Mike Stoops is out as Arizona head coach, but as necessary as that move became, Arizona fans should not forget the positive and lasting impact he made on the program.

Confession: I have never been much of a supporter of Mike Stoops. Between the sideline antics, recruiting troubles, and baffling losses to below level competition (New Mexico. Twice), it became extremely difficult to garner much positive support towards Stoops. Throw in the 10 straight losses to FBS teams and even the most ardent of Stoops supporters did not have much to grasp to. Sunday morning, after digesting the Oregon State loss, I was fully ready to see Stoops canned. I had already started day-dreaming about who would replace him.

Yet, despite the outcome of the last 12 months and the current state of the program , I still find myself thankful for Stoops and his near-eight years of service. It is easy to forget now, but Stoops was willing to step into what had to be one of the worst jobs in college football at the time, following Mackovic's Reign of Terror. The program was in shambles. The players executed a literal mutiny against their coach. Looking back, I'm shocked Stoops even took the chance. Certainly, the grass was not any greener in Tucson than in Norman.

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The Arizona Wildcats football team kicks off the season with its first practice August 4. Between now and September 3, Mike Stoops and company have several major issues to address in order to get the 'Cats pointed in the right direction.

Last season's five-game slide, capped by the humiliation in the Alamo Bowl, has kept the program from turning the proverbial corner. Doesn't it always seem like Arizona approaches the corner, but then that damn corner just looks back, laughs, and leaps forward further down the road as Arizona forgets to turn and hurtles off the road?

But, after the long off-season, and fall camp starting this Thursday, Arizona has the chance (again) to correctly navigate the corner and come out a program with a rosier future outlook. And, because everyone loves a good list, here are five stories to watch this August.

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The new Pac-12 television deal is complete, reports Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury.

The deal is reported to be for over $3 billion and 12 years, and will include a Pac-12 television network. The television deal's primary partner is Fox, with ESPN also securing some rights. Fox's available platforms for broadcast include basic-cable Fox, FX, and the regional Fox Sports Net stations. 

Larry Scott has come through again for the conference.

Arizona wide receiver William "Bug" Wright has been dismissed from the football team by head coach Mike Stoops, reports the Tucson Citizen.

Wright was dismissed due to a violation of team rules.  It does not appear to be legal or academic issues at this time. Wright was also suspended late last season for a similar violation of team rules, before he returned for the Alamo Bowl.

Arizona has a bevy of wide receivers to replace Wright, notably Richard Morrison.  The Cats shouldn't miss Bug too much, as he never produced as much as expected. In 2009 and 2010 Wright combined to catch just 48 balls in Arizona's pass-happy Air Zona offense, and in 2010, six Wildcat players caught more passes than Wright.

Arizona has filled its remaining coaching vacancy and hired a new secondary coach, reports the Arizona Daily Star,  Tucson Citizen and others. 

Ryan Walters was officially promoted from within by Head Coach Mike Stoops from a graduate assistant position.  Walters took over as the secondary coach for Arizona while the team prepared for the Alamo Bowl after Greg Brown left Arizona for Colorado in December. 

The most striking aspect of the hire is Walters' age; he is 25. His age is particularly concerning, given that Walters was given the opportunity to fill the role only after Duane Akina ended his fortnight on the job and returned to Texas.  Akina is a former Arizona coach from the Tomey-era, and his hiring was considered a major addition to Stoops' staff this off-season based on his decades of experience coaching and developing top talent in the defensive backfield.

Walters will have a wealth of talent to work with this upcoming season, as Adam Hall, Robert Golden, Trevin Wade, Shaquille Richardson, and Marquis Flowers all return. 

The returning talent, as well as Walters' familiarity with the players and coaches should hopefully make the transition easier.

I think you know who #1 is. 

Hit the jump for this week's ADS Pac-10 Power rankings.

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Gameday is here, Arizona fans. 

Arizona 6-1 (3-1) at UCLA 3-4 (1-3), inside the famed Rose Bowl at 3:30 ET. 

Five games left for Arizona, who despite the tight loss to Oregon State, still have almost complete control over their destiny.  Oregon State and Oregon are the only teams that truly control their destiny.  Either one wins out, and they win the Pac.  Oregon is currently in the driver's seat for the BCS Title Game, so if they win out, the door is slightly ajar for a second Pac-10 team to sneak into the BCS as an at-large team.  But, the point being, regardless of losing to the Beavers, Arizona still has the entire season in front of them. 

