My gut says that if Anu gets hot and in rhythm early like he did against Wazzu that Arizona will be in this game to the end. The wazzu game was the best Anu has played and that being said, there's still plenty for him to improve upon. Again, I think he's the key for Arizona as he has been for every game we've played. All the guy does is win.MrBug708 wrote:LA Steel uniforms, which are slightly different from the midnight jerseys.dc4azcats wrote:
What's up Bug? Vegas Insider and the Wynn still have it at 4.5.
So Bug, give us the straight scoop - how do you see this game playing out and are you guys busting out the black unis again? Ucla has had Arizona's number the last 2 seasons but I think the difference in this game is Anu. He's not going to be intimidated by being on the road and playing at the Rose Bowl.
Looking at the stats the teams are pretty similar with the one big difference being sacks and sacks allowed. Arizona is 5th in the conference in getting to the QB with 19 while Ucla has 10. Arizona has given up the 2nd fewest sacks in the conference with 15 while Ucla leads the conference 26 sacks allowed.
UA's pass defense doesn't look good stats wise since both Goff and Halliday threw for a ton of yards but I thing the 4 down DL against wazzu and playing really just one LB the entire game with 6 DB's confused Halliday and didn't give him the passing lanes that he is used to being there. Parks could've had at least 3 ints just from being in the passing lanes.
Conversely, our rush D probably isn't as good as our ranking in the conference but if you've played Wazzu then it evens out for everybody at some point. Playing wazzu this week moved us up to 4th in the conference in Rush D. Ucla is #2 in the conference in rushing the ball so my guess is you come out and try to establish the run and keep the pressure off of Hundley.
Both teams want some balance on offense and it will be interesting to see who prevails in taking advantage of what the D is giving them. Should be a very interesting game.
UCLA rarely blitzes and instead relies on the front 3 getting pressuring on the QB, which has limited the amount of sacks. Your guys old DL coach, Mike Tui, is currently the "pass rush/DE coach". I dont think he'll be here next year however. The LB'ers have been generally good. They are good at getting sideline to sideline, less going out in coverage, at least Kendrick struggles more than Jack in coverage, but Jack over-pursues more than he should.
As far as getting sacks, once you rattle Hundley, he puts his head down and takes off. He usually can get some positive yards, but occasionally he gets pulled down behind the LOS, which results in the sacks. It's been his flaw at UCLA, more Kapernick than Russell Wilson an will probably keep him from ever being successful in the NFL. The coaches havent been rolling Hundley out though, which is suprising because it would buy him more time or give him a chance to run more. He doesnt usually keep the zone read. The staff was able to see that Cal couldn't stop the screens and ran it to death against them. They didnt bother to run it vs CU, which I think was arrogance on their part. The OL is finally healthy, but how effective they are based on Colorado remains to be seen.
UCLA does get big plays on D, Special Teams, their WR's, and their RB's. If you can limited most of those, Arizona should be fine. UCLA can drive the ball down the field, but mental faux pas's by Hundley, penalties, or conservative play calling generally sinks those drives. Broken tackles by Perkins or the bigger receivers usually get us extra yards.
How UCLA responds defensively remains to be seen. Oregon notwithstanding, and probably Memphis, the D has been solid enough. Against Cal, Hundley gave them three scoring drives closer than the 35. I doubt Myles Jack plays all that much. UCLA blew a 17 point lead against Colorado so getting a lead doesn't mean much right now, especially against a team like Arizona. That being said, the D is tailored more against spread offenses than traditional offenses right now.
If good Hundley shows up, I think UCLA wins. If bad Hundley shows up, Arizona will boatrace UCLA.
Arizona changed things up on D vs Wazzu and Scooby was very effective rushing off the edge, it will be interesting to see what we do differently for Ucla or do we go back to the 3-3-5 stack?
