The 1999 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona during the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by head coach Dick Tomey in his thirteenth season, the Wildcats finished with a 6–6 record (3–5 against Pac-10 opponents) and missed out on a bowl game.^[1]

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (August 2018)

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1999 Arizona Wildcats football
Conference	Pacific-10
Record	6–6 (3–5 Pac-10)
Head coach	Dick Tomey (13th season)
Offensive coordinator	Dino Babers (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Rich Ellerson (3rd season)
Home stadium	Arizona Stadium
Seasons ← 1998 2000 →

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After entering the year with high expectations after a dominant 1998 season, the Wildcats were outplayed and blown out by Penn State in the opener and never fully recovered. They were 5–2 and 6–3 at different points during the year, but would lose out, including a rivalry loss to Arizona State to end the season, which knocked them out of the postseason picture.^[2]

Arizona completed the 1998 season with a 12–1 record and defeated Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. Many fans have rated the season as the best in school history.^[3]

The team entered the 1999 season with many of their offensive starters returning and hoped to improve from the previous season and contend for the Pac-10 title and a chance to finally earn a spot for the Rose Bowl that has eluded them during the decade, as well as being contenders for a potential national championship.^[4]

Tomey brought in a top recruiting class to the program in an effort to help the team move one step closer to achieving its goals.^[5] By the preseason, the Wildcats were ranked third in the polls, which was the highest in team history to start a season.^[6][7]

More information Date, Time ...

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 28	12:30 p.m.	at No. 4 Penn State*	No. 3	Beaver Stadium State College, PA (Pigskin Classic/College GameDay)	ABC	L 7–41	97,168
September 5	4:30 p.m.	at TCU*	No. 15	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX	FSN	W 35–31	34,612
September 11	7:00 p.m.	Middle Tennessee State*	No. 19	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	KTTU	W 34–19	48,573
September 18	7:15 p.m.	Stanford	No. 19	Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	FSN	L 22–50	47,273
September 25	1:00 p.m.	at Washington State		Martin Stadium Pullman, WA	FSN	W 30–24	26,787
October 9	12:30 p.m.	No. 22 USC		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	ABC	W 31–24	51,418
October 16	7:15 p.m.	UTEP*		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	FSAZ	W 34–21	47,776
October 23	7:15 p.m.	Oregon		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	FSN	L 41–44	55,251
October 30	7:00 p.m.	at UCLA		Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA	FSN	W 33–7	42,612
November 6	1:30 p.m.	Washington		Arizona Stadium Tucson, AZ	ABC/FSN	L 25–33	56,614
November 13	8:15 p.m.	at Oregon State		Reser Stadium Corvallis, OR	FSN	L 20–28	33,314
November 27	11:00 a.m.	at Arizona State		Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ (Duel in the Desert)	ABC/FSN	L 27–42	68,102
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Mountain time

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^[8]

• Dennis Northcutt, WR, Consensus and AP All-American, First-team All-Pac-10
• Trung Canidate, RB, First-team All-Pac-10
• Marcus Bell, LB, Second-team All-Pac-10
• Brandon Manumaleuna, TE, Second-team All-Pac-10
• Joe Tafoya, DT, Second-team All-Pac-10
• Bruce Wiggins, OL, Second-team All-Pac-10
• Steven Grace, OL, Second-team All-Pac-10

