Greg Hansen: 'Mr. Football' on one Arizona Wildcat that can relate to Khalil Tate

Dear Mr. Football: Should Khalil Tate sit out a game or two and let his body heal?

A: It’s unfortunate that Tate has played five games. The NCAA now allows a football player to redshirt after a maximum of four games. This would be a good time to redshirt Tate. Imagine how effective he could be as a fifth-year senior in 2020.

There are two problems with that. One is that Tate, as with most Power 5 conference quarterbacks, has a personal timeline at which he hopes to arrive in the NFL. The second is that putting Tate on pause for a game or two would likely mean Arizona would lose to Cal and Utah.

Given what we’ve seen through five games, Arizona will probably lose to Cal and Utah no matter who plays quarterback.

Dear Mr. Football: How does the Legend of Billy Prickett apply to Tate?

A: Tucson orthopedic surgeon William Prickett stands on the UA sideline at most Arizona Stadium games. He is now the team’s orthopedic consultant.

In October 1991, Prickett was a fifth-year senior from Rincon High School, the 1986 all-city quarterback, a walk-on who earned a scholarship his final UA season. Prickett was under consideration as a Rhodes Scholar Candidate whose playing time consisted of seven snaps of mop-up duty in two games.

As the 2-3 Wildcats prepared for a game at 2-2 UCLA, coach Dick Tomey pulled Prickett aside and told him he would be starting that week at the Rose Bowl. Starting quarterback George Malauulu had an injured shoulder and the Wildcats chose to give Malauulu a week or two to heal.

It didn’t go well. Prickett completed 6 of 13 passes with three interceptions. UCLA won 54-14.

The UA’s 1991 season was doomed. Two true freshmen were starting on the offensive line. The Wildcats were over-scheduled, forced to play No. 2 Miami, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Washington. So Tomey and the team docs chose to start Prickett a second time, giving Malauulu further time to heal.

In Prickett’s second start, against the mighty Miami Hurricanes, he held his own but was matched against future Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta. The Hurricanes won 36-9.

Malauulu returned the next week, beat Oregon State, and two weeks later engineered a 31-14 victory over USC.

A year later, Arizona rose to No. 9 in the polls, Desert Swarm was born, and Malauulu was the quarterback-of-record as Prickett entered medical school and began his distinguished medical career.

It took a while, but it all worked out for those involved. Now you wonder if Kevin Sumlin and Khalil Tate are willing to wait for more favorable circumstances.

Dear Mr. Football: Is Cal well-coached or just well-paid?

A: The Bears’ offensive line coach, 60-year-old Steve Greatwood, began coaching at Oregon in 1980. He is the dean of Pac-12 assistant football coaches. Greatwood spent 30 seasons coaching the Ducks, helping them from bottom-feeder to Rose Bowl champion. He is so good that he also was sought by, and hired by, USC and the Los Angeles Rams for brief coaching stints.

One of the wisest things Greatwood did along the way was to spend three decades at Oregon. He accrued so much time in the state retirement system that his annual pension from the state of Oregon is $188,232.

On top of that, he is being paid $275,000 by the Bears this season.

Dear Mr. Football: Who is the dean of Pac-12 radio play-by-play announcers?

A: Cal’s Joe Starkey began broadcasting Bears games in 1975. He announced his 500th game last week, a total that might be untouchable.

Arizona’s Brian Jeffries and Oregon’s Jerry Allen both began their play-by-play work in 1986; Jeffries’ first game was at the Aloha Bowl, Arizona vs. North Carolina. He got the job when legendary Ray Scott, who had been the UA’s play-by-play man for four years, chose not to travel to Honolulu for the game.

Jeffries estimates his total of UA football games broadcast is close to 370. If he is to ever reach 500, or challenge Starkey’s record, he would have to be the Voice of the Wildcats until 2030, or thereabouts.

Dear Mr. Football: What is the smallest Arizona Stadium crowd for a Pac-10/12 conference game?

A: The Wildcats drew a historic low of 35,599 in the 1982 opener against Oregon State. There were mitigating circumstances: it rained hard all day. The next day’s weather report included an item about 3.3 inches of game-day rain at the Grant-Craycroft area.

Saturday’s Arizona-Cal game isn’t likely to have even 35,000 in the Arizona Stadium seats, but the school might choose to announce a higher figure based on seats sold, or whatever.

The competition for potential ticket buyers is fierce. The Yankees-Red Sox divisional playoff will be on TV, as will a good selection of college football games.

One option is the Pima College football game at Kino North Stadium, 7 p.m. The Aztecs have climbed to No. 20 in the NJCAA poll, and you can’t find a much better story in football.

Jim Monaco’s football program will be terminated next month, a decision PCC chancellor Lee Lambert says is based on finances.

After his team was given a football death sentence, Monaco successfully recruited quarterback Brooks Ringer — how’s that for a great sports name? Ringer was sitting on the bench at Southern Utah, the same school Arizona defeated last month.

In his third game at Pima, Ringer threw for 475 yards and five touchdowns and was named NJCAA Player of the Week. The Aztecs followed by stunning No. 4 ranked Scottsdale Community College, a night in which Sahuaro High grad Derik Hall made 14 tackles.

The Aztecs’ schedule is imposing: it must still play No. 9 Snow College, No. 12 Eastern Arizona and No. 15 Arizona Western. But at this stage nothing seems impossible, not even winning the league championship.

Dear Mr. Football: It’s October. Isn’t that good for Arizona?

A: One year ago: On the first weekend of October, Khalil Tate was discovered at Colorado, rushing for 327 yards, triggering the single greatest individual month of performances in school history.

20 years ago: On this weekend in 1998, Ortege Jenkins summersaulted into the end zone at Washington in the most dramatic victory in school history, launching a 12-1 season.

25 years ago: On this weekend in 1993, Arizona’s Desert Swarm routed USC 38-7 and climbed to No. 11 in the polls.

But these early October anniversaries don’t always have happy endings.

On this weekend in 1983, Arizona was ranked No. 3, the highest ranking in school history. It played a perfectly average Cal team, 5-5-1 that season. The Wildcats led 33-16 in the fourth quarter.

And then, on the day the Flood of the Century dropped as much as five inches of rain in Tucson, the Wildcats submerged and finished tied with Cal, 33-33. That led to a stabbing quote from Cal coach Joe Kapp:

“The Bears don’t die, but the Bears will accept a tie.’’

Arizona finished 7-3-1, unranked. In some ways, Arizona’s football program has never fully surfaced since that long-ago October day in Berkeley.

Cal 31, Arizona 27