Amid all the ridiculous things mumbled by UA’s intoxicated Halloween party-goers this past weekend, there was one comment I overheard that really struck me.

“”All we need to do is win one of our next five games and we’ll make a bowl game,”” a supposed Arizona football fan excitedly stammered. “”Imagine if we win the Las Vegas Bowl again?””

I wasn’t quite sure which part of his comment bothered me more, the fact that he used the word “”we”” to describe his favorite team, or the fact that he was as giddy as a schoolgirl that Arizona might make the Las Vegas Bowl. The first problem is a nation-wide epidemic that needs to be stopped immediately, but for the sake of this newspaper I’ll just focus on the latter part of the unnamed gentleman’s statement.

Attending a school where the football team makes a bowl game is exciting, yes, but will fans really be satisfied if Arizona makes the Las Vegas Bowl again?

News flash: 2008 was a very, very long time ago.

Last year, when Arizona reached the bowl in the City of Sin, there was legitimate reason for celebration. The football program hadn’t made it to the postseason in a decade, the same decade that saw teams like UTEP, Utah State and Middle Tennessee make bowl games.

Making, and actually winning, the Las Vegas Bowl last year was an enormous step in the right direction for the Arizona football program, but a return to that bowl would be nothing short of a gross underachievement for this year’s Wildcat squad or any future squad.

Look at it this way: if an elite team like USC were to make the Las Vegas Bowl this year or any year in the future, the season would be considered a disaster. A season with five losses would be enough for the bigwigs in SoCal to force Pete Carroll to find a new beach to surf at despite having a trophy case that might have more trophies than the USC library has books.

After the Wildcats’ victory over BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl last year, the same should hold true for Arizona.

Don’t get me wrong, Arizona is not USC — not even close. But they are headed in the right direction. This year’s team should be aiming for an elite bowl. It controls its own destiny to make the Rose Bowl, and should be upset if it ends up losing more than four games.

After this season is over and Arizona works through some growing pains with its young players, head coach Mike Stoops should put up a banner in the locker room, on the practice field and in the weight room that reads: 2011 ROSE BOWL.

There’s no reason for the team to be upset if it doesn’t make the Rose Bowl this year or next year, but it is a legitimate goal for a program on the rise.

So, fans of Arizona football, I implore you to hope for the best. Just like you hope to get an ‘A’ on your test or you hope to get with that blonde on the other side of the room at a party, hope for the Rose Bowl, or any high-caliber bowl, for that matter.

Don’t hope for a ‘C’ on a test, don’t hope to settle for a girl you don’t really want, and most importantly, don’t hope for the Las Vegas Bowl.

— Tim Kosch is a journalism junior. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.