Today, the Bruins will pose an under-the-radar threat to Arizona. 

Read on for Smooty's 3 keys to the game.

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Quick-hit power rankings this week, except instead of our typical amazing ADS analysis, the teams will be ranked according to which Halloween candy their spot in the poll best imitates.  Now, you can never say we aren't festive around here. 

Hit the jump for ADS' take on the conference, just past the half-way point.

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Swarmed.

Hey Buffs fans, just wanted to throw a SB Nation/Pac-12 South Division welcome to you all. 

As an Arizona fan, and Arizona Desert Swarm contributor, I am looking forward to your arrival to the Pac-12.  Feel free to stop by our site.  We're pretty welcoming as long as you don't act like a bunch of ASU fans.

I think the new divisions set up nicely for some new rivalries to be formed, particularly with Utah-Colorado.  I have a feeling Utah may enter the conference with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, so there could be some fun games out of the gate with them.

With that said, good luck the rest of the year, and we're all looking forward to next year.

The Pac-10 officially announced the Pac-12 football divisions Thursday.

The South Division will comprise Arizona, Arizona State, USC, UCLA, Colorado and Utah.  The North Division has Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State.  The divisions will be used for football only, and will begin in the 2011 football season. 

The conference also announced that the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game, to be played at the conclusion of the 2011 football regular season, will be held at the stadium of the team with the best conference record.  

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The knock on the Pac-10 seems to always be that the teams beat up on each other all season long, and that prevents national title contenders or multiple BCS berths coming out of the conference.  Well, so far that it has held to be true throughout the middle of the conference.  Numbers four through nine in the Pac-10 are so thinly separated it is feasible to make an argument for any of them being higher than the others.  Parity lovers, the Pac-10 is your dream conference.

Oregon is the remaining unbeaten team in the Pac.  We are at the unofficial half-way point of the season, and one out of ten teams is unbeaten.  Most teams have only played three conference games up to this point, yet no one outside of Eugene is blemish-free.  Of course, Oregon could run the table, and likely get a non-USC Pac-10 team in the BCS title game.  They could.  But, given the Pac-10's proclivity for rearranging the conference totem pole, is it likely?  I wouldn't take it to Vegas. 

This week's Power Rankings after the jump.  Brought to you by Smooty, uofafanatic, and joenewby4040.

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There is a new number one in college football.  The Oregon Ducks have moved up after dominating the imposing bye week.  They also got a little help from Wisconsin who dismantled the Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday.

Arizona moved up two slots to 15 in this week's poll after defeating the Washington State Cougars 24-7.

The Arizona Daily Star and www.WeAreSC.com are reporting that USC Athletic Director Pat Haden has broken the silence, and stated that the Pac-12 divisions have been decided.  The Arizona schools will join USC/UCLA and the two new conference members Colorado and Utah in one division.  The Northern California, Oregon and Washington schools will make up the other division. 

First, it is important to note that this has yet to be confirmed by the Pac-10 conference, or Arizona Athletic Director Greg Byrne.  Second, this division split applies to football only. 

If the report is true, the Pac-12 has thankfully decided to avoid the zipper-style conference alignment, ala the ACC.  This also looks to be the most competitively balanced football setup.  All four California schools will surely hate the alignment, but this is not only about keeping California happy.  The Pac-12 needs to set itself to compete at a high level long term.  More to come on this later, as more details emerge, and the story is confirmed by the conference officially.

The Wildcats get back on the field today in Pullman, desperate to shake the sting of last Saturday's loss.  The only cure for what ails the Cats right now is victories.  Saturday afternoon, Washington State is the first step for Arizona to get back on track.  The race for the conference title is not over.  If Arizona wins out, they will be in a very good position to finally scale the mountain and reach The Bowl That Shall Not Be Named.   

Today, Arizona faces the lightest test the Pac-10 has to offer.  First, Arizona is a far more superior football team than Washington State.   The Cougars have replaced the early 2000s Arizona teams as the Pac-10's whipping boy.  Coug fans, we know how it feels.  Second, do not overlook a desperate team playing at home in a weird environment.

