It's that time again! Arizona has its second win in the books and is now starting the preparations for this Saturday's game against USC. However, before we get there we have to take a look back at the grades handed out to Arizona's players from the win over Oregon State from our friends over at Pro Football Focus. The grades can sometimes change from when they first go up through the week, so we gave it an extra day so any adjustments could be made.
Here is our weekly deep dive into the PFF grades and our assessment of who did well against the Beavers and what it all means for UA as a whole.
Just in case you missed it here are the grades from last week after the win over Southern Utah which saw some of the best grades UA has had all season long.
Offense (players who played 20+ snaps)
1. Cody Creason - 89.6 (64 snaps)
2. Shun Brown - 85.7 (34 snaps)
3. Gary Brightwell - 84.3 (22 snaps)
4. Layth Friekh - 82.9 (64 snaps)
5. Shawn Poindexter - 82.7 (45 snaps)
6. JJ Taylor - 77.8 (42 snaps)
7. Bryson Cain - 76.2 (64 snaps)
8. Josh McCauley - 75.8 (64 snaps)
9. Donovan Laie - 68.4 (64 snaps)
10. Khalil Tate - 66.3 (64 snaps)
11. Stanley Berryhill - 57.7 (22 snaps)
12. Cedric Peterson - 55.9 (47 snaps)
13. Tony Ellison - 54.9 (29 snaps)
14. Bryce Wolma - 50.5 (42 snaps)
Defense (players who played 20+ snaps)
1. Jalen Harris - 89.7 (37 snaps)
2. PJ Johnson - 79.1 (33 snaps)
3. JB Brown - 74.5 (56 snaps)
4. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles - 73.9 (48 snaps)
5. Tristan Cooper - 68.9 (25 snaps)
6. Colin Schooler - 67.9 (65 snaps)
7. Tony Fields II - 66.9 (61 snaps)
8. Scottie Young Jr. - 66.2 (65 snaps)
9. Lorenzo Burns - 66.0 (65 snaps)
10. Finton Connolly - 65.8 (23 snaps)
11. Jarrius Wallace - 64.6 (68 snaps)
12. Dereck Boles - 60.0 (45 snaps)
13. Kylan Wilborn - 57.9 (44 snaps)
14. Tim Hough - 56.1 (63 snaps)
15. Abraham Maiava - 36.7 (36 snaps)
Takeaways
* Offense: It's not a huge surprise to see an offensive lineman at the top of the list with Cody Creason continuing his success this year despite his move over from right tackle to left guard. There was certainly an adjustment two weeks ago against Southern Utah, but this week he and Layth Friekh really showed their dominance on that left side of the line. Friekh checked in at No. 4 on the list and that seems appropriate for his performance. His return has definitely marked an uptick for the offensive line overall and it showed in this last game with the work JJ Taylor was able to do on the ground. Speaking of Taylor it is always interesting to see how production and stats get taken into account with the Pro Football Focus grades and despite Taylor having his best day at UA he was not as high as you might think coming in at. The 54.6 grade on pass plays certainly hurt him. The 66.3 for Khalil Tate is the second-lowest grade he has received this season with his 62.5 against Houston being his lowest of the year.
Tight end Jamie Nunley had the best grade for a player with between 10 and 20 snaps coming in with a 75.2. Meanwhile, Rhett Rodriguez again scored high with a 73.3 as the top player who logged fewer than 10 snaps in Saturday's game.
* Defense: Jalen Harris came through with the best individual grade of the season for Arizona after his performance in Saturday's game. The redshirt freshman pass rush specialist certainly looked to me to be one of the best players on the field in the win and that was how PFF viewed it as well. He was extremely disruptive and he had one sack but should have been credited for another if not for some home cooking with the official scorers. Where he shined was in the pass rushing category where he had an 85.7 which was 13 points higher than the next best player as PFF credited him with that second sack. If the Wildcats can continue to get that kind of production from Harris he will only increase his role as Kylan Wilborn has had some issues this season and injuries piling up at the defensive end spot.
