Well, that escalated quickly. After Arizona knocked off Oregon last Thursday it was clear the Wildcats would be making their way into the top 25. However, things changed shape even more when a number of teams ranked in the top 25 went down along with the Ducks. Now rather than facing a ranked opponent this weekend in USC the No. 10 'Cats will host the unranked Trojans in Tucson.
We'll take a look at all the ramifications of Arizona's win over Oregon and what it means for things moving forward. We'll also get you caught up on some of the important stats to come out of the game as the Wildcats now look ahead to USC.
On the recruiting side of things this weekend's game should have plenty of visitors and one recruit who plans on being there is excited to see what an Arizona game day is all about. We'll catch up with him and get the latest on the status of his pledge as well.
Just a day after Arizona's big upset road win over Oregon on the football field Sean Miller's basketball program held its media day. As you would expect there is plenty of optimism for the 'Cats heading into the 2014-15 season with another impressive group getting ready to go. We'll touch on some of the bigger topics to come out of media day in this week's War Room.
There's plenty to discuss this week so let's get going with this week's GOAZCATS.com War Room.
Football
It started with Scooby Wright taking the ball away from Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota Thursday night and it ended with Arizona being ranked the No. 10 team in the country in the Associated Press top 25 poll and No. 13 in the coaches poll. In between Thursday night and Sunday morning there was a lot of chaos around the country with a number of ranked teams coming out on the losing end.
All of it benefitted the Wildcats and now the tables have certainly turned heading into Saturday's game between Arizona and USC. The Trojans will come into the game unranked after dropping its game Saturday night to Arizona State on a last-second Hail Mary play.
* Before we go any further with what's next for the 'Cats we'll take a look back at the game against Oregon and some of the most glaring numbers to come out of that game - one of the more memorable ones in Arizona's history.
- 1989: We'll start with some history. After Arizona knocked off the Ducks Thursday night and moved into the No. 10 spot on the AP top 25 list that marked the biggest jump for a team since the poll moved to 25 teams in 1989. That's right no team has ever gone from unranked to No. 10 in a single week ... well, until now with Arizona being the first to do that.
- 5: With its win over the Ducks UA moved to 5-0 on the year and that is something that hasn't been accomplished by Arizona since the 1998 season.
- 10: Arizona moved into the top 10 in the Associated Press top 25 poll after its win over Oregon. It's only the second time the Wildcats have reached that point since 1998 and it is the first time since early October in 2010. Looking ahead the last time Arizona knocked off USC (2012) the Trojans were ranked No. 10 at the time.
Furthermore, the last time a ranked Arizona team faced an unranked USC squad was in the 2010 season when the Wildcats were No. 18 and fell to the Trojans 24-21 at home. The 'Cats knocked off an unranked USC team in 1993 when UA was No. 12 in the country.
- 27: The win over Arizona featured plenty of the running backs and for the 27th consecutive game the Wildcats went over 100 yards rushing as a team. So far during the Rich Rodriguez era the 'Cats have been held to less than 100 yards on the ground one time in two-plus seasons. The only team to accomplish that feat? Oregon, in the 2012 game at Autzen when the Ducks held UA to just 89 yards on the ground.
- 5: Arizona's defense stepped up in a big way Thursday night and exploited a banged up Oregon offensive line. In all the Wildcats had five sacks on the evening by five different players. That's the most sacks an Arizona defense has been able to get in one game since it had six in a game against Arizona State in 2010.
- 1,741: Arizona has made its way into the top 10 being led by a redshirt freshman quarterback in Anu Solomon. So far this season Solomon has had his ups and downs, but he has continued to produce through the first five games. At this point in the year he is in the top 10 - right at No. 10 - among FBS quarterbacks with 1,741 yards. It's even more impressive when you see that among that group Solomon has the second fewest amount of attempts with 206.
* Arizona has had some struggles getting out of a game without injury this season and that continued Thursday night. Both Nick Wilson and Cayman Bundage had to leave the game against Oregon with injuries and at this point there is no official status for either one.
* The biggest play of the game against Oregon came from the sophomore linebacker Wright when he stripped Mariota with the Ducks driving to seal Arizona's road win. It was the second turnover for Oregon in the game and it is a play that won't soon be forgotten on the Arizona side - and maybe the Oregon side either.
