2023 Season Thread

[EastCoastCat]

Let's pull a TCU!

(ECC puts down the pipe...)

[84Cat]

[84Cat]

[azgreg]

[wyo-cat]

23k at the Spring Game.

I’m watching a recording. Great atmosphere and lots of Gronk screen time. Which is good for the program.

Feef looks good so far, JDL packing on 20# and faster looks good.

[Carcassdragger]

23k at the Spring Game.

I’m watching a recording. Great atmosphere and lots of Gronk screen time. Which is good for the program.

Feef looks good so far, JDL packing on 20# and faster looks good.

Thanks

Can you or anybody else give more insight? Did the DL get any pressure? How is Flo looking? Fifita looked good last year. Signs of improvement? How was his accuracy? This should really be Wileys year. Is it showing? We have some newer receivers and at least one who should be good that hardly played last year. (Forgot his name) How are they looking? Is Prysock back?

[Carcassdragger]

23k at the Spring Game.

I’m watching a recording. Great atmosphere and lots of Gronk screen time. Which is good for the program.

Feef looks good so far, JDL packing on 20# and faster looks good.

Thanks

Can you or anybody else give more insight? Did the DL get any pressure? How is Flo looking? Fifita looked good last year. Signs of improvement? How was his accuracy? This should really be Wileys year. Is it showing? We have some newer receivers and at least one who should be good that hardly played last year. (Forgot his name) How are they looking? Is Prysock back? How was the OL protecting the QB? Last year Jayden was, way too often, running for his life.

[Carcassdragger]

23k at the Spring Game.

I’m watching a recording. Great atmosphere and lots of Gronk screen time. Which is good for the program.

Feef looks good so far, JDL packing on 20# and faster looks good.

Thanks

Can you or anybody else give more insight? Did the DL get any pressure? How is Flo looking? Fifita looked good last year. Signs of improvement? How was his accuracy? This should really be Wileys year. Is it showing? We have some newer receivers and at least one who should be good that hardly played last year. (Forgot his name) How are they looking? Is Prysock back? How was the OL protecting the QB? Last year Jayden was, way too often, running for his life.

[dmjcat]

23k at the Spring Game.

I’m watching a recording. Great atmosphere and lots of Gronk screen time. Which is good for the program.

Feef looks good so far, JDL packing on 20# and faster looks good.

Thanks

Can you or anybody else give more insight? Did the DL get any pressure? How is Flo looking? Fifita looked good last year. Signs of improvement? How was his accuracy? This should really be Wileys year. Is it showing? We have some newer receivers and at least one who should be good that hardly played last year. (Forgot his name) How are they looking? Is Prysock back? How was the OL protecting the QB? Last year Jayden was, way too often, running for his life.

My personal observations/opinions:

1) Both DeLaura and Fifita looked good
2) The WR corps is deep and impressive
3) The LB's looked better than last years group
4) The DB's looked a bit better than last years group
5) The DL looks equivalent to last year......we could use some help in the portal
6) The OL looked WORSE than last years group. Not having Jordan Morgan is part of that. Borjon is NOT
a Pac12 level OL. We need to get at least 1 OT out of the portal in the worst possible way. This, the OL,
looks to be the achilles heel of the team. Finding at least one decent OTackle in the portal, and getting Morgan
back at full speed, will be the difference between a 4-5 win team and a 6-7 wins team.

Overall the entire scrimmage was well planned and executed with one exception......the fans were all forced to sit on
the east side of the stadium (in the AZ heat of the day). Many people crowded under the small portion of the east side that is
in the shade. While the fans baked the entire west side of the stadium was in the shade....and UA security was chasing anyone
attempting to sit there away.

If you are going to hold a scrimmage in the heat of the day then you should probably have the fans sit on the side of the stadium with the shade..........or consider holding the scrimmage at night.

[84Cat]

[Carcassdragger]

23k at the Spring Game.

I’m watching a recording. Great atmosphere and lots of Gronk screen time. Which is good for the program.

Feef looks good so far, JDL packing on 20# and faster looks good.

Thanks

Can you or anybody else give more insight? Did the DL get any pressure? How is Flo looking? Fifita looked good last year. Signs of improvement? How was his accuracy? This should really be Wileys year. Is it showing? We have some newer receivers and at least one who should be good that hardly played last year. (Forgot his name) How are they looking? Is Prysock back? How was the OL protecting the QB? Last year Jayden was, way too often, running for his life.

