Shifting Attention To Arizona: Beware Of Wounded Cats

by Nestor on Sep 16, 2008 7:00 PM PDT in Football

Let's hope by now everyone has completely flushed out the BYU game out of its system because we have a huge game coming up this Saturday against another desperate team.

Arizona is coming into the Rose Bowl as another embarrassed Pac-10 team after a disappointing, sloppu road loss against New Mexico featuring five turnovers. Arizona started the season 2-0 against cup cake opponents such as Idaho and Toledo, but fell apart against New Mexico. Their star QB, Willie Tuitama was not in top form as he fumbled twice and got picked off twice in that 5 turnover disaster. Offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes specifically called Tuitama out after the loss:

UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes' biggest criticism was reserved for his senior quarterback, who struggled to read New Mexico's complex defensive schemes. Tuitama completed 27 of 50 passes for 321 yards. His three touchdowns were basically negated by his turnovers.

"He played as bad as I've seen him play," Dykes said. "I wish I had an explanation. It was little things we've had since Day 1. … We couldn't make the right decisions. It was kind of an embarrassing performance, really."

Said Tuitama: "A lot of things happened because of me, and I have to man up to it."

While Arizona’s offense was turning the ball over, its defense was being run over by New Mexico tailbacks:

Arizona's defense was solid in the first two weeks, limiting opponents to a combined 138 rushing yards on 49 attempts.

But the Wildcats struggled against New Mexico, surrendering 221 yards and two touchdowns on 47 carries. Tailback Rodney Ferguson led the Lobos with 158 yards on 26 carries. His second-effort yardage demoralized a UA defense that repeatedly sold out in an attempt to stop the run.

"We should have been able to defend the run better than that, and that's disappointing because we committed a lot of guys to the run on a lot of those plays," Stoops said.

Fatigue was a factor. By the end of the game, the Cats appeared beat on the interior line — Earl Mitchell, Donald Horton, Kaniela Tuipulotu cycled in at the two defensive tackle positions. Starter Lolomana Mikaele missed his third straight game as punishment for violating team rules.

Arizona must prove it can stop the run — or else adjust its scheme to include more blitzes.

More notes via the Arizona Daily Star:

● Arizona can score points. Arizona's 139 points are the most the Wildcats have ever scored against nonconference opponents to start the season. Credit the Air Zona offense — or blame a light schedule — but it's true.

● Arizona's "no-name" defense is living up to its reputation. And that's a bad thing. The Wildcats must find playmakers and develop leaders if they hope to compete with some of the Pac-10's top offenses. Sterling Lewis and Devin Ross have been bright spots, but no player has stepped forward as a leader.

● Mike Thomas is for real. Arizona's senior wide receiver has caught 26 passes for 302 yards and scored three touchdowns in the first three games. The Wildcats must find a way to get him the ball even more.

Yet, our guys should not have any false sense of comfort going against this team on Saturday. These guys can explode on offense against a Bruin defense which is going to look to recover from the psychological destruction from Saturday.

Don’t forget it was same Tutitama who burned the UCLA secondary by passing for 341 yards and 3 TDs, while completing 21 of 36 passes. There was also Nic Grigsby who rushed for 124 yards in 20 carries, who is back for this season. Zona lost all but one starter on offense. Here are the gory stats from last year.

The notes above mention Mike Thomas. His early season production is not a surprise, as he led the Pac-10 in receptions (83) and touchdown catches (11) last season. In addition to Mike Thomas, Arizona will have also have the services of their best receiver, TE Rob Gronkowski, who is coming back for this game after missing the first three due to health issues.

We will have more on the ‘’Cats later. But this should get us going in terms of starting to think about this game. Arizona is going to be in desperation mode, looking to give an embattled coach a huge lift. So our boys will need to be ready for this team after the devastating Saturday against BYU.

GO BRUINS.

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Comments

Great Post

I agree, There is no way to take this team lightly after last year and obviusly last week. I would expect both team’s to come out focused and ready to play. This could end up being a very tight game depending on weather our O can get it going running the ball and if our D can effectivley stop the short passing game, which I am sure UofA is drooling over watching the BYU film. It will be very interesting to see how this play’s out. I know people with be thinking if New Mexico can run up big yards on the ground than UCLA should be able to, but as we have been discussing since before the season has started, with our depleted O-Line there is no guarantee.

Go Bruins!

DBalter

by westwood12003 on Sep 16, 2008 8:08 PM PDT reply actions

Can't add too much

to Nestor’s post. We cannot take any opponent lightly this year and there are simply no “gimme” games for us. Having suffered through the years of Dorrell Hell, I fully understand that this team is going to go through a lot of growing pains.

As a side note, it is interesting to contrast Arizona’s non-conference schedule with our’s. One can speculate what our record (and stats) would be if we played Idaho, Toledo, etc. instead of two Top Twenty teams. Personally, I prefer playing the big boys (as does Fresno State).

by Barnes2JJ on Sep 17, 2008 5:24 AM PDT reply actions

Big test for Walker

The way UNLV beat UofA was to confuse Tuitama and their offense with complex schemes. Not sure our defense is very complex but mixing things up a bit will be important this week if we hope to get a W.

With many people accusing the Bruins Defense of quitting last week or at least not playing up to their potential, it will be very interesting to see how they rebound. At risk of sounding cliche’, its gut check time for these guys.

We should be able to score and have a decent chance of running the ball given what UNLV did against UA’s front 7. But with the worst running attack in the country (that is right, dead last statistically) this too will be a challenge.

If we can keep their offense off the field for a reasonable amount of time and keep our defense fresh, plus score a few TDs, we may scrape out a win here.

It will be close and hopefully our superior kicking game will be the edge.

Go Bruins!

by Bald Eagle on Sep 17, 2008 10:43 AM PDT reply actions

Except

Arizona played New Mexico on Saturday…UNLV played Arizona State…

by tasser10 on Sep 17, 2008 10:48 AM PDT up reply actions

Good catch; my bad;

Got ASU and UofA switched.

Thanks.

by Bald Eagle on Sep 17, 2008 2:11 PM PDT up reply actions

It doesn't really matter

Both losses are embarrassing! At this point, our opponent doesn’t really matter, it’s just about the team having the right attitude. I’d just like to see us get 100 yards rushing in one game…

by tasser10 on Sep 17, 2008 2:43 PM PDT up reply actions

As to who is more "desperate"

it’s probably Arizona, since this is supposed to be their best team in years. Tuitama is a mad bomber, Grigsby can run, and they have put up a lot of points. But 70 of them were against Idaho, so maybe they are not as formidable as advertised. Let us hope that DWW will be back in genius mode this week, and that the defense will attack and not just react a second too late. On the other hand, a team with absolutely no running game whatsoever and the statistics to prove it is probably pretty desperate, too. For five yards on first down, if for nothing else. I’m not brave enough to pick the Bruins outright, but I am positive we will do a lot better this week. Home field is bound to help. So call it even. Remembering Tennessee, we have a chance. Check that — a really good chance.

by ReineSeite on Sep 17, 2008 5:11 PM PDT reply actions