"It was a good play by him," Mariota said of the play after the game. "They ran some coverage that we weren't really expecting, and I was just trying to make the play. My instincts always lead the ball to go low, and he kind of just ripped it away."
Wright tends to keep things simple when talking about his play and he did so again when discussing his big play after the game.
"I was just trying to get after the quarterback and make a play," he said. "When I finally realized I had the ball in my hands, I was already running towards the sideline."
Football recruiting
Obviously one area where a win like Thursday's could make an impact is in recruiting. Rodriguez has always stressed that big wins - in his mind - don't lead recruits directly to a commitment, but it also doesn't hurt to build some notoriety with those prospects. Only time will tell how much of an impact the win will have on the Wildcats' recruiting efforts overall, but continuing to win games will help it too.
Getting a victory over USC this weekend would speak volumes about where Rodriguez has his program and it would be another win recruits could look at as a positive for UA. There are expected to be plenty of prospects in attendance Saturday, and at least one of them will be making his way from New Orleans.
* Warren Easton (New Orleans, Louisiana) linebacker Kendal Franklin was one of Arizona's many summer commitments. The 6-foot-1 prospect who has played along the defensive line as well made his decision in July and he hasn't looked back since. Franklin built a solid relationship with running backs coach Calvin Magee over the course of his recruitment and that helped push along his decision.
Franklin is still firm with the 'Cats and he will be in Arizona Stadium this weekend to take in a game watching his future program. The outside linebacker has always been a fan of the Pac-12 and he has grown up a fan of Oregon, so watching the Wildcats knock off what has been his favorite college team was something to see for Franklin.
"Watching that game I was really impressed by Arizona's defense," he said. "They stood up to that uptempo offense of Oregon, and Anu Solomon stepped up in that game and that was big. ... It was real fun because me growing up an Oregon fan I always like Marcus Mariota and De'Anthony Thomas. So for the school that I'm committed to to go in there and beat them that was a big eye opener. Arizona is going to be something special over the next couple years."
Now Franklin will get to see his future team in person this weekend, and he's certainly excited for that opportunity.
"I want to see the atmosphere," he said. "I want to see the game atmosphere and how supportive the fans are and what it's like. I want to see the game day preparations and how the things go, and even the stuff they do the day before. I've been talking to coach Magee a lot about what they do, but I want to see myself how they prepare for a big game."
The two-star prospect has continued to maintain his communication with Magee and the staff throughout his own season, and at this point it's a relationship that continues to build.
"I've been talking to coach Magee on a regular basis," Franklin said. "I try to get in touch with him twice a week or at least once a week. Everything has been good. Me and him talk a lot about the role they want me to fill when I get there and how I can earn that starting spot, so I'm just excited."
Utah and Louisiana-Lafayette were two schools that Franklin mention continue to come after him pretty hard and while he is happy with his commitment he plans to talk with UA's coaching staff this weekend about the possibility of taking visits to other schools. However, taking those trips is not something he is dead set on doing.
"I made my commitment and it's a hard commitment - a solid verbal," he said. "But there's still some schools that think they have an opportunity to pull me over. ... It's all about visiting Arizona right now. I'll talk to coach Magee and coach RichRod about if it's OK for me to visit other places, but I'm not looking at visiting anyone else."
Franklin's teammate, and four-star linebacker, Arthur McGinnis has talked about potentially visiting Arizona in the past. At this point the UA commit said he's unsure if McGinnis will be making the trip to Tucson this weekend.
"I've been talking with Arthur, but I don't know if he's going to come," Franklin said. "Right now the plan is just for me and my dad to come, but anyone else I still have to talk with them and get it planned out and see."
Basketball
Arizona held its media day last Friday as the season is starting to get underway now across the country. The Wildcats held their first practice of the year Sunday and from here on out it will be about preparation for the 2014-15 season. Miller's group will have its annual Red-Blue game Oct. 18 and that will be a chance to see what the Wildcats have in their squad this season.
* There was plenty of topics covered by Miller in his press conference and there were plenty more interviews done with players last Friday, but one of the most popular players was of course star freshman Stanley Johnson. The Californian is arguably Arizona's top recruit of the Miller era and Johnson had to answer plenty of questions from the media last Friday.
