It's Friday Night Lights for the Arizona Wildcats

Arizona Wildcats Football

I'm up early this morning.

Why?

Because it's the day of the WILDCAT. My Arizona Wildcats will take the field in Santa Clara in 12 hours for arguably the most important football game in the school's history.

I know, that is quite a statement. Forgive me, but it's six o'clock in the morning and I'm already pumped -- awaiting "Friday Night Under the Lights" as the Wildcats are not only under the lights, but under the SPOTLIGHT as they take on Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship game.

The second-ranked team in the country, the Oregon Ducks, against the seventh-ranked Arizona Wildcats. My head is still buzzing. It was just a week ago when Arizona took down archival Arizona State in front of 56,000-plus at Arizona Stadium. It was just a week ago when the fans stormed the field celebrating a 42-35 Arizona victory, securing a spot in tonight's title game.

And now, it's the game of the century. My goodness, I'm getting carried away. So, let me take a deep breath and offer my prediction: Arizona 45, Oregon 42 in a thriller!

Scooby Wright will defend, Cayleb Jones will step forward and have his day, Nick Wilson will pound his way up the middle and SOLOMON will lead us to victory. PAUSE! I'm pouring myself a third cup of coffee.

Okay. Oregon will get their touchdowns as expected, but they will fall short on this day and the committee handling the college football playoff rankings will be left scratching their heads. What do we do with those Wildcats from the Old Pueblo?

What if Missouri upsets No.1 Alabama, Georgia Tech takes down No. 4 Florida State, No. 3 TCU falls to Iowa State (that may be carrying things a little too far) and my prediction holds up as Arizona shocks Oregon, where does the committee go from there when the clock strikes midnight and Sunday morning rolls around?

Win or lose, the fact that my Arizona Wildcats are in the discussion is just plain remarkable. An upset win over Oregon tonight and the Wildcats would be 11-2, the Pac-12 Champions, and OWN two wins over arguably the second-best team in the country. And to to top it off, they would own three wins in as many meetings over Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, who will end up as the Heisman Trophy winner this year.

To say I'm excited, is an understatement. I think I'll finish another cup of coffee, go back to bed and take a WILD cat nap.

When I wake up. I'll rethink all of my above comments.

One thing is for sure, I'll be cheering on my Wildcats just after sundown in the Old Pueblo.