PJ Johnson is another one who makes sense with the second best grade of the game and you have to look no further than his team-leading grade of 85.4 against the run as the reason why. It was clear that is where the junior college transfer had the chance to make his biggest impact, but along with that he also had a sack and really made a difference in his first game back from injury.
Lee Anderson III had the best grade for a player who was on the field for less than 10 snaps coming in with a grade of 73.4 for his six snaps in the game Saturday.
* Here's how Arizona currently stacks up nationally through four games when it comes to the top categories.
- Offense: 79.5 (No. 24 - up from No. 55)
Some more interesting movement for Arizona this week with the pass protection category still being the Wildcats' best. UA is now up into the top 10 in that area with its best grade of a 90.9 which is good enough for No. 7 on the list. UA's pass rush is still its worst category but the Wildcats did move up a few spots but still continue to grade out low there despite a better week pressuring the quarterback against Oregon State. Tackling and special teams were the two areas UA went down after the Oregon State game with the tackling grade forcing UA to fall 30 spots and the kicking issues dropping UA out of the top 50 in overall special teams.
* Here is this week's passing chart for quarterback Khalil Tate. As you can see his best throws came outside the numbers in the intermediate range of 10-20 yards. He received an 89.7 for throws to the left and an 89.2 for throws to the right. His next best grade came on throws of over 20 yards down the the middle of the field as he checked in with an 85.9 there.
Here is our weekly deep dive into the PFF grades and our assessment of who did well against the Beavers and what it all means for UA as a whole.
Just in case you missed it here are the grades from last week after the win over Southern Utah which saw some of the best grades UA has had all season long.
Offense (players who played 20+ snaps)
1. Cody Creason - 89.6 (64 snaps)
2. Shun Brown - 85.7 (34 snaps)
3. Gary Brightwell - 84.3 (22 snaps)
4. Layth Friekh - 82.9 (64 snaps)
5. Shawn Poindexter - 82.7 (45 snaps)
6. JJ Taylor - 77.8 (42 snaps)
7. Bryson Cain - 76.2 (64 snaps)
8. Josh McCauley - 75.8 (64 snaps)
9. Donovan Laie - 68.4 (64 snaps)
10. Khalil Tate - 66.3 (64 snaps)
11. Stanley Berryhill - 57.7 (22 snaps)
12. Cedric Peterson - 55.9 (47 snaps)
13. Tony Ellison - 54.9 (29 snaps)
14. Bryce Wolma - 50.5 (42 snaps)
Defense (players who played 20+ snaps)
1. Jalen Harris - 89.7 (37 snaps)
2. PJ Johnson - 79.1 (33 snaps)
3. JB Brown - 74.5 (56 snaps)
4. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles - 73.9 (48 snaps)
5. Tristan Cooper - 68.9 (25 snaps)
6. Colin Schooler - 67.9 (65 snaps)
7. Tony Fields II - 66.9 (61 snaps)
8. Scottie Young Jr. - 66.2 (65 snaps)
9. Lorenzo Burns - 66.0 (65 snaps)
10. Finton Connolly - 65.8 (23 snaps)
11. Jarrius Wallace - 64.6 (68 snaps)
12. Dereck Boles - 60.0 (45 snaps)
13. Kylan Wilborn - 57.9 (44 snaps)
14. Tim Hough - 56.1 (63 snaps)
15. Abraham Maiava - 36.7 (36 snaps)
Takeaways
* Offense: It's not a huge surprise to see an offensive lineman at the top of the list with Cody Creason continuing his success this year despite his move over from right tackle to left guard. There was certainly an adjustment two weeks ago against Southern Utah, but this week he and Layth Friekh really showed their dominance on that left side of the line. Friekh checked in at No. 4 on the list and that seems appropriate for his performance. His return has definitely marked an uptick for the offensive line overall and it showed in this last game with the work JJ Taylor was able to do on the ground. Speaking of Taylor it is always interesting to see how production and stats get taken into account with the Pro Football Focus grades and despite Taylor having his best day at UA he was not as high as you might think coming in at. The 54.6 grade on pass plays certainly hurt him. The 66.3 for Khalil Tate is the second-lowest grade he has received this season with his 62.5 against Houston being his lowest of the year.