My personal observations/opinions:

1) Both DeLaura and Fifita looked good
2) The WR corps is deep and impressive
3) The LB's looked better than last years group
4) The DB's looked a bit better than last years group
5) The DL looks equivalent to last year......we could use some help in the portal
6) The OL looked WORSE than last years group. Not having Jordan Morgan is part of that. Borjon is NOT
a Pac12 level OL. We need to get at least 1 OT out of the portal in the worst possible way. This, the OL,
looks to be the achilles heel of the team. Finding at least one decent OTackle in the portal, and getting Morgan
back at full speed, will be the difference between a 4-5 win team and a 6-7 wins team.

Overall the entire scrimmage was well planned and executed with one exception......the fans were all forced to sit on
the east side of the stadium (in the AZ heat of the day). Many people crowded under the small portion of the east side that is
in the shade. While the fans baked the entire west side of the stadium was in the shade....and UA security was chasing anyone
attempting to sit there away.

If you are going to hold a scrimmage in the heat of the day then you should probably have the fans sit on the side of the stadium with the shade..........or consider holding the scrimmage at night.

Great! Thank you!

[azcat49]

Couple thoughts as well. Couldn’t agree more about the fans experience. Way too hot and IMO the university caved to TV and wanted the impressive showing of attendance by putting everyone in the sun.

I think the OLine is much improved and it was seen Inthe running game. They struggled with some of the combinations with guys moving positions and the 2’s playing with the 1’s but overall I think we are improved.

I do agree Borjon needs to step it up because he gets beat against speed rushers and film will expose him. Big Jonah could play there but I think he wants to play inside and maul people.

I thought our secondary was much more physical, especially Genesis Smith and Irby. I am expecting better play this year.

Thought our TE group was impressive and the Manoa was really good

I thought DeLaura showed much improvement and he is poised for a great year. Fafita is good and we are deep at that spot. Riley is very impressive as a freshman and I thought AJ Jones could start and be very productive but the trio of TMac, Cowings and Greene are clearly our starters.

Coleman looks faster and Luke looked great post injury. Just a deep room at RB

[TheCatInTheHat]

Yet more fallout of the USC/UCLA move. The Big Ten can pay more, so Pac-12 refs (who can still eventually work at least some games in LA) cross the street. It's kind of like big box monopolies using their cash and leverage to squeeze smaller retail outlets. I'm not a fan of the way Pac-12 refs have clearly been hand-picked and directed on how to officiate by the conference, so you never know if this turnover might improve that. There are football officials out there at various levels, so just hire them and don't work too hard trying to re-program them and mold them into the Pac-12's questionable image.

https://www.footballzebras.com/2023/04/ ... -referees/

[Merkin]

Hopefully they take the basketball refs too and have to deal with all the touch fouls.

Meanwhile:

[TheCatInTheHat]

LOL. Probably not too far-fetched. Get some west coast based hoops officials for the LA games. Of course, you need to send a crew chief out from Chicago to keep an eye on them and make sure Izzo or whoever doesn't blow a gasket on the road trip. Meanwhile, if some of the in-bred refs are gone before the 2023-24 school year, maybe the newbie replacements won't be so programmed to bend over for the LA schools. That could be fun for the last hurrah.

[Carcassdragger]

Yet more fallout of the USC/UCLA move. The Big Ten can pay more, so Pac-12 refs (who can still eventually work at least some games in LA) cross the street. It's kind of like big box monopolies using their cash and leverage to squeeze smaller retail outlets. I'm not a fan of the way Pac-12 refs have clearly been hand-picked and directed on how to officiate by the conference, so you never know if this turnover might improve that. There are football officials out there at various levels, so just hire them and don't work too hard trying to re-program them and mold them into the Pac-12's questionable image.

https://www.footballzebras.com/2023/04/ ... -referees/

This might not be a real big deal. I'm sure there are some great high school officials that, because of politics, have not broken through to the college ranks. Might be a good opportunity for them.

[KillerKlown]

[TheCatInTheHat]

For college football, we've entered the period where it's mostly about individual player workouts. The spring games are over, seems like most of the transfer stuff is done, and high school recruiting news is a trickle. (Having just written that, it would be hilarious if there was some eye-popping media deal, or the Four Corners schools suddenly moved to the Big XII. But the suspicion is it will be more like air slowly leaking out of a balloon.) Most newspapers have cut back on everything. So with his regional syndicated coverage of Pac-12 sports from the San Jose Mercury News group, former Star writer Jon Wilner has tapped into providing a cheap alternative for many papers rather than doing it for themselves. It's fine to appreciate the coverage he provides. But with few alternatives to compare him to, some readers seem to think he's some all-knowing oracle, rather than the reality of a Santa Clara County based sports opinion columnist. Many on this board could do exactly the same thing, if they chose to put the time into it, only they quite possibly would come up with very different conclusions. There are nuggets of data there, as long as all parties are aware of the need to first peel off the layers of opinion, speculation, and agendas.