One thing that the 6-foot-7 wing knows for sure is that he's ready for this moment and to start the next step in his career.
"I'm very ready, very ready," Johnson said Friday about his eagerness to get going. "I think over the summer and even at the end of my high school career I called coach and asked about everything. I asked about what we'd be doing and how I would play in the system and what shots I would be getting and what I needed to get better at.
"I worked on my jump shot all year. I worked on getting a lot more athletic. I worked on weight lifting and stuff now so that I can be ready for this moment, and so that in that first game of the season I can affect the team in a good way.
"Now that it's here I think I'm ahead of schedule with where I wanted to be personally, so now I feel like I'm ready to compete against other people. We're starting practice and that will be big for us and for me specifically because I still need to get used to playing with the five here or the seven - however the line up is going to go - and what shots we're all going to get.
"... Other than that I'm ready to play."
* One other player that Arizona had plenty of attention on him Friday was junior forward Brandon Ashley. The San Francisco native missed a number of games last year after getting injured against Cal while the Wildcats were still undefeated. Since that time it has been a long journey as Ashley continues to work on getting back to full strength.
Miller said the team is not going to rush anything with Ashley, but he is close to being back to where he was heading into last season.
"We've moved at a methodical pace, and to Brandon's credit he stayed in Tucson the entire summer," Miller said. "He did a great job doing everything that the doctors and Justin Kokoskie (team trainer) have asked him to do. He's been able to really do a skill workout - shooting, dribbling, running and jumping, and everything that's non-competitive - for some time. He was released to do that over the summer.
"We just allowed him for the first time a few weeks ago allowed him to start doing things competitively, and since then he's been in our team workouts and do everything that each of our players do. Moving forward will we give him an extra day off in October, November every once in a while? Yes.
"... We expect Brandon to be 100 percent and geared and ready to go for an excellent junior season."
For Ashley simply getting through the injury from a mental standpoint was more difficult than anything he has had to do rehab wise to get back on the floor and back to near full strength.
"I think the injury itself was honestly the hardest part," he said. "Just coming to grips with the fact that the injury happened and that I was going to be done for the rest of the season. So I just kind of had to work through that and as soon as I got though all that I was pretty much good."
Continue to look for more coverage from Arizona's media day throughout the week as GOAZCATS.com brings you interviews and more from the start to UA's 2014-15 season.
We'll take a look at all the ramifications of Arizona's win over Oregon and what it means for things moving forward. We'll also get you caught up on some of the important stats to come out of the game as the Wildcats now look ahead to USC.
On the recruiting side of things this weekend's game should have plenty of visitors and one recruit who plans on being there is excited to see what an Arizona game day is all about. We'll catch up with him and get the latest on the status of his pledge as well.
Just a day after Arizona's big upset road win over Oregon on the football field Sean Miller's basketball program held its media day. As you would expect there is plenty of optimism for the 'Cats heading into the 2014-15 season with another impressive group getting ready to go. We'll touch on some of the bigger topics to come out of media day in this week's War Room.
There's plenty to discuss this week so let's get going with this week's GOAZCATS.com War Room.
Football
It started with Scooby Wright taking the ball away from Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota Thursday night and it ended with Arizona being ranked the No. 10 team in the country in the Associated Press top 25 poll and No. 13 in the coaches poll. In between Thursday night and Sunday morning there was a lot of chaos around the country with a number of ranked teams coming out on the losing end.
All of it benefitted the Wildcats and now the tables have certainly turned heading into Saturday's game between Arizona and USC. The Trojans will come into the game unranked after dropping its game Saturday night to Arizona State on a last-second Hail Mary play.
* Before we go any further with what's next for the 'Cats we'll take a look back at the game against Oregon and some of the most glaring numbers to come out of that game - one of the more memorable ones in Arizona's history.
- 1989: We'll start with some history. After Arizona knocked off the Ducks Thursday night and moved into the No. 10 spot on the AP top 25 list that marked the biggest jump for a team since the poll moved to 25 teams in 1989. That's right no team has ever gone from unranked to No. 10 in a single week ... well, until now with Arizona being the first to do that.
- 5: With its win over the Ducks UA moved to 5-0 on the year and that is something that hasn't been accomplished by Arizona since the 1998 season.