All is not down in Pullman, however.  The Cougs have showed some fight this year, and are legitimately improved when compared to last year.  The results are not there in wins and losses, but the team has competed more so in 2010 than any of the previous few years.  Most alarming to Cats fans, should be that WSU can throw the ball around pretty well.  The Cougs rank 33rd in the nation in passing, with 252 yards per game.  After last week's surgical undressing of Arizona's secondary at the steady hands of Oregon State, the Cats should be on pass-defense-hyper-alert. 

Hit the jump for Smooty's keys to the game.

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Well, there was some turnover at the top of the Pac-10 Power Rankings this week.  It looks like Oregon State is making its annual (and predictable) race for conference relevancy, even if Arizona's defense gifted them the win last Saturday.  Oregon sure looks like the runaway leader at this point.  There is a ton of football still to be played, so the Ducks shouldn't get too comfortable.

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Oregon State beat us on Saturday night.  Let's get that out of the way immediately.  The Beavers played a good game, and more importantly, executed an impressive offensive game-plan.  The meat-heads will immediately blame special teams, and Alex Zendejas in particular for the loss.  In the immediate aftermath of the game, it was easy to fall prey to that feeling.  Mostly, because it is so easy to throw those points on the board and say "See, if only he made that field goal, we would have won by one point!"  That was not the only deciding factor of the game, however. I plead for you to look at the game in its entirety, and not take one play in the 2nd quarter in a vacuum.  Kickers miss field goals.  They are rarely perfect.  Zendejas missed the kick by fractions of a degree.  There were larger inadequacies that led to Saturday's loss.

Oregon State passed for 393 yards in an impressive display of spread-the-wealth passing.  Two Beaver receivers had 7 catches and over 100 yards; another receiver had 5 catches for 70 yards.   Oregon State is a quality football team, and they came into Arizona Stadium Saturday night and showed Arizona (and the rest of the Pac-10) that they will, once again, be a factor.

That doesn't mean the loss was easy to stomach, however.  It had been nearly ten months since Arizona's last loss.  Like many of you, I imagine, I had almost brain-washed myself to forget what it feels like to lose a game like this.  That sucked.  The worst part, was coming to grips with the reality of how small the margin of error will be for Arizona the rest of the Pac-10 season.  If this team wants to make it to the Promised Land, there will be no more trip ups.

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The picks are back after a one week hiatus in hiding.  That's what happens when your collective picks are as bad as ours were two weeks ago (12-18 against the spread).  Now, we are on to a new week, and more opportunities to stumble on our prognasticating faces. 

Five Pac-10 conference games this week that features all ten member schools.  The biggest two games on paper:  Stanford vs. USC, and Arizona vs. Oregon State.   Both, Stanford and USC, are looking to bounce back from two very different losses.  Stanford, lost on the road to Oregon last week, in a game that would have earned them National Title conversations.  USC, on the other hand, lost at home, to a Washington team that had yet to impress anyone.  Arizona had an impressive first month of the season, that resulted in a rankings climb not seen in Tucson in over a decade.  Oregon State has played the toughest schedule thus far; but only has a 2-2 record to show for it. 

It is a big week in the Pac.  The conference hierarchy will look just a bit more clear in 24 hours.  In the meantime, click on the jump to check out our sure to be incorrect picks for week six.

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This week represents a major turning-point in the Arizona season.  Win this week, and a 6-0 record heading into Homecoming against Hype Jake Locker and the Huskies is very likely.  Arizona has one of the most difficult schedule closing stretches in the Pac-10; @ Stanford, USC, @ Oregon, and the Territorial Cup against Arizona State.  September was great, but it's over.  Arizona did what it had to do, and there should be no looking back, because each game going forward should occupy enough of their time.  October represents a walk in the park, compared to November and December's gauntlet.  Oregon State is step one. 

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The Power Rankings are back, and more muddled than ever.  Teams one through three should be pretty easy to guess, but after that, everyone (with the exception of WSU) has shown flashes of brilliance, combined with moments of ineptitude.  At this point, it is entirely unclear where teams four through nine are headed. 

