Greg Hansen: 'Mr. Football' on Ducks' rise, Grant Gunnell's records and RhettRod's role

Dear Mr. Football: Did Arizona really beat Oregon 38-3 20 years ago next week? What changed?

A: Launched by $8 million of Nike money in 1998, the Ducks opened their 117,000-square football indoor facility, the Moshofsky Center — the first such indoor facility in the Pac-12. It happened when ex-Ducks coach Mike Bellotti told Nike czar Phil Knight it was difficult to get top California prospects to practice in Oregon’s seemingly endless drizzle.

It became a college football success story with few equals. The Ducks have been ranked in the AP Top 25 for 20 consecutive seasons. Arizona, which had a superior football program to Oregon in 1998, has only been ranked in eight of those 20 years.

Now, 20 years later, Arizona is building a $16 million Indoor Sports Center essentially to get out of the heat. Bingo! What took so long? The shell of the building, which is due for completion in January, is mighty impressive.

The man in the middle of both projects has been Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke, who in 1998 was the No. 2 man in Oregon’s athletic department.

But Arizona’s indoor center will be 45,000 square feet, not even half of Oregon’s Moshofsky Center, which can hold up to 3,000 people for sit-down dining before a Ducks home game and for other community events. The Ducks have estimated revenues of close to $900,000 a year from such gatherings.

Dear Mr. Football: Does Oregon coach Mario Cristobal know what it’s like to have the best players on the field against Arizona?

A: Cristobal was Miami’s starting right tackle when the No. 2 Hurricanes — that year’s national champions — played at Arizona 27 years ago this weekend. But Cristobal wasn’t even the best tackle on the field that night. It was Arizona senior John Fina, a Salpointe Catholic High School grad who went on to become a first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills and play 11 years in the NFL. 

The Hurricanes won 36-9 because Arizona started eight freshmen, and a former walk-on quarterback, Billy Prickett, of Rincon High School.

Here’s how much times have changed: Arizona was able to schedule a home-and-home series with the national champions by guaranteeing the Canes $250,000 to play in Tucson. There was no live TV broadcast of the game; it was shown on a delayed basis by Channel 11 at 10:30 p.m., and yet the game wasn’t a sellout, drawing just 53,348.

Dear Mr. Football: Are the Wildcats and Ducks familiar with one another?

A: Arizona and Oregon shared the same hotel, the downtown Eugene Hilton, on Friday, Sept. 21, the night before Arizona played at Oregon State. The Ducks also bunked at the Hilton the night before their crushing, overtime loss to Stanford.

Part of the excessive spending in college football is the night-before-game-hotel stay by home teams. Arizona’s opponents this year have stayed at the Westin La Paloma and at J.W. Marriott Starr Pass. Arizona stays at the Hilton El Conquistador. What’s that per night, including food service and use of banquet halls? Close to $20,000.

Another head-shaking expense is the use of police escorts to Arizona Stadium, and flanking Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin with two policemen as he proceeds through the Wildcat Walk and to and from the UA bench at halftime and at the end of games.

Three policemen accompanied Sumlin from the bus to the locker room at the Rose Bowl last week, a walk of maybe 75 yards. What is this, the White House?

Last week, the UA treated its donors to a night-before-UCLA-game stay at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena, which is the Ritz and then some. It’s minimum $350 a night and it’s like something out of a 1950s Clark Gable movie. But that can be written off because it’s a spend-money-to-make-money project.

The most ridiculous use of athletic department money I’ve seen was former UA coach John Mackovic demanding a police escort to and from the San Jose Airport — and to the team hotel — for a 2002 game at Stanford. The Wildcats were on the way to a 4-8 season, in town to play a 2-9 Stanford team.

Isn’t there some sort of common sense necessary before disrupting traffic for bad football?

Dear Mr. Football: Has Grant Gunnell become Arizona’s quarterback of the future?

A: Last week in Texas, St. Pius X prep quarterback Grant Gunnell broke Texas’ career high school passing yards record, throwing for his 14,577th yard. He has committed to play for Arizona next year. Make your Rose Bowl plans, right?

One reason to hesitate is because the five Texas quarterbacks Gunnell passed to become No. 1 have not become difference-making college players.

Hunter Lile of Booker High School has not played a snap of college football. Travis Quintanillah of Refugio High School is playing at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Nick Gerber of Levelland High School went to Tyler Junior College, and Michael Everett of Oden High School went to Baylor but has not played.

But Garrett Gilbert  of Lake Travis High School, who is now No. 6 with 12,534 yards, played at Texas and SMU. He started for a 5-7 Longhorns team and for SMU clubs that went 12-13 in two seasons.

Dear Mr. Football: Is RhettRod Arizona’s best option at QB?

A: He throws a more catchable ball than Khalil Tate’s fastballs. But RhettRod is not a running threat and his arm strength might not be of upper-level Pac-12 standards.

But it’s clear that RhettRod is a game manager of some skill. He surely knows how to break down game-videos efficiently and instead of just watching football, he watches and understands the science of each play. Maybe he’s not yet going to be able to produce a victory over a team like Oregon, but you can tell he has been paying attention.

Dear Mr. Football: Did Arizona ever attempt to recruit Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert?

A: Since he grew up in Eugene — even though he was a 3-star prospect with low-key offers from Montana State, Portland State — Herbert had a Ducks legacy. There's more: Herbert's maternal grandfather, Rich Schwab, was a standout on the Ducks’ 1963 Sun Bowl team and lived in Eugene most of his adult life.

But there was one person in the UA athletic department who could’ve alerted Arizona’s recruiters to Herbert: former athletic director Greg Byrne, who attended, as Justin Herbert did, Sheldon High School.

Byrne grew up in Eugene and graduated from Sheldon. The legendary Sheldon track coach in that period was Roger Herbert, Justin’s paternal grandfather. What’s more, Schwab had been the football coach at Sheldon High School.

But it wasn’t Arizona that offered Herbert a scholarship in 2015. It was NAU, of all teams.

Either way, Oregon’s edge at quarterback (and a lot of other places) is too much to overcome.

Ducks 41, Wildcats 24.