- 10: Arizona moved into the top 10 in the Associated Press top 25 poll after its win over Oregon. It's only the second time the Wildcats have reached that point since 1998 and it is the first time since early October in 2010. Looking ahead the last time Arizona knocked off USC (2012) the Trojans were ranked No. 10 at the time.
Furthermore, the last time a ranked Arizona team faced an unranked USC squad was in the 2010 season when the Wildcats were No. 18 and fell to the Trojans 24-21 at home. The 'Cats knocked off an unranked USC team in 1993 when UA was No. 12 in the country.
- 27: The win over Arizona featured plenty of the running backs and for the 27th consecutive game the Wildcats went over 100 yards rushing as a team. So far during the Rich Rodriguez era the 'Cats have been held to less than 100 yards on the ground one time in two-plus seasons. The only team to accomplish that feat? Oregon, in the 2012 game at Autzen when the Ducks held UA to just 89 yards on the ground.
- 5: Arizona's defense stepped up in a big way Thursday night and exploited a banged up Oregon offensive line. In all the Wildcats had five sacks on the evening by five different players. That's the most sacks an Arizona defense has been able to get in one game since it had six in a game against Arizona State in 2010.
- 1,741: Arizona has made its way into the top 10 being led by a redshirt freshman quarterback in Anu Solomon. So far this season Solomon has had his ups and downs, but he has continued to produce through the first five games. At this point in the year he is in the top 10 - right at No. 10 - among FBS quarterbacks with 1,741 yards. It's even more impressive when you see that among that group Solomon has the second fewest amount of attempts with 206.
* Arizona has had some struggles getting out of a game without injury this season and that continued Thursday night. Both Nick Wilson and Cayman Bundage had to leave the game against Oregon with injuries and at this point there is no official status for either one.
* The biggest play of the game against Oregon came from the sophomore linebacker Wright when he stripped Mariota with the Ducks driving to seal Arizona's road win. It was the second turnover for Oregon in the game and it is a play that won't soon be forgotten on the Arizona side - and maybe the Oregon side either.
"It was a good play by him," Mariota said of the play after the game. "They ran some coverage that we weren't really expecting, and I was just trying to make the play. My instincts always lead the ball to go low, and he kind of just ripped it away."
Wright tends to keep things simple when talking about his play and he did so again when discussing his big play after the game.
"I was just trying to get after the quarterback and make a play," he said. "When I finally realized I had the ball in my hands, I was already running towards the sideline."
Football recruiting
Obviously one area where a win like Thursday's could make an impact is in recruiting. Rodriguez has always stressed that big wins - in his mind - don't lead recruits directly to a commitment, but it also doesn't hurt to build some notoriety with those prospects. Only time will tell how much of an impact the win will have on the Wildcats' recruiting efforts overall, but continuing to win games will help it too.
Getting a victory over USC this weekend would speak volumes about where Rodriguez has his program and it would be another win recruits could look at as a positive for UA. There are expected to be plenty of prospects in attendance Saturday, and at least one of them will be making his way from New Orleans.
* Warren Easton (New Orleans, Louisiana) linebacker Kendal Franklin was one of Arizona's many summer commitments. The 6-foot-1 prospect who has played along the defensive line as well made his decision in July and he hasn't looked back since. Franklin built a solid relationship with running backs coach Calvin Magee over the course of his recruitment and that helped push along his decision.
Franklin is still firm with the 'Cats and he will be in Arizona Stadium this weekend to take in a game watching his future program. The outside linebacker has always been a fan of the Pac-12 and he has grown up a fan of Oregon, so watching the Wildcats knock off what has been his favorite college team was something to see for Franklin.
"Watching that game I was really impressed by Arizona's defense," he said. "They stood up to that uptempo offense of Oregon, and Anu Solomon stepped up in that game and that was big. ... It was real fun because me growing up an Oregon fan I always like Marcus Mariota and De'Anthony Thomas. So for the school that I'm committed to to go in there and beat them that was a big eye opener. Arizona is going to be something special over the next couple years."
Now Franklin will get to see his future team in person this weekend, and he's certainly excited for that opportunity.
"I want to see the atmosphere," he said. "I want to see the game atmosphere and how supportive the fans are and what it's like. I want to see the game day preparations and how the things go, and even the stuff they do the day before. I've been talking to coach Magee a lot about what they do, but I want to see myself how they prepare for a big game."
