Star linebacker LaVar Arrington had seven tackles, including three for losses. Jenkins was sacked four times.
Arizona also had a punt deflected and missed two field goals. All around, it was an uncharacteristic performance by a Tomey-coached team.
Penn Stateβs LaVar Arrington (11) moves in to drop Arizonaβs Dennis Northcutt (8) for a loss in the first quarter Saturday, Aug. 28, 1999 in State College, Pa.
From the archives: Star reporter Terrance Harris chronicled the Wildcatsβ inauspicious start in State College. The headline in the Star the next day read: βThrown to the Lions.β
Wrote Harris:
If the final score was not a sobering reality, the capacity crowd in Beaver Stadium delivered a parting shot to the UA football team yesterday afternoon.
As the clock wound down and the scoreboard reflected Penn Stateβs 41-7 advantage in the season-opening Pigskin Classic, faint chants of βoverratedβ began to resonate.
But the fourth-ranked Wildcats did not need the crowd or the thorough pummeling by the third-ranked Nittany Lions to know that they are not a Top 5 program β at least not right now.
βWhen youβre on a team, and you practice with a team, you pretty much know,β UA quarterback Ortege Jenkins said. βYou know what your team is.
βA lot of the guys will fall into the hype, but talk to some of the veterans. You know where you are and what your ranking should be. Reality is within yourself.β
The Nittany Lions forced it out, annihilating the UA from the beginning. The Wildcats came close to being shut out for the first time since 1991 β redshirt freshman running back Leo Mills scored on a 1-yard run with 47 seconds remaining.
This was not indicative of a team that entered the year a consensus Top 5 pick and had been mentioned in the same breath as a possible national champion.
He said it: Tomey always scheduled difficult out-of-conference opponents, and he insisted after the loss to Penn State that it was βstill a good game for us.β He also acknowledged the reality of what had just transpired.
βWe just got our butts kicked,β Tomey said. βThey beat us as bad you can get beat. It was just one of those games where it was a nightmare.β
By the numbers: Penn State outrushed Arizona 262 yards to 124 and averaged 8.1 yards per offensive play (rushes and passes) to the Wildcatsβ 5.0.
The aftermath: An argument can be made that UA football never fully recovered from the blowout loss at Penn State.
The Wildcats did win five of their next six games, including rallying for a 35-31 victory at TCU β led by LaDainian Tomlinson β the following week. (Yes, Arizona scheduled back-to-back road games against FBS opponents to open the season β something a Power Five conference team never would do today.)
But Arizona ended the season losing four of its final five, finishing with a 6-6 record. The Wildcats experienced a similar fade the following season, which would be Tomeyβs last as head coach. His 95 wins over 14 years remain the most in program history.
John Mackovic succeeded Tomey, and the years that followed were some of the bleakest in UA annals. Arizona finished under .500 every season from 2000-05. The Wildcats went 10 years between bowl appearances, finally qualifying for one when they made the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl under Mike Stoops.
Arizona has surpassed eight wins only once since the 1998 season, going 10-4 in 2014.
