I understand the importance of self-promotion, and that sometimes you've gotta get a little cheesy and outside of the box to draw attention. This is especially true for an entity that might not have a built-in fan base, such as a college football program that — other than an odd placement on the cover of Sports Illustrated some 19 years ago — hasn't really amounted to much.

But a Western?

The University of Arizona released a promotional video on Monday that, for lack of a better description, tries to paint football head coach Rich Rodriguez and his assistants as a rough-and-tumble bunch of desperados, willing to do anything (even toss tight ends/special teams coach Charlie Ragle out of a saloon and down some stairs) to give the UA its first-ever trip to the Rose Bowl.

Filmed this spring at Old Tucson Studios — keeping it local!!! — the 2 1/2-minute film depicts RichRod and his 11 assistants and describes the head man as "on a quest for the rose" as he and his colleagues are shown in various stages of leaning on walls, smoking cigars and hootin' and hollerin' inside what appears to be a completely dry bar.

Take a gander at Hard Edge, which apparently was executive produced by RichRod's wife, Rita:

This film is chocked full of images that will either be fondly remembered (if the upcoming season goes well) or easily used as mocking material if it's a rough fall.