Related articles:

Opinion by Greg Hansen : With easier warm-ups, Wildcats pave smooth road to bowl game

Other articles by Greg Hansen:

Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : Black learns golf's secret Greg Hansen : Tubac's 'Triangle' a 'Wreck' for golfers Greg Hansen : First stop Indianapolis Greg Hansen : Historically, 44th draft picks have brief or no NBA history Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : USC, O'Neill a good fit Greg Hansen : For Miller, hard work is a legacy from father Greg Hansen: El Rio's No. 8 tee shot is intimidating Greg Hansen : ASU's Tucson pipeline pumps as rich as ever Greg Hansen : Tucson's Tyler appears calm before the storm at Bethpage Greg Hansen : Friends for life reunite

Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps

Lo and behold, 50,939 paid to get into old Arizona Stadium on Saturday night, and it had nothing to do with Toledo or a fireworks show or the promise of free pizza if the Wildcats could score 70 points again.

None of that applied as the UA took the Rockets apart 41-16, giving coach Mike Stoops such unusual peace of mind that he hung out with his wife and kids and forgot about his post-game radio obligation.

"I might get fined," he said with a laugh, which too often has been his last reaction after the first 48 games of his head coaching career.

The Wildcats weren't sharp on Saturday but they didn't have to be. Under strain for the first time this year, Stoops' team had far too much muscle and way too much speed for Toledo.

"I'm excited to be 2-0," the coach said. "It's kind of exciting to not play our best and still win like that. It's an awfully good sign."

The two gimme games at the start of the season served their purpose. The Wildcats outscored Idaho and Toledo 111-16, gained 973 yards and established the type of momentum and confidence that UA football hasn't had to start a season since 2000.

"We're confident and happy as a group because this is the start of a new era,'' said senior free safety Nate Ness. "We've got our heads screwed on right.''

Who is going to doubt that?

Most of the Wildcats wore navy blue T-shirts Saturday that read HOLD THE ROPE, a bonding and togetherness approach that began last month at Camp Huachuca and will take the Wildcats to Saturday's first road game at New Mexico.

Quarterback Willie Tuitama has completed an unworldly 78 percent of his 54 passes in two games, with no interceptions, and was asked if his club has at last "turned a corner."

"I believe so," he said.

What else could he say?

Arizona won't truly turn a corner unless it can win three of its next four games — at New Mexico and UCLA, back home against Washington and another roadie to Stanford — but it undeniably has made the most of its unusually soft beginning schedule.

The whole stadium has a different feel, a semi-buzz, an expectation that has been missing for such a long time.

If Tuitama is anywhere near as good as he has been in two games — offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes called Saturday's performance "maybe the best he has ever played'' — the Wildcats seem likely to challenge Oregon and Arizona State for a first-division finish in the Pac-10.

"Willie's decision-making has been so much better than before,'' said Dykes. "He got us out of some bad passes and put us into some good runs. It's not flashy, but it's workmanlike and consistent.''

Toledo's defensive plan was to take away Arizona's vertical passing game, dropping so far off the ball that it was essentially testing Tuitama's savvy. Would he force deep balls to Mike Thomas and Terrell Turner all night? Or would he be disciplined enough to punch up some Nicolas Grigsby runs and quick passes to Money Mike?

He was.

Thomas was fabulous. He caught nine short-pattern passes for 138 yards, and Grigsby, rushing for 135 yards, might've been better. You can win a lot of college football games with a threesome like Tuitama, Thomas and Grigsby.

The players call him "Grigs" but on Saturday the sophomore tailback was like something out of video game. The last time a UA running back had the explosive, north-south running ability of Grigs it was Chuck Levy against Miami in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl.

And he is only part of the offensive machinery.

Dykes confessed that the only time Tuitama was sacked all year, on a first-play-of-the-game long ball call, it was his fault, not that of the QB.

"The last thing I told them before we took the field was to be patient,'' Dykes said. "And then on that first series I got greedy."

Things are changing.

On opening night 1985, Arizona and Toledo drew a distressingly small crowd of 44,691 on a night there should have been considerable reason to celebrate the UA's growth as a football power.

Free at last from a lingering NCAA probation, sizzling from four consecutive winning seasons, the Wildcats were the preseason choice to win the Pac-10. And yet they couldn't sell 14,000 tickets.

Everybody conveniently blamed it on Toledo.

Saturday night, a generation later, the Rockets returned to Tucson for an engagement against an oft-stumbling Arizona football operation that hasn't had a winning season for 10 years.

The stadium was almost full, the atmosphere was positive and the coach acknowledged the difference in his team.

"We couldn't have won like that a year ago or two years ago or three years ago,'' said Stoops. "We've set a pretty high standard to open the season.''

True, it's only Toledo and Idaho. But in this town at this time, it is 2-0 with a bullet.