• Arizona was unable to improve from their 1998 season with a .500 record (6–6 record) in the 1999 season. The season was affected by a tough schedule, team mistakes, and poor decisions by the players and coaches. A major factor in the mediocre season was the loss of Chris McAlister to both graduation and the NFL that led Arizona's defense in 1998 and without him, the Wildcats' defense heavily struggled.^[25]
• The loss to Penn State ended hopes of Arizona rebuilding a dynasty under Tomey and would lead to the downfall of the program at the turn of the century. The Wildcats would not schedule another game with Penn State in the future (which would have possibly been played in Tucson in 2000) due to fears that they would not win against the Nittany Lions and that it would be too expensive to do so.^[26]
• After the Penn State game, College GameDay would not involve going to a campus for a game featuring Arizona until November 2009 when it came to Tucson for the Wildcats' matchup with Oregon.
• Arizona Stadium unveiled a new scoreboard behind the north end zone. It featured a large video screen and a new sound system. The lights in the score box where the total number of points scored were originally lit in gold before switching to red before the game against Washington. This scoreboard would last until it was torn down after the 2011 season.^[27]
• In addition to getting a new scoreboard, Arizona Stadium's field was the same except a 100th anniversary logo was placed over the two "Block 'A'"s on each 25-yard line, as Arizona celebrated the 100th anniversary of its football program during the season. A special 100th anniversary logo was patched on the team's home and road uniforms as well.^[28]
• Arizona began the season with three consecutive games against teams that they have never played before and played them for the first time (Penn State, TCU, Middle Tennessee State). The games against Penn State and Middle Tennessee remain the Wildcats' only meetings against them, whereas they would play TCU again in 2003 (in which they would ultimately lose).
• It was the second consecutive season that Arizona played the first two games on the road.
• After beating Washington State, they would not win another game with a Hail Mary touchdown pass until 2014, when they defeated California with the play.
• The win over USC was the Wildcats' first and only home win over a Pac-10 opponent during the season.
• After the loss to Oregon, a McDonald's location near the Arizona campus featured signs of a kicker missing a field goal and a referee signaling the kick as "no good", which was a pun on the original Wildcat kicker, Mark McDonald, who shared the same name of the fast-food chain, as a joke. The signs were taken down after the season ended.^[29]
• The loss to Washington caused many fans to give up on the season and focused on the Wildcats' basketball season as that team was successful in winning unlike the football team who could not meet expectations.^[30]
• The rivalry loss at Arizona State not only ended the season, it ended the Wildcat careers of Smith, Canidate, and Northcutt, all of whom led to Arizona's offense to dominate in 1998. Had they won more games and went to a major bowl, Canidate would have joined Northcutt as a consensus All-American. Canidate was a possible Heisman contender before the Wildcats' loss to Penn State in the opener ended those chances.^[31]
• Northcutt was known to fans as "Dennis the Menace" (named after the fictional character that shares Northcutt's first name), as he blew away opposing defenses with his long catch-and-runs and touchdowns during his Arizona career. He currently holds the Arizona record for single-season receiving yards, which was this season, with 1,422. He is ranked third in career receptions (223), second in single-season receptions (88 this year), and second in career receiving yards (3,252), surpassed by teammate Bobby Wade in all three categories. Northcutt is ahead of Wade in career touchdowns with 24 (to Wade's 23) and third in single-game receiving yards (257 in the win over TCU this year). For his performance this season, Northcutt was honored as a consensus All-American.^[32]
• Canidate rushed for 1,602 yards this season, which is ranked in Arizona history, and was the record holder until Ka'Deem Carey broke it in 2012. He is also second to Carey in career rushing yards with 3,824.
• The Wildcats' loss to Arizona State started a current run of futility for the, in the rivalry, as Arizona would only win seven of 21 meetings against ASU since 2000. Before this year, the Wildcats dominated the Sun Devils, going 13–3–1 against them between 1982 and 1998.
• This season would be the last official year of the "Desert Swarm" era, as the defense would become inconsistent in 2000 onwards. The offense, known as the "Desert Storm" (the opposite of the Swarm) would continue until the end of the 2002 season, which was Wade's final season.^[33]

The 1999 season would become a step towards the end of Tomey's tenure, as another mediocre season in 2000 in which Arizona would collapse in the second half, would lead to his resignation as coach and the program struggling for most of the next decade.^[34] Many Wildcats have often blamed the opening season loss to Penn State as the cause of the team's fall from success and the program not being the same for several years due to the Wildcats' inability to get to the Rose Bowl under Tomey and his future successors.^[35]