[ANGCatFan]

[TheCatInTheHat]

Here's the full 2023 football roster, as we all look forward to the season. It's always good to see who's put on (or sometimes in the O-line taken off) weight, number changes, and so on. Should be noted that three potentially key transfers (WR Montana Lemonius-Craig: Colorado, DE Taylor Upshaw: Michigan, and Sio Nofoagatoto'a: Indiana) aren't on there, nor is freshman 4-star OT Raymond Pulido (6-6, 345.)

https://arizonawildcats.com/sports/football/roster

[azgreg]

[TheCatInTheHat]

So I saw one of those far-too-early crystal ball projections on bowl games. They put us in the Sun Bowl. I rolled my eyes and said no frickin' way. But, Wilner listed each team's schedule, and I couldn't help myself. We wound up in a four-team tie-breaker situation...and went to the Sun Bowl. Having been to a Sun Bowl once, I'm not a huge fan, but beggars can't be choosers. Obviously it's all based on guessing about teams as they are now, without any injuries or any of the endless list of variables that can affect everything. But it's nice to have at least a reasonable chance at a halfway decent season. There was a time, like maybe prior to the 90s, when a Sun Bowl bid was cause for celebration at Arizona. So maybe we'll have come full circle. (Of course, I wouldn't exactly cry if we wound up in either the Holiday Bowl or the LA Bowl instead.)

[azcat49]

Las Vegas bowl baby! I think we are really going to surprise people. 3-0 non conference and 5 wins in conference for 8-4.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Where do I sign? Mandalay and over the bridge to Allegiant (hopefully with no concert by the pool this time.) But it's more the trip to Stark Vegas that concerns me.

[ASUHATER!]

Just any bowl game this year would be great

[OSUCat]

Las Vegas bowl baby! I think we are really going to surprise people. 3-0 non conference and 5 wins in conference for 8-4.

I like this take. Arizona could be 4-0 getting UW at home, which would be loud game. The remaining games has Utah, UCLA, and Oregon State at home and WSU, Colorado, and ASU away.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Anybody concerned about Isaiah Rutherford transferring out? I had him penciled-in as a starter. With the timing of Dylan Wyatt transferring in, I'm kind of guessing he gave the staff an advance heads-up about it, and they passed along the info about available PT to get Wyatt and help cover for the loss. I think we're okay there, with the two 6-4 guys, Prysock and Davis, Charles Davis, and the possibility of moving Treydan Stukes back to corner from nickel safety. But, for a brief moment, it looked like we really had a little depth there.

It's funny. With the above discussion of the Sun Bowl, I was thinking about our game there in 1992 against Baylor in the cold rain. Grant Teaff's last game as Baylor's coach. Dick Tomey had his 5-7 CBs out there "on an island", and Baylor exploited it to their 6-3 WR Melvin Bonner. Regardless of how good the front 7 is, it's nice to have a little more height at the position.

[azgreg]

NAU Pac-12 Network 7:00 PM PT
at Mississippi St SEC Network 4:30 PM PT
UTEP Pac-12 Network 8:00 PM PT

[azcat49]

Miss St on the SEC network? Is that ESPIN? How do we watch that game?

[PHXCATS]

Miss St on the SEC network? Is that ESPIN? How do we watch that game?

It is a espn channel. It is on almost every provider

[gronk4heisman]

Anybody concerned about Isaiah Rutherford transferring out? I had him penciled-in as a starter. With the timing of Dylan Wyatt transferring in, I'm kind of guessing he gave the staff an advance heads-up about it, and they passed along the info about available PT to get Wyatt and help cover for the loss. I think we're okay there, with the two 6-4 guys, Prysock and Davis, Charles Davis, and the possibility of moving Treydan Stukes back to corner from nickel safety. But, for a brief moment, it looked like we really had a little depth there.

It's funny. With the above discussion of the Sun Bowl, I was thinking about our game there in 1992 against Baylor in the cold rain. Grant Teaff's last game as Baylor's coach. Dick Tomey had his 5-7 CBs out there "on an island", and Baylor exploited it to their 6-3 WR Melvin Bonner. Regardless of how good the front 7 is, it's nice to have a little more height at the position.

I never saw Rutherford as someone who could crack the two deep. He had plenty of opportunities when he came over from ND and did not really show anything. I think Prysock, Stukes, Davis and Yates were for sure ahead of him and would not be surprised if G3 and Karnley are ahead of him as well.