The two-star prospect has continued to maintain his communication with Magee and the staff throughout his own season, and at this point it's a relationship that continues to build.
"I've been talking to coach Magee on a regular basis," Franklin said. "I try to get in touch with him twice a week or at least once a week. Everything has been good. Me and him talk a lot about the role they want me to fill when I get there and how I can earn that starting spot, so I'm just excited."
Utah and Louisiana-Lafayette were two schools that Franklin mention continue to come after him pretty hard and while he is happy with his commitment he plans to talk with UA's coaching staff this weekend about the possibility of taking visits to other schools. However, taking those trips is not something he is dead set on doing.
"I made my commitment and it's a hard commitment - a solid verbal," he said. "But there's still some schools that think they have an opportunity to pull me over. ... It's all about visiting Arizona right now. I'll talk to coach Magee and coach RichRod about if it's OK for me to visit other places, but I'm not looking at visiting anyone else."
Franklin's teammate, and four-star linebacker, Arthur McGinnis has talked about potentially visiting Arizona in the past. At this point the UA commit said he's unsure if McGinnis will be making the trip to Tucson this weekend.
"I've been talking with Arthur, but I don't know if he's going to come," Franklin said. "Right now the plan is just for me and my dad to come, but anyone else I still have to talk with them and get it planned out and see."
Basketball
Arizona held its media day last Friday as the season is starting to get underway now across the country. The Wildcats held their first practice of the year Sunday and from here on out it will be about preparation for the 2014-15 season. Miller's group will have its annual Red-Blue game Oct. 18 and that will be a chance to see what the Wildcats have in their squad this season.
* There was plenty of topics covered by Miller in his press conference and there were plenty more interviews done with players last Friday, but one of the most popular players was of course star freshman Stanley Johnson. The Californian is arguably Arizona's top recruit of the Miller era and Johnson had to answer plenty of questions from the media last Friday.
One thing that the 6-foot-7 wing knows for sure is that he's ready for this moment and to start the next step in his career.
"I'm very ready, very ready," Johnson said Friday about his eagerness to get going. "I think over the summer and even at the end of my high school career I called coach and asked about everything. I asked about what we'd be doing and how I would play in the system and what shots I would be getting and what I needed to get better at.
"I worked on my jump shot all year. I worked on getting a lot more athletic. I worked on weight lifting and stuff now so that I can be ready for this moment, and so that in that first game of the season I can affect the team in a good way.
"Now that it's here I think I'm ahead of schedule with where I wanted to be personally, so now I feel like I'm ready to compete against other people. We're starting practice and that will be big for us and for me specifically because I still need to get used to playing with the five here or the seven - however the line up is going to go - and what shots we're all going to get.
"... Other than that I'm ready to play."
* One other player that Arizona had plenty of attention on him Friday was junior forward Brandon Ashley. The San Francisco native missed a number of games last year after getting injured against Cal while the Wildcats were still undefeated. Since that time it has been a long journey as Ashley continues to work on getting back to full strength.
Miller said the team is not going to rush anything with Ashley, but he is close to being back to where he was heading into last season.
"We've moved at a methodical pace, and to Brandon's credit he stayed in Tucson the entire summer," Miller said. "He did a great job doing everything that the doctors and Justin Kokoskie (team trainer) have asked him to do. He's been able to really do a skill workout - shooting, dribbling, running and jumping, and everything that's non-competitive - for some time. He was released to do that over the summer.
"We just allowed him for the first time a few weeks ago allowed him to start doing things competitively, and since then he's been in our team workouts and do everything that each of our players do. Moving forward will we give him an extra day off in October, November every once in a while? Yes.
"... We expect Brandon to be 100 percent and geared and ready to go for an excellent junior season."
For Ashley simply getting through the injury from a mental standpoint was more difficult than anything he has had to do rehab wise to get back on the floor and back to near full strength.
"I think the injury itself was honestly the hardest part," he said. "Just coming to grips with the fact that the injury happened and that I was going to be done for the rest of the season. So I just kind of had to work through that and as soon as I got though all that I was pretty much good."
Continue to look for more coverage from Arizona's media day throughout the week as GOAZCATS.com brings you interviews and more from the start to UA's 2014-15 season.
