That was a great game to watch and be an Arizona fan. Watching Tate go off and live up to his potential was fantastic and even while watching him in high school I never expected 327 yards rushing in college. To quote Tony the Tiger, "It's great!!!".
The defense was battling but what I saw was not lack of effort but lack of experience. Colorado went to a heavy package but more importantly they were lining up two linemen on one side of the line to get the Arizona defense set and then motioning both of them to the other side of the line. Arizona was not reacting to that shift and stayed in the same defensive formation the majority of the time which allowed for open holes and yardage. The encouraging part was that the Arizona team defensive speed is high and while they broke for a couple of long runs most of the gains were short (relatively). We were also fortunate that Colorado couldn't complete any of the long pass opportunities they took. Their receivers were open at times and the throws were off. I do, however, think that some of that can be attributed to their getting to Montez early which made him uncomfortable in the pocket even when he wasn't being pressured.
As I have been for a while I am all for Tate being the QB but want to temper everyone's expectations. I saw one comment that we can win the PAC-12 now. I really want to believe that is a possibility but I can't see it happening this year. If we can get six wins this year (half way there) I would be excited and if we can get seven holy crap. Possible wins are UCLA, Cal, Oregon State, Oregon and Arizona State. I can't see us beating WSU or USC which would put us at 8-4. That should exceed everyone's expectations for this year. If anyone is not happy with that kind of record this year they are the type that would complain about how many yards the team gave up while winning the national championship.
As much as I would love a guaranteed win we are going to have a difficult time with UCLA this weekend. Rosen is the type of QB that is really going to test the secondary. He will try to make every throw so if we can put pressure on him all game we have a chance. If we allow him to sit back in the pocket we are going to be in trouble I think. The good news is that hopefully Tate continues to mature and bring the kind of game that he is capable of on the ground and through the air. I think it might be another shoot out and we will need our defense to get some stops.
Tate is extremely talented but still young and inexperienced. He will hopefully have a lot of games like this weekend but he is going to have some games where he struggles. The personnel around him is good and I believe he makes it better but there will be times where it is going to be difficult. However, he needs to be the man and leader of this offense without question. One of the greatest moments for me was how Tate handled that last drive. No panic and he helped put the game away without giving the ball back to Colorado. That is big time. It is great that Rich says he has two starters (great media content) but if that is the case we don't have a starter. The way that the other offensive players play when Tate is in the game is just different. Their attitude when he is the QB is that we can't be stopped and Saturday, they were right.
Bear Down, this year just got a whole lot more interesting and optimistic. My opinion only, now tear it apart fellow posters!
The defense was battling but what I saw was not lack of effort but lack of experience. Colorado went to a heavy package but more importantly they were lining up two linemen on one side of the line to get the Arizona defense set and then motioning both of them to the other side of the line. Arizona was not reacting to that shift and stayed in the same defensive formation the majority of the time which allowed for open holes and yardage. The encouraging part was that the Arizona team defensive speed is high and while they broke for a couple of long runs most of the gains were short (relatively). We were also fortunate that Colorado couldn't complete any of the long pass opportunities they took. Their receivers were open at times and the throws were off. I do, however, think that some of that can be attributed to their getting to Montez early which made him uncomfortable in the pocket even when he wasn't being pressured.
As I have been for a while I am all for Tate being the QB but want to temper everyone's expectations. I saw one comment that we can win the PAC-12 now. I really want to believe that is a possibility but I can't see it happening this year. If we can get six wins this year (half way there) I would be excited and if we can get seven holy crap. Possible wins are UCLA, Cal, Oregon State, Oregon and Arizona State. I can't see us beating WSU or USC which would put us at 8-4. That should exceed everyone's expectations for this year. If anyone is not happy with that kind of record this year they are the type that would complain about how many yards the team gave up while winning the national championship.
As much as I would love a guaranteed win we are going to have a difficult time with UCLA this weekend. Rosen is the type of QB that is really going to test the secondary. He will try to make every throw so if we can put pressure on him all game we have a chance. If we allow him to sit back in the pocket we are going to be in trouble I think. The good news is that hopefully Tate continues to mature and bring the kind of game that he is capable of on the ground and through the air. I think it might be another shoot out and we will need our defense to get some stops.
Tate is extremely talented but still young and inexperienced. He will hopefully have a lot of games like this weekend but he is going to have some games where he struggles. The personnel around him is good and I believe he makes it better but there will be times where it is going to be difficult. However, he needs to be the man and leader of this offense without question. One of the greatest moments for me was how Tate handled that last drive. No panic and he helped put the game away without giving the ball back to Colorado. That is big time. It is great that Rich says he has two starters (great media content) but if that is the case we don't have a starter. The way that the other offensive players play when Tate is in the game is just different. Their attitude when he is the QB is that we can't be stopped and Saturday, they were right.
Bear Down, this year just got a whole lot more interesting and optimistic. My opinion only, now tear it apart fellow posters!
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