Defensively Decent

There is no joy in Mudville.

And if Mudville was in Arizona, it would be another name for Tucson.

Unfortunately, I’m writing this in the fourth quarter with 12 minutes or so left. But I’m still watching, hoping Arizona can punch it in.  

At this point, it’s obvious what went wrong here tonight.

Six trips to the red zone, six times the Cats came up empty.

Funny thing is, the defense showed up in Eugene. They really did.

They only gave up 13 points in the whole first half, and remained tough throughout the game (even with seven minutes left, they still look pretty good).

At halftime, the Cats had caused two turnovers, put their offense in a position to score both early and often, while putting the Ducks on their heels.

UO didn’t look much like a top-10 team, much less a top five.

And while the water-cooler conversations on Monday may be all about whether Oregon should be ranked two or three—if you watched the game for the first 38 minutes and 19 seconds—team Nike looked like they could be beaten.

For Oregon’s sake, I hope they don’t have to play an SEC team any time soon.

We were there.

We were so close.

And then the Arizona offense stalled.

They locked up. They committed the same amount of turnovers as the Ducks, and practically gift-wrapped 13 points for the Ducks.

Yet, Oregon fought tooth and nail for those 13 points.

In fact, UO looked so exasperated, it almost seemed like the third ranked team was too highly ranked.

(And as I write that, Oregon took Denker’s pass back for six, making it 49-0.)

But really, it shouldn’t have happened.  

Marcus Mariota was nothing special. He made freshman mistakes. De’Anthony Thomas and Kenjon Barner were held in check.

I know, I know, they combined for 133 yards, but neither of them scored tonight.

But really, it all comes down to this—you can only ask so much of your defense before they run out of gas—which is what happened to the Cats.

At 42-0, one of the ESPN announcers stated the obvious.

 “Oregon is just dismantling the twenty-second ranked team in the country.”

And as evident as that was, he really didn’t tell us the whole story.

The Wildcat offense dismantled itself.

Need I remind you that six possessions within the Oregon 25 yard line resulted in ZERO points?

So as disappointing as the game was, I made it a point to find something good.

After looking at the poor offensive execution by the Ducks in the first half, I feel that in three years, Arizona will be better than the Ducks.

In fact, we’ll beat them at their own game.

And that Wildcat defense?

There are flashes of brilliance—the quickness, the speed, the ability to make tackles in space, and the toughness, both mentally and physically.

It’s there, I promise you.

Even as the game comes to a close, at 49-0, and Arizona was unable to come up with points on the board, I’m still seeing the glass as half full.

Never have I felt so hopeful coming out of a 49-point loss.

In all reality, the score should have had us with at least 42 points on the board.

Wishful thinking, yes, but we need something to believe in.

The Cats are 3-1, and are coming back home to play a ranked Oregon State team.

If I’m the Beavers, I’m staying up tonight to think about how to beat that Wildcat defense.

But for Arizona’s sake, let’s hope the offense stays up tonight to figure out how to score.

Reasons to Worry

Okay, I’m a little worried.

The Ducks are stacked—they’re playing at home and ranked third in the nation.

VS.

Oregon racks up an average of 329 yards on the ground, and puts about 54 points on the scoreboard.

Team Nike has running back Kenjon Barner, all-purpose-man De'Anthony Thomas and breakout quarterback Marcus Mariota.

And let’s not forget about their ridiculously awesome jerseys and chrome helmets.

So you’re asking if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel?

Possibly.

The Cats are ranked eighth overall in passing yards, with an average of 358 yards a game.

Arizona comes in at eighteenth nationally in rushing yards with 247 yards per game. They too, understand how to put points on the board, scoring an average of 46 points in their three contests.   

The defense allows an average of 18 points a game, which—oddly enough—is better than Oregon’s 24 points allowed.

This is great news, considering Arizona had two tests to start the year—Toledo and Oklahoma State.

The Ducks, meanwhile, have played Arkansas State, Fresno State, and Tennessee Tech.

So here’s what this game will boil down to:

RichRod’s young team is playing its first away game in much cooler weather.

 And did I forget to mention that they’re playing at Autzen Stadium, one of the loudest stadiums in the country?

Also, this will be Oregon’s fourth game at home, and their Pac12 home-opener.

All those other games—the games against a ‘Tech’ and two ‘States’ (who knew Fresno was a state)—pale in comparison to the conference game.

And Oregon tends to score early. After letting Tech through with the first touchdown, the Ducks scored 49 straight points.

After allowing a Fresno State field goal in the first quarter, Barner scored two touchdowns, helping the Quacks to a 35-3 lead.

As for Arkansas State, well, the Ducks put up 29 points before the Red Wolves found a field goal.

So it’s easy to see that after halftime, Oregon takes its foot off the gas, and cruises.

And after that quick analysis, you see why this will be a daunting task.

Arizona needs to get down to business early, and recognize that this is just another football team.

The Cats will need to fight hard and not let Oregon amass an insurmountable halftime lead.

But mostly, Arizona will need to take the crowd out early, and make sure to keep them out.

RichRod’s crew has show a lot of poise through their first three games, but this is far outside the friendly confines of Arizona Stadium.

