SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Arizona’s faced adversity before, but never like this.

All odds truly are stacked against the Wildcats when they take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Alamodome tonight at 7:15.

First off, Arizona hasn’t won a game in nearly two months – its last win came against a mediocre UCLA team on Oct. 30. The Wildcats fell apart down the stretch of the 2010 season, losing their last four games with a double-overtime loss to ASU as the dagger to the heart.

Practices have been spirited and Arizona’s taken a business-like approach into the 2010 Valero Alamo Bowl. The Wildcats continually say “”this is a new season,”” but it must be hard to remain confident when you forget what winning feels like.

Secondly, the Wildcats are playing in Cowboys country. Arizona fans are few and far between, while chants of “”Orange, Power”” can be heard from the Riverwalk all the way to the Alamodome.

There are probably 50 Oklahoma State fans for every Wildcat fan, putting Arizona even more behind the eight-ball. The Alamodome will undoubtedly be a sea of orange and black, and Cowboys fans haven’t exactly forgiven Mike Stoops for his antics when he was a defensive coordinator at Oklahoma.

Arizona certainly has a sizeable Texas contingent, with 15 Wildcats hailing from the Lone Star State. But that’s nothing compared to Oklahoma State’s 65 Texas-born players.

Lastly, Arizona doesn’t exactly match up well with the Cowboys on the field. Sure, they are one of the few offenses that can hang with the nation’s top offense but OSU should shred the Wildcats’ sputtering defense.

Arizona’s secondary has no answer for Justin Blackmon, and quarterback Brandon Weeden should have a field day. Then add in that OSU’s Kendall Hunter is an elite back and the Wildcats are yielding 233.3 yards on the ground in their last four games and things aren’t looking good for Arizona.

The Wildcats also need to establish a run game, and are counting on Keola Antolin, Nic Grigsby and Greg Nwoko to do so. But the one strong point of the Cowboys’ defense, is of course, it’s ability to stop the run. Although the Cowboys rank 115th in pass defense, OSU ranked second in the Big 12 in run defense.

So the Wildcats are forgetting what winning feels like, and face the nation’s top offense in Cowboys country.

Almost every factor is stacked against them.

But then again, Arizona’s always thrived as the underdog. Will that be the case after a 60-minute battle?We’ll know soon enough.

— Mike Schmitz is a marketing junior and can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.