[TheCatInTheHat]

I was curious to see if all the transfer portal activity would affect Athlon's predictions, and it did...they moved ASU ahead of Colorado, LOL. I think they've got it about right with the four teams in each of the thirds of the conference. Last I heard, Cam Rising was not doing as well as hoped with his ACL re-hab, but I'd assume with his defense, Whittingham can ground and pound enough to stay in the top third regardless. Frankly, I think we've got every chance to beat any of the other teams in the middle third, and that's probably the key to the season. Non-conference, regardless of the coaching turnover and moving away from the Air Raid offense, MSU's defense returns, and I don't hold out much hope down in muggy Mississippi, but you never know. Absolutely have to win the road games at Stanford and Colorado. So the thing may swing on the three consecutive games at WSU and home against OSU and UCLA. Win two of those, don't let down in Boulder, and the game at ASU could be a cherry on top after already clinching a bowl. But, there are surprises every season, so hopefully ours will be positive.

[azcat49]

Why can’t we beat UDub at home? We also should beat UCLA.

Mississippi St is replacing a bunch of guys and lost the pirate and this is a game we show the nation we are ready for prime time.

I think we are going to surprise people. The talent level and depth is much better. 8-4

[TheCatInTheHat]

Washington's picked just behind USC, with Penix & Co supposedly poised for a big year. But, they've got questions in their O-line, and we put some points up on them last year in Seattle, so sure it's a possibility. I believe MSU lost some skill people, but retain their QB and a lot of that defense that pounded away and held us to 17 at home last season. Just not too optimistic about deep-fried home cookin' in the Deep South, all y'all. Among reasonably comparable good-but-not-great teams, there's a certain amount of giveth with one hand in an upset, then taketh away with the other in some disappointing let-down loss, so I tend to divvy those up around 50-50.

[Carcassdragger]

Looks like Northwestern has quite a few Arizona kids on their roster and some from California too. Wonder if any of them might help us here?

[pc in NM]

Looks like Northwestern has quite a few Arizona kids on their roster and some from California too. Wonder if any of them might help us here?

Hell yeah!!! Let's raid a 1-11 team's roster!!!

[CardiacCats97]

Holy shit they were 1-11. I had forgotten that.

Why is anyone mad that their meathead coach is gone? Seems like it worked out well for Northwestern now that they don’t have to pay him through a rebuild.

[Carcassdragger]

I'm sure there are some kids on that roster that were on our radar at one time or another.

[azcat49]

We got the RB from them and Fisch quickly recruited over him. The safety is still with us though.

We are recruiting bigger fish now. Don’t think they have any guys who could make an immediate impact

[Carcassdragger]

Looking at the schedule, I think we come out of the non-conference at 2-1. We'll probably split the Oregon St and WSU games, lose to SC, UCLA, and Utah and beat Stanford, Colorado and ASSU.

6-6. But might get to 7-5 and not surprised at 5-7.

Damn. Let's go!

[azgreg]

15-0

[Carcassdragger]

15-0

You are consistent.

What was I thinking?

15-0.

[azgreg]

[TheCatInTheHat]

8:45a Utah: Kyle Whittingham, Cameron Rising (QB) & Cole Bishop (S)
9:20a USC: Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams (QB) & Mason Cobb (ILB)
9:55a Stanford: Troy Taylor, John Humphreys (WR) & Tristan Sinclair (ILB)
10:30a Arizona: Jedd Fisch, Jayden de Laura (QB) & Treydan Stukes (CB)
11:05a WSU: Jake Dickert, Cameron Ward (QB) & Ron Stone Jr. (EDGE)
11:40a OSU: Jonathan Smith, Anthony Gould (WR) & Kitan Oladapo (DB)

12:15p LUNCH

1p Washington: Kalen DeBoer, Michael Penix Jr. (QB) & Edefuan Ulofoshio (LB)
1:35p Oregon: Dan Lanning, Bo Nix (QB) & Jeffrey Bassa (LB)
2:10p ASU: Kenny Dillingham, Jalin Conyers (TE) & Jordan Clark (DB)
2:45p California: Justin Wilcox, Matthew Cindric (OL) & Jackson Sirmon (LB)
3:20p Colorado: Charles Kelly (DC), Shedeur Sanders (QB) & Travis Hunter (CB/WR)
3:55p UCLA: Chip Kelly, Duke Clemens (OL) & Laiatu Latu (DL/LB)

[TheCatInTheHat]

Particularly with the LA schools leaving, it makes sense to have it in Vegas, along with everything else the Pac does, instead of that odd mall setup at Hollywood & Highland. It was kind of weird last year watching people getting interviewed while perched in director's chairs and sweltering in little rooftop areas they'd staked out. So now it's at Resorts World, across the street from the Wynn. Never been in there, but I imagine they should be able to manage overstuffed leather chairs and couches in some appropriate nicely air conditioned lounge area.

