TUCSON — The University of Arizona comes into today with a positive impact and a lot of energy that needs to roll into Saturday’s game. The Arizona Wildcats (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) host the No. 2 Utah Utes (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) at Casino Del Sol Stadium on Saturday night, and everything about this week says the program believes its moment is here.

Part of the week is bigger than football. The coaches will celebrate tomorrow with Veterans Day, and the main coaches and their families have served in the military. Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales carries it personally — his father was a Vietnam War veteran, his grandfather served in World War II, his great-grandfather in World War I, and his nephew, in the reserve, will be here for the game this week. Gonzales, talking about the pride he has in the service members in his life, said:

“I just have the tremendous honor and the pride that I have in those family members of mine. We’re just so grateful and thankful for all that they give up so that we can enjoy the things that we enjoy.”

The rest of this organization believes that this team has found its way through a connection at its core that Arizona hasn’t had in quite some time — a coaching staff that believes in each other, be it the offensive coordinator, the special teams coordinator or the defensive coordinator, men who have spent time with others on the staff  at other places. It is literal with Gonzales and special teams coordinator Craig Naivar, who was a graduate assistant at New Mexico when Gonzales played there. Gonzales, talking about that 30-year connection, said:

“I’ve known Craig for 30 some years. I still love sharing ideas with him — he watches our practice, all the defensive side when he’s not with the specialists, and we talk.”

It worked as recently as last week, against a very good TCU organization. Arizona didn’t let them go far, came away with the victory, and put smiles on the coaching staff’s faces. The plays told the story of the staff itself: Tre Smith’s blocked field goal, set up by Tay Brown clearing the gap — Naivar, talking about the block, said:  

“Tre Smith is blocking the kick, but Tay Brown basically launches the tight end out of the way so he can’t help in that gap — and that’s just violence of action.”

Then came the recovered onside kick, the clock burned down, and kicker Michael Salgado-Medina winning it at the end. Gonzales, talking about what a kicker does for a team, said:

“Kickers are like erasers — they erase the mistakes of somebody, because we didn’t get a first down or we didn’t do this. Michael Salgado-Medina saves the day.”

The whole thing, though, is that this organization still hasn’t done what many have done — get the fans to come out for a sellout. The biggest crowd at Casino Del Sol Stadium this season was 45,477 for Iowa State, in a stadium that holds 50,800, and head coach Brent Brennan said it plainly this week: “We haven’t gotten it done this year, but this is the game for that.”

Now this Saturday marks the time when that has to change. Saturday night is the game between No. 2 Utah and Arizona — the national pregame show on campus in the morning, the No. 2 team in the country at night, and a program that has found its connection at exactly the right time. If Arizona does what it has to do, it can win this game — and fill the stadium doing it.

Kickoff is 5:30 p.m. MST Saturday on FOX; in Phoenix, the game is on KFNX 1100 AM.