Should Mike Stoops be on the hot seat if the Wildcats fail to make a bowl game?

This weekend, Cal and Stanford will play for the Axe. At the end of the season, another Pac-10 coach will try to avoid one.

That would be Arizona's Mike Stoops, who in his four years in Tucson has yet to see a winning record or bowl game and, at the end of this season, could very well face the same fate that will befall Washington coach Ty Willingham.

Still, unlike Willingham, Stoops has strung together some marginal success this season.

Senior quarterback Willie Tuitama leads the conference in passing yards and tailback Nic Grigsby is third in rushing yards, not to mention the win over then-No. 23 Cal and a close loss at the hands of No. 5 USC. In fact, heading into last week's game against Oregon with a 6-3 record, the Wildcats even looked to have an outside chance to play in the Holiday Bowl.

Then Stoops' team forgot how to play defense.

Jeremiah Masoli dismantled the Arizona defense to the tune of over 250 yards passing, 80 yards rushing and five total touchdowns-all in the first half. The speedy quarterback led a charging Ducks team that hung 45 first-half points on Stoops' bunch.

In one fell swoop, the question of whether Stoops deserves to stay in the Arizona desert was brought back to the forefront.

With Oregon State and a rivalry game against Arizona State still left on the schedule, there's a decent chance that Arizona could surrender the next two weeks and be left standing at 6-6 at the season's close.

Yet because the conference is so bad, even a stumbling finish will likely leave the Wildcats at the No. 5 spot, with a bid to either the Emerald or Armed Forces Bowl in their mailbox.

In the end, it seems a near certainty that Arizona will see the postseason for the first time since 1998.

Whether or not a lowly bowl birth is enough to keep Stoops from getting the axe is yet to be determined.

-Jack Ross

With the Cougars floundering, is head coach Paul Wulff's job in jeopardy?

When Paul Wulff took the head coaching post with the Washington State football team this last off-season, no doubt his expectations had to have been high.

The former Cougars offensive lineman inherited a Pac-10 program that was on the cusp of a bowl appearance in 2007 and, while WSU did lose offensive standouts like Alex Brink and Michael Bumpus, the Cougars returned more defensive starters (nine) than any other conference team in 2008.

But something has gone terribly wrong in Wulff's first season.

That experienced defense that allowed a borderline-decent 166 rush yards per game a year ago has been trampled more than anyone this season.

Cougar opponents have upped last year's number by 100 yards, ranking WSU 118th out of 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams against the run.

In fact, WSU ranks 104th or worse in five of the six major statistical categories, including rush offense (115), pass offense (104), total offense (118) and total defense (112).

The woes on both sides of the ball have led to a 1-10 overall record so far (with the Cougars' only win coming against FCS opponent Portland State) and have contributed to an average margin of -43.3 points in their losses.

All jokes aside, the WSU's match with winless Washington in the Apple Cup this weekend could very well decide the bottom of the barrel in college football, and with Tyrone Willingham relinquishing his job with the Huskies at the end of the year, some wonder if Wulff will be the next Pac-10 coach to go.

Wulff has proven that he can help turn a program around before.

The former Eastern Washington head coach (2000-07) took an Eagles' program teetering on the edge of Big Sky mediocrity and led it to seven consecutive winning seasons, including EWU's first back-to-back conference championships.

But with the Cougars' digression in every facet, Wulff may find this task a bit tougher.

-Jon Doss

Tags: PAC-10 ANALYSIS