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Okum and Griest were directed to the suite of UA athletic director Jim Livengood, who was accompanied by Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen.

Everyone turned to watch the Rose Bowl men as if they were from some sort of royal family. No man wearing a Rose Bowl blazer had ever stepped foot into ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Stadium.

Four hours later, after ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ beat ASU 50-42 in a 1998 Territorial Cup for the ages, finishing the regular season 11-1, Okum and Griest joined Livengood and Hansen for the UA’s celebration in the cramped old locker room underneath the west grandstands.

This went beyond anything ever seen since ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ began playing football 99 years earlier; beyond the Pop McKale and Button Salmon legend; beyond entry into the WAC and those unforgettable victories over Frank Kush’s Sun Devils; beyond worshipped upsets of No. 1 USC and No. 1 Washington, and even beyond the cherished “Desert Swarmâ€� seasons.

“Obviously,� said UA coach Dick Tomey, “this team is going someplace.�

Someplace was the Rose Bowl.

On the morning of Dec. 5, 1998, this newspaper published a story explaining the process to purchase Rose Bowl tickets. There would be no camping overnight in front of McKale Center. Lines would form at 6 a.m. on Monday as the UA would try to fairly distribute its allocation of 32,000 tickets.

You can imagine the scene on campus on Monday, Dec. 7, 1998, a day that would’ve lived forever in the history of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ sports.

On Saturday morning, the UA cheerleaders caught a flight to Los Angeles and drove to the Tournament of Roses house in Pasadena. They would properly celebrate the official invitation late that afternoon.

Only one detail remained undone: 10-0 UCLA had to beat unranked Miami that afternoon; the Hurricanes were coming off a 66-13 loss to Syracuse.

People in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ held watch parties all over the town, most with a stem of roses to celebrate UCLA’s victory — and berth in the BCS playoffs — and ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s imminent spot in the Granddaddy of Them All.

And then Miami stunned the Bruins 49-45.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ would go to the Holiday Bowl and beat No. 9 Nebraska, 23-20, to finish the season 12-1. It wasn’t the Rose Bowl, but it was The Next Best Thing, the greatest season in UA football history.

Now, looking back 20 years, I don’t remember the triumphs as much as the struggle to put that revered season into the record books.

The Wildcats entered the season as anything but a beloved part of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ sports. A year earlier, the UA averaged 40,538 at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Stadium, which remains the lowest figure in the history of expanded ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Stadium, 1976-2017. It drew “crowdsâ€� of 36,309, 37,111, 39,195 and 39,754.

It didn’t take a marketing genius to realize that Tomey was about to be fired.

He saved his job in November 1997 by hanging on to beat a bad Cal team in double overtime, and by stunning heavily favored ASU, 28-16, in Tempe.

The Wildcats were predicted to finish fifth in the Pac-10 in 1998.

Two things changed the course of UA football history: Tomey had fully rebuilt his long-stodgy offense that left so many seats empty at the stadium. He made unprecedented steps to change, hiring NFL legends Bill Walsh and Dick Vermeil as consultants.

Two, unknown at the time, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s offense was full of star-level players: future NFL receivers Dennis Northcutt and Jeremy McDaniel, NFL tight ends Mike Lucky and Brandon Manumaleuna, and record-setting tailback Trung Canidate, who would go on to gain 2,822 yards the next two seasons.

Additionally, Tomey probably gathered the top defensive coaching staff in school history, adding former Hawaii head coach Bob Wagner to a group that included the cornerstones of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s “Desert Swarmâ€� lineage, Rich Ellerson and Duane Akina.

UA cornerback Chris McAlister, linebacker Marcus Bell and linemen Yusuf Scott and Daniel Greer were as good in 1998 as anyone in the Pac-10. Quarterback Keith Smith was a game-changer.

Memories of the ’98 team always go back to the irresistible “Leap by the Lake,� quarterback Ortege Jenkins’ unforgettable summersault into the end zone to beat Washington 31-28 in the dying seconds. But more telling — the defining game of the ’98 season — was a 38-3 blowout of No. 12 Oregon on Halloween.

The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ audience was unconvinced even though ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ was 7-1 and ranked 13th. Attendance was a bare 44,913.

But in the lead-up to the game, Ellerson and Akina both had memorable (and rare) flareups during a Wednesday afternoon practice. They were not screamers and name-callers. But on that afternoon, they got their team’s attention while demanding more intensity and attention to detail. Ellerson and Akina knew what was at stake.

The Ducks didn’t have a chance on Halloween in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

The banner headline in Sunday’s Daily Star read: Cats So Good It’s Scary.

And so they were.