Good luck, Wildcats, and remember— it’s still business as usual… just a little louder.  

Another Day at the Office

The weather has never been this nice in mid-September.

A high of 86 degrees before the game and a cool breeze through the air during it.

While all along, a sense of ‘business as usual’ flowed throughout the stadium.

A little over 43 thousand people watched the Arizona Wildcats demolish the outmanned Bulldogs of South Carolina State 56-0.

Another "W" at Arizona Stadium.

By halftime—with a 28-point lead—about half of Arizona Stadium was empty.

The Zona Zoo was filled with a sparse selection of ‘die-hards,’ and the upper 200’s were empty by the third quarter.

It was a beautiful, yet different feeling.

If you checked my post last week, you would understand that a cultural shift has started on Arizona’s campus.

This win, a blowout victory—something Arizona hasn’t been accustomed to over the last decade—yet again seemed to be business as usual.

I remember much different feelings with our previous two coaches, John Mackovic and Mike Stoops.

The many ‘cupcake’ teams that were put on our schedule (sorry NAU ’02, ’04, ’05, ’07, ’09), were not to be taken lightly, even though they were, ‘buffer’ games.

I can remember sitting at these games, thinking all about how sloppy the team played, how disorganized the coaching staff was, or how unimaginative the play-calling was, even when the Wildcats were able to come away with the victory.

What it really came down to was a sense of overwhelming dread for the next game.

Seeing the mistakes and miscalculations were the precursor to what was yet to come, against a much better team.

So here we are, at that familiar junction.

A cupcake, and then the start of the conference schedule.

At Oregon.

 
Inside Autzen Stadium, the loudest in the PAC12.

Against the fourth ranked team in the nation.

And yet, don’t hit the panic button.

Yes, it’s a scary prospect, but it is also an opportunity. An opportunity to show the new cultural change taking place in Tucson.

Let us not pretend this isn’t a daunting task—but let us not expect a miracle either.

Let us hope that Arizona shows up in Eugene with one thing on their minds.

Business as usual.

SC State Comes to Town...

It's looking like a beautiful night for football, as the Cats take on the South Carolina State University Bulldogs.

Thanks to a generous donor (thanks ma!), the Canyon Cable will be getting a major seat upgrade, moving from the vertigo-inducing heights of section 201 for the friendly confines of section 21, row 54, also known as, "50-yard-line seats."

The Bulldogs hail from Orangeburg, S.C., just south of Columbia.

SC State competes in the NCAA Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as part of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).

The Bulldogs come to Tucson with a 1-1 record, coming off a home loss to Bethune-Cookman University, 27-14.

 Check my tweets during the game: @jablamski.

I'll get the pics up as soon as I can. Luckily, they'll be a lot closer this week!

Go Cats!!!

A Victorious Mindset

A view from section 201... Oxygen tanks not included...

Saturday’s win was as much a surprise as it was a preview of what is yet to come.

Arizona’s 59-38 victory over the 18^th-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys wasn’t pretty.

The Wildcat defense gave up 636 yards of total offense, including 436 through the air.

Within the first eight minutes of the game, the Cowboys had a 14-point lead, and were threatening to blow the game wide open.

For a minute, the Stoops era threatened to loom over head coach Rich Rodriguez for another year.

And then, Arizona found their groove.

The Cats rattled off 30 unanswered points, never really being challenged throughout the rest of the game.

Oklahoma State was unable to locate Tucson’s own Ka’Deem Carey, who rushed for 126 yards on 26 carries and three touchdowns on the ground.

Carey also caught a 13-yard pass, giving him four touchdowns on the night.

And that defense—the one that gave up almost 640 yards?

They caused 4 turnovers, including a costly 48-yard interception return at the start of the fourth quarter.

So even with the statistical anomaly, what did this game actually tell us?

Two things—first, there’s a new culture at Arizona Stadium.  

This was a huge win for the Cats, yet this victory was different from every other victory the Cats have had over a ranked opponent.

Arizona entered the game with a business mindset—limit turnovers, implement a balanced game plan, and bend but don’t break on defense.

This was not just a team looking to catch a break, like the Wildcats have been doing for the past seven years.

This team is learning how to execute, and learning quickly.

Secondly, I can’t help but start some comparisons to last season’s Orange Bowl winning West Virginia squad.

Sure it wasn’t Rodriguez’s team, but let’s take a look at some interesting facts—WVU gave up 443 yards on defense, 250 yards through the air.

Their opponent, Clemson, scored first, and led at the end of the first quarter.

And even more importantly, the Mountaineers had a turnover.

But they scored 70 points against a very good Clemson team.

Arizona scored 59 against a Cowboy squad that returned 8 starters on defense.

And remember, Oklahoma State beat their first opponent, 84-0.

So congratulations Coach Rodriguez—not only on your first victory over a ranked opponent as a Wildcat—but in taking the first step in changing the culture of Arizona football.

And thanks for the preview of things to come.

Oh and by the way, had the game gone on for about 20 minutes more, Arizona would have topped Oklahoma State's 84-point victory... just sayin'.