In 1999, the school formerly know as U of A went to Happy Valley for a game against Penn State. At the time U of A was coming off their best season in school history (12-1), ranked in the top 5 and was Sports Illustrated's preseason no. 3. This was the height of the desert swarm defense and U of A fans were certain that 1999 was going to be the year that they would get to their first Rose Bowl.
When U of A arrived at Happy Valley they were greeted by a scoreboard that openly taunted them as AU. In addition, in a nationally televised event, ABC referred to U of A as AU on every boxscore throughout the telecast. As if this was not embarassing enough, Penn State then proceeded to run all over AU's "stellar" defense in a rout for the ages. Since AU was undeserving of the capital letters after the pathetic performance, AU has since been known as au.
After this humiliating defeat au went on to finish 6-6 capped off with an old fashioned butt-whipping in Tempe. The au lost to the Sun Devils 42-27. The desert swarm was officially dead and au has never recovered.
After that disappointing season it took au ten years to finally post a winning season (2008 finished 8-5). au is the only team in the Pac-10 to never win an outright PAC-10 championship and has never played in the Rose Bowl.
Until they redeem themselves on the football field and earn back the former title of U of A, au will always be au...
1999: 6-6
2000: 5-6
2001: 5-6
2002: 4-8
2003: 2-10
2004: 3-8
2005: 3-8
2006: 6-6
2007: 5-7
2008: 8-5*
*Finaly, a winning season!
