Arizona is now fully into the busy season with basketball starting up official practices as well as football now two games into the Pac-12 Conference portion of the schedule throw recruiting and official visits on top of that and you have one of the busiest months of the year.
Here is this week’s War Room getting you caught up on everything as a new week gets underway.
Football
The score tells you how things went, and it was certainly another tough game for Arizona on its road trip to Stanford over the weekend. The Wildcats surrendered more than 50 points for the second week in a row and moved to 0-2 in Pac-12 play. Now the attention will turn to Oregon State and some potentially more manageable games over the next few weeks.
* We’ll start this week by looking back at the Stanford game and examining a few of the most telling stats from the 55-17 loss to the Cardinal on Saturday.
- 16 first downs: One of the most telling stats for Arizona after Saturday’s game was the first down category. For the Wildcats to do what they want on offense they have to get first downs. That is one of the most important aspects of what makes the offense so effective, if not the most important thing. It doesn’t always mean a win - UA had 11 more than UCLA two weeks ago - but it does show how effective the offense is in a certain game.
The Wildcats didn’t even reach 20 in the loss to Stanford and to make things even more unbalanced the Cardinal nearly doubled up the ‘Cats with 30 first downs on its side. There were of course several factors that played into both those numbers but if Arizona wants to win games it has to be better in both areas.
- 3.5 yards per rush: Because Anu Solomon was questionable going into the game and really not expected to play, there was always going to be an emphasis on running the ball. However, the ‘Cats were forced to go away from that some as Jerrard Randall was working on an injured hamstring taking away some of his explosiveness. Still, Nick Wilson didn’t have the type of game Arizona fans have come to know from the sophomore running back.
The Fresno, California native finished with just 17 carries on the night for 46 yards. Still, it is that team total of just 3.5 yards per carry that really stands out. One thing the Wildcats have been able to do consistently all season long is run the ball, and that just didn’t happen against Stanford.
- 0 forced turnovers: In a game where you are a big underdog on the road one of the keys to victory is winning the turnover battle. The Wildcats didn’t lose it as there weren’t any, but they also didn’t create any either. As the season has gone on now through five games the Wildcats just haven’t quite been able to get those game-changing type plays that were coming so frequently last season. When you have so many injuries to a group you have to count on those to balance things out and get the defense back on the sideline so the offense can go to work.
They were there early in the year, but now two games into Pac-12 play the Wildcats just haven’t been able to come up with those big plays on the defensive side of the ball.
- 11 tackles for a free safety: It was that way last year too, but a free safety having 11 tackles and leading the team is not always what you want to see from a defense. Jamar Allah certainly had himself a big game, but once again the Wildcats leading tacklers were in the the secondary with Allah and Will Parks accounting for 21 of the teams 88 tackles. Allah has been good in run support this season so that adds on to that category for him, but still that also says something about the group in front of him.
The linebackers have certainly taken a hit this season, but whether it likes it or not that group still has to be an integral part of what the team does on defense regardless of who it is lining up at those three spots. That is something that falls on the defensive line as well as that group opens things up for others by getting pressure and doing its job too.
- Red zone chances ... 7-7: Arizona didn’t get in the red zone much Saturday, but it made the most of its chances coming away with points on all three occasions. However, it was a different story on the other side. Stanford had seven trips to the red zone in its win Saturday and came away with six touchdowns and a field goal on those occasions. Against UCLA two weeks ago the Wildcats had to defend seven trips to the red zone as well and the Bruins came away with touchdowns each time.
Teams are going to be expected to come away with points in the red zone, but giving up that many touchdowns on that part of the field over the last two weeks makes it tough to overcome that back on the offensive end. That is one big reason the Wildcats have found themselves in big holes at halftime the last two weeks.
* This week it will be Oregon State coming to town and so far this season it has two wins and two losses. There will sure to be plenty of talk about Arizona this week and what it needs to do internally, but the Beavers are a team that has had struggles of its own already.
One thing that is sure to be discussed this week is that Arizona will see OSU coming off a bye week, something UA doesn’t have this year. Rich Rodriguez has said he doesn’t want to make a point of bringing it up but it is sure to be something that comes up over the course of the week. We will have more on Arizona’s next opponent throughout the week.