[TheCatInTheHat]

So that's that in the new Vegas venue. Hotter'n Hell, but unless they put it out at Tarrenea or up at Santa Cruz or something, any place in July is likely to be on the warm side. I'll guess/assume the media thing will be announced in the next two weeks, and then it'll be fall camp already, and the off-season chatter will be replaced by...actual football. Not expecting a win, but that second weekend in September in Starkville should provide a measuring stick for how well we can expect our lines to hold up. I'd get to a home game or two, although three major trips lined up this fall makes it tricky. Maybe Oregon St. But, if the moderately optimistic level of predictions occur and Arizona plays at SoFi on Dec 16, I'll certainly be there. Considering inheriting a winless team, that would be fairly impressive progress in Year Three.

[UAEebs86]

[tgrumpy2]

Now its a boat race out the door it seems. What's left is going to be the PAC 2 but I'm sure they'll find places to go as well.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Yeah, but few options left in terms of money or visibility. Highly doubtful the Big Ten would make the bad business decision to take Cal and Stanford, even for whatever sliver of the Bay Area TV market they'd deliver. So it would be charity in terms of watering down the other league teams' shares of the pie, a bloated conference to administer, and a really tough sell to the other schools. And even THEN, Cal and Stanford would probably cry about the travel costs. Can't see it, but that would be their best chance. They can go independent in football like BYU did and join the WCC for other sports, but they'd be rubbing elbows with the hoi polloi from that route, too. And with Hoover Tower so far up Stanford's ass, hard to see them ever accepting rubbing elbows with Waco and Lubbock in the Big XII, much less Fresno in the MWC. Relegation to the MWC and resulting financial problems seem inevitable for OSU and WSU.

[ANGCatFan]

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how the conference
Used to make me smile
And I knew when we had a chance
Winning could make those people dance
And maybe we’d be happy for a while
But realignment made me shiver
With every paper they'd deliver
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn't take one more step
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about those widowed brides
Something touched me deep inside
The day our conference died

So, bye-bye, to our piece of the pie
Drove our Chevy to the heavies, but the heavies were dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This' is how the conference will die
This is how the conference will die"

Did you watch the team we love
And do you have faith in God above
If the Bible tells you so?
Now, do you believe in the pick 'n' roll
Can winning save your mortal soul
And can you teach me how to watch real slow?
Well, I know that they're in love with him
'Cause I saw them talkin’ in the gym
They both broke all the rules
Man, I hate those LA schools.
I was a lonely teenage bronckin' buck
With Wildcat nation on my pickup truck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day our conference died

So, bye-bye, to our piece of the pie
Drove our Chevy to the heavies, but the heavies were dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This' is how the conference will die
This is how the conference will die"

Now, in the end we’ll be on your own
And moss grows fat on a rollin' stone
But that's not how it used to be
When the jester sang for the king and queen
He told us no one could guard Kareem
And a voice that came from you and me
Oh, and while he was talking down
The teams who play in truckstop towns
The courtroom was adjourned
A verdict was returned
And while Scott and Geaorge had lots of bark
We had to find a place to park
Or we’d be playing in the dark
The day our conference died

We were singin', bye-bye, to our piece of the pie
Drove our Chevy to the heavies, but the heavies were dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This' is how the conference will die
This is how the conference will die"

Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The teams flew off for a fallout shelter
Nine teams left and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast
Now, the halftime air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance
'Cause the lawyers tried to take the field
The loyal fans refused to yield
Do you recall what was revealed
The day our conference died?

We started singin', bye-bye, to our piece of the pie
Drove our Chevy to the heavies, but the heavies were dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This' is how the conference will die
This is how the conference will die"

Oh, and there we were all in one place
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again
So, come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the Devil's only friend
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day our conference died

He was singin', bye-bye, to our piece of the pie
Drove our Chevy to the heavies, but the heavies were dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This' is how the conference will die
This is how the conference will die"

I met a girl dressed in red and blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd watched my Cats years before
But the man there said the team wouldn't play
And in the streets the children screamed
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken
And the three things I admire most
The Father, Son and Salmon’s Ghost
They caught the last train off the coast
The day our conference died

And they were singin', bye-bye, to our piece of the pie
Drove our Chevy to the heavies, but the heavies were dry
And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singin', "This' is how the conference will die
This is how the conference will die"