Was that the real Washington this past Saturday?  And, the real Jake Locker, leading the game-winning drive on the road?  Or, will Nebraska-Jake rear its ugly head again?  Can Arizona State continue to fight to the last seconds of every game, but come up just short?  And, USC.  What in the hell do you make of USC?  Side note:  pretty amazing Les Miles-esque clock management skills by Lane Kiffin in the waning minutes of the USC-Washington game.  Kiffin sat on all of his timeouts, allowing Washington to chew up the entire game-clock, allowing the Dawgs to kick a last second field goal.  /headexplodes.

Hit the jump for this week's power rankings.

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Sorry these are up a bit late.  Nevertheless, here they are.  Let's get right to them, and as usual, let us know where you disagree.

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The law of averages decided to rear its ugly head last week, resulting in an unimpressive (if typical) 4-7 record against the spread.  We let our earnings from the first week ride, and fell flat on our face.  Wagering!  You know what they say, have a rough week, double up the next week. Or, something like that. 

This week, fellow ADS contributors joenewby4040 and uofafanatic will be joining in on the fun.  Click on the jump for our picks, and let us know how bad we are at gambling.

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Arizona has received a verbal commitment from three-star wide receiver David Richards, of Palmdale, CA, reports Brad Allis of the Wildcat Sports Report.

Richards was in attendance at Arizona Stadium Saturday for Arizona's victory over Iowa.  

Richards joins a growing recruiting class and a deep and talented receiving corps.  Also joining next year is Texas transfer Dan Buckner.  Buckner has already transferred to Arizona, but must sit out this year due to transfer-eligibility rules.

The Pac-10 released a statement Tuesday announcing that Colorado will be joining the Pac-10 conference as of 2011.

Colorado and Utah will now join the conference together.  It was previously reported that Colorado would not join the conference until 2012 because of haggling over exit fees/withholding of conference revenue issues with the Big XII.  ESPN.com's Ted Miller reports that Colorado will surrender $6.863 million in Big XII revenue, in order to leap to the Pac-10 in 2011 (almost $3 million less than Nebraska gave up to jump ship to the Big Ten).  

The agreement will prevent Colorado from having to play an awkward 2011 season in the Big 12, where the Buffs would have starred as the girl who cheated on you, is dumping you for her new west-coast boyfriend, but just hasn't moved all her stuff out yet.  Nice to avoid moments like that. 

The 2011 move also allows the soon-to-be-changed Pac-12 to split into two divisions, and add a conference championship game.  Commence the division-split controversy.

Three weeks down, and for most Pac-10 teams, three non-conference games played, and the beginning of the Pac-10 schedule.  Oregon has done nothing but obliterate its first three opponents, including an SEC road game at Tennessee.  Arizona and Stanford have both looked very good so far, and USC has won, albeit in unimpressive fashion.  It is likely that parity still reigns in the Pac-10, as supposed bottom-dwellers ASU, UCLA, and Cal have all showed some fight at one time or another this young season.

The Power Rankings this week are brought to you by consensus vote from myself (Smooty), and fellow ADS contributors joenewby4040, and uofafanatic. 

The season is young, and the rankings are likely to shift dramatically as the weeks go on.  Click on the jump for some Pac-10 Power. 

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I hope everyone got all of the celebration of the Iowa win out of their systems. It was a great victory for the team, Stoops, and the fans.  But as of today, it will not mean much without another 10 weeks of good football.  From here on out, the non-conference schedule only matters in that it affected how Arizona has reached its current national ranking, it strengthens the Pac-10's national perception, and it gave the team confidence going forward.  Arizona should be proud of Saturday's win, they just should not dwell on it.  Cal Week started yesterday.  It's time to get back to work.

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Week three in the Pac-10 was supposed to be "statement week."  An opportunity for the Pac-10 to flex its conference muscles, and show the SEC/Big Ten/BigXII/ACC/Mountain West/[every other conference] that us west-coasters are no slouches.  Of the ten Pac-10 games, all were against non-conference opponents, with every large conference represented, excluding the SEC and the Mountain West (the MWC is absolutely included in the Big Conference talk, just look at their record versus Pac-10 and bowl-game opponents). 

A strong showing in week three, and the Pac-10 could silence (some of) the doubters.  Two teams faced top 10 teams at home (Arizona, Washington), one team went on the road against a top 15 Big Ten team (Arizona State), UCLA hosted a top 25 program that could put up 50 points without blinking, and Cal went on the road against Nevada and their tough-to-defend Pistol offense. 

So, how did the conference fare?

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