Tight end Jamie Nunley had the best grade for a player with between 10 and 20 snaps coming in with a 75.2. Meanwhile, Rhett Rodriguez again scored high with a 73.3 as the top player who logged fewer than 10 snaps in Saturday's game.
* Defense: Jalen Harris came through with the best individual grade of the season for Arizona after his performance in Saturday's game. The redshirt freshman pass rush specialist certainly looked to me to be one of the best players on the field in the win and that was how PFF viewed it as well. He was extremely disruptive and he had one sack but should have been credited for another if not for some home cooking with the official scorers. Where he shined was in the pass rushing category where he had an 85.7 which was 13 points higher than the next best player as PFF credited him with that second sack. If the Wildcats can continue to get that kind of production from Harris he will only increase his role as Kylan Wilborn has had some issues this season and injuries piling up at the defensive end spot.
PJ Johnson is another one who makes sense with the second best grade of the game and you have to look no further than his team-leading grade of 85.4 against the run as the reason why. It was clear that is where the junior college transfer had the chance to make his biggest impact, but along with that he also had a sack and really made a difference in his first game back from injury.
Lee Anderson III had the best grade for a player who was on the field for less than 10 snaps coming in with a grade of 73.4 for his six snaps in the game Saturday.
* Here's how Arizona currently stacks up nationally through four games when it comes to the top categories.
- Offense: 79.5 (No. 24 - up from No. 55)
- Passing: 77.0 (No. 36 - up from No. 42)
- Pass blocking: 90.9 (No. 7 - up from No. 12)
- Receiving: 74.4 (No. 21 - up from No. 32)
- Rushing: 73.8 (No. 46 - up from No. 85)
- Run blocking: 65.5 (No. 56 - up from No. 151)
- Defense: 80.1 (No. 84 - up from No. 93)- Pass blocking: 90.9 (No. 7 - up from No. 12)
- Receiving: 74.4 (No. 21 - up from No. 32)
- Rushing: 73.8 (No. 46 - up from No. 85)
- Run blocking: 65.5 (No. 56 - up from No. 151)
- Run defense: 85.0 (No. 63 - No Change)
- Tackling: 79.7 (No. 48 - down from No. 18)
- Pass rush: 58.1 (No. 155 - up from No. 178)
- Coverage: 78.5 (No. 86 - up from No. 102)
- Special teams: 70.5 (No. 78 - down from No. 47)- Tackling: 79.7 (No. 48 - down from No. 18)
- Pass rush: 58.1 (No. 155 - up from No. 178)
- Coverage: 78.5 (No. 86 - up from No. 102)
Some more interesting movement for Arizona this week with the pass protection category still being the Wildcats' best. UA is now up into the top 10 in that area with its best grade of a 90.9 which is good enough for No. 7 on the list. UA's pass rush is still its worst category but the Wildcats did move up a few spots but still continue to grade out low there despite a better week pressuring the quarterback against Oregon State. Tackling and special teams were the two areas UA went down after the Oregon State game with the tackling grade forcing UA to fall 30 spots and the kicking issues dropping UA out of the top 50 in overall special teams.
* Here is this week's passing chart for quarterback Khalil Tate. As you can see his best throws came outside the numbers in the intermediate range of 10-20 yards. He received an 89.7 for throws to the left and an 89.2 for throws to the right. His next best grade came on throws of over 20 yards down the the middle of the field as he checked in with an 85.9 there.
