Dear Mr. Football: Can anybody beat USC with a rookie quarterback?
A: Arizonaβs first-ever victories over the Trojans all were authored by kid QBs:
1981: Tom Tunnicliffe, eighth career start, defeats No. 1 USC, 13-10.
1990: George Malauulu, fourth career start, defeats No. 15 USC, 35-26.
1991: Chuck Levy, third career QB start, defeats USC 31-14.
1993: Dan White, fifth career start, defeats USC, 38-7.
Keith Smith beat the Trojans in his 25th start and Ortege Jenkins, in his 19th start, swept USC in 1999 and 2000.
Since then, Nick Foles, in his ninth start, 2009, and Matt Scott, in his 11th start, 2012, beat the Trojans. Those USC teams were ranked Nos. 20 and 10, respectively.
So whether Brandon Dawkins makes his fifth start Saturday, or Khalil Tate makes his starting debut, it shouldnβt be a man-walks-on-the-moon moment.
Dear Mr. Football: Should a beer company create a commercial about βThe Most Interesting Man of the UA-USC series?β
A: No need for an audition. That Most Interesting Man would be Jon McGee, a Sahuaro High grad, a former Trojan and Wildcat who is now an attorney in Scottsdale.
McGee was a Top 25 linebacker recruit after a terrific prep career at Amphi and Sahuaro. He chose USC over Oklahoma and then his life became drama.
On Sept. 28, 1992, while at a USC practice, McGee was shot below his left elbow by a stray bullet from a nearby gang fight on always dangerous Vermont Avenue, adjacent to the βSC practice field. βI heard seven or eight shots,β McGee said at the time. He missed the entire season.
McGee left USC, transferred to Oklahoma but did not crack the lineup. He considered quitting football, but later transferred to Arizona and in 1994 was the UA scout teamβs Defensive Player of the Year. Then he left college football before ever playing a down. Thatβs when his life became more interesting.
McGee completed a UA degree in business administration and accounting. He then moved to Tempe and earned a law degree at ASU. He moved to Munichand did further graduate work, then moved back to Tucson and became a CPA.
Then he joined his old Amphi High buddy, three-time Olympic pole-vaulter Dominic Johnson, and attempted to make the U.S. Olympic bobsled team. In 2007, McGee was the No. 3-ranked bobsled driver in America.
McGee transitioned from bobsledding to the law business, opening a practice in Lake Tahoe. He has since resettled in Scottsdale.
As for his football roots: McGee celebrated his 42nd birthday at USCβs victory over ASU last week at the Los Angeles Coliseum, a place he never got to play.
Dear Mr. Football: Do a lot of people watch Arizona football games on TV?
A: The Utah-Arizona game last week on Fox Sports 1 drew an audience of 352,000, which was the dayβs 17th-highest rated college football game. A week earlier, at UCLA, the Wildcats were watched by 429,000 on ESPN. That was the dayβs 11th-most watched TV game.
Arizonaβs Sept. 24 late-night overtime loss to Washington on the Pac-12 Networks probably had an audience of close to 100,000, although the major TV ratings services donβt monitor the Pac-12 Network because of its relatively small distribution.
Dear Mr. Football: Why is it so ironic that UA starting linebacker Cody Ippolito suffered a season-ending knee injury while trying to block a field goal attempt at Utah?
A: The Wildcats have blocked just two kicks β punts, PATs, field goals β in 4Β½ seasons. This would be the sixth season since 2003 that Arizona hasnβt blocked a kick.
In previous dispensations, Arizona thrived as a kick-blocking program. Thatβs how Larry Smith and Dick Tomey often bridged gaps in talent with the Pac-12βs more talented teams.
In 1987, five Arizona players blocked kicks. In 1991, Heath βCrashβ Bray, Richard Holt and Darryl Morrison all blocked two.
The greatest kick blocker in UA history, Wally Scott, once blocked three in a half, in a 1967 game at Utah. Scott blocked a punt in the first quarter, a field goal and a PAT in the second quarter.
He blocked five kicks in β67.
So much time has passed since Scott left Arizona that he is rarely listed among the schoolβs memory-makers, but I suspect he mightβve been among the four or five top all-around athletes in UA history.
Now 70 and living in Kansas City, retired from owning a Farmers Insurance agency, Scott arrived at Arizona as a coveted baseball pitcher and track athlete. He had long-jumped 23 feet and ran 100 yards in 9.8 seconds at Shawnee Mission East High School in the mid β60s.
At Arizona, Scott started at cornerback and receiver and often played both ways for most of the game. In Arizonaβs 1966 opener, he intercepted two passes against Iowa and caught three passes for 53 yards.
If the NCAA indeed allows each FBS team to add a 10th assistant football coach, Arizona should contact Scott and ask him how to block a kick.
Dear Mr. Football: Is USC tough enough to endure a day when it could reach 95 degrees?
A: Since Arizona joined the Pac-10 in 1978, the highest temperature at kickoff for an afternoon game was 98 degrees on Oct. 2, 1993. Arizona routed USC 38-7. A banner headline in the following dayβs Star read:
βArizona-Generated Heat Wilts USCβ
It has only been 100 degrees at two Arizona Stadium night games since 1980: The most notable was a 101-degree night in 1989 when the Wildcats stunned No. 6 Oklahoma 6-3.
Four weeks later, after Arizonaβs offense conked out in a 16-10 loss at Oregon, with the aid of a bye week, the Wildcats entirely changed their offense to the I-Bone for a game against UCLA. The No. 22 Bruins were not only greeted by 92 degrees at kickoff that afternoon, but they were clueless against the new UA offense as Pueblo High grad David Eldridge ran for 202 yards. Arizona won 42-7.
The heatβs got to be worth, what, six points?
Dear Mr. Football: If a Tucson restaurant gave a discount based on how many points Arizona beats USC, how much would I save?
A: Forget the cheap food; the UA has leased a βWater Monsterβ dispenser that contains 125 gallons of water, equal to 1,000 plastic bottles. It is available to about 10,000 Zona Zoo fans who will surely be simmering, without shade, in the lower east grandstands.
Discounts? Not today. Trojans 38, Wildcats 27