Here is this week’s War Room getting you caught up on everything as a new week gets underway.
Football
The score tells you how things went, and it was certainly another tough game for Arizona on its road trip to Stanford over the weekend. The Wildcats surrendered more than 50 points for the second week in a row and moved to 0-2 in Pac-12 play. Now the attention will turn to Oregon State and some potentially more manageable games over the next few weeks.
* We’ll start this week by looking back at the Stanford game and examining a few of the most telling stats from the 55-17 loss to the Cardinal on Saturday.
- 16 first downs: One of the most telling stats for Arizona after Saturday’s game was the first down category. For the Wildcats to do what they want on offense they have to get first downs. That is one of the most important aspects of what makes the offense so effective, if not the most important thing. It doesn’t always mean a win - UA had 11 more than UCLA two weeks ago - but it does show how effective the offense is in a certain game.
The Wildcats didn’t even reach 20 in the loss to Stanford and to make things even more unbalanced the Cardinal nearly doubled up the ‘Cats with 30 first downs on its side. There were of course several factors that played into both those numbers but if Arizona wants to win games it has to be better in both areas.
- 3.5 yards per rush: Because Anu Solomon was questionable going into the game and really not expected to play, there was always going to be an emphasis on running the ball. However, the ‘Cats were forced to go away from that some as Jerrard Randall was working on an injured hamstring taking away some of his explosiveness. Still, Nick Wilson didn’t have the type of game Arizona fans have come to know from the sophomore running back.
The Fresno, California native finished with just 17 carries on the night for 46 yards. Still, it is that team total of just 3.5 yards per carry that really stands out. One thing the Wildcats have been able to do consistently all season long is run the ball, and that just didn’t happen against Stanford.
- 0 forced turnovers: In a game where you are a big underdog on the road one of the keys to victory is winning the turnover battle. The Wildcats didn’t lose it as there weren’t any, but they also didn’t create any either. As the season has gone on now through five games the Wildcats just haven’t quite been able to get those game-changing type plays that were coming so frequently last season. When you have so many injuries to a group you have to count on those to balance things out and get the defense back on the sideline so the offense can go to work.
They were there early in the year, but now two games into Pac-12 play the Wildcats just haven’t been able to come up with those big plays on the defensive side of the ball.
- 11 tackles for a free safety: It was that way last year too, but a free safety having 11 tackles and leading the team is not always what you want to see from a defense. Jamar Allah certainly had himself a big game, but once again the Wildcats leading tacklers were in the the secondary with Allah and Will Parks accounting for 21 of the teams 88 tackles. Allah has been good in run support this season so that adds on to that category for him, but still that also says something about the group in front of him.
The linebackers have certainly taken a hit this season, but whether it likes it or not that group still has to be an integral part of what the team does on defense regardless of who it is lining up at those three spots. That is something that falls on the defensive line as well as that group opens things up for others by getting pressure and doing its job too.
- Red zone chances ... 7-7: Arizona didn’t get in the red zone much Saturday, but it made the most of its chances coming away with points on all three occasions. However, it was a different story on the other side. Stanford had seven trips to the red zone in its win Saturday and came away with six touchdowns and a field goal on those occasions. Against UCLA two weeks ago the Wildcats had to defend seven trips to the red zone as well and the Bruins came away with touchdowns each time.
Teams are going to be expected to come away with points in the red zone, but giving up that many touchdowns on that part of the field over the last two weeks makes it tough to overcome that back on the offensive end. That is one big reason the Wildcats have found themselves in big holes at halftime the last two weeks.
* This week it will be Oregon State coming to town and so far this season it has two wins and two losses. There will sure to be plenty of talk about Arizona this week and what it needs to do internally, but the Beavers are a team that has had struggles of its own already.
One thing that is sure to be discussed this week is that Arizona will see OSU coming off a bye week, something UA doesn’t have this year. Rich Rodriguez has said he doesn’t want to make a point of bringing it up but it is sure to be something that comes up over the course of the week. We will have more on Arizona’s next opponent throughout the week.
