Bear Down Wildcats

September 22nd (Friday) 7:30 PM MST
Tucson, AZ
Arizona Stadium
TV: FS1
Current line: Utah -3.5
Star Wars Night

Utah has played a worse OOC schedule than Arizona has. They played BYU, who is simply not good at all this year. San Jose State has only beaten Cal Poly and have gotten checks to get beat up by Texas and USF as well as Utah. North Dakota (not the troublesome ND State) is FCS. The Utes are breaking in a new QB, Tyler Huntley, who was a surprise when they named him the starter over Troy Williams. They run for 182 yards a game, and Huntley is their leading rusher. He does throw accurately and completes around 70% of his passes but they aren't throwing all over, getting about 290 yards a game. Darren Carrington (Oregon transfer) has half of their receiving yards so he will be a point of concern for the AZ defense. The interesting thing is that they're currently second in the nation in rushing defense at 49 yards per game. I don't know how much you can read in to that, however, considering their opponents so far. SJSU has only rushed for a bit over 180 vs 3 FBS opponents, and BYU has rushed for only a smidge over 130 vs 2 (these aren't averages, that's total yards on the year.) They're allowing about 200 a game through the air. Based on the opponents that both teams have played, you can't really get a good feeling on what either team is going to be able to do on either side of the ball. Arizona is going to try to do what we've seen them do so far, which is throw for 150-200 and run their way to a win. I expect Utah to try to throw on the Cats, since Arizona has been pretty decent against the run (again, hard to tell with who they've played) but the Cats have been prone to giving up chunk plays through the air. They're going to need to double Carrington and make Huntley beat them with other receivers, because Arizona's young secondary doesn't have anyone who can match up with him. Also, field position is a problem for anyone who plays Utah. They have yet another spectacular punter who looks like a Ray Guy award finalist (seriously, Utah always seems to get damn good punters.) If Arizona doesn't waste opportunities and make a lot of unforced errors Friday night, they'll win. Otherwise the "fire RR" chorus will get deafening.

Wait again...another Friday night game?

What gives?

I'm still puzzled why RR continues to send 5'6", 180 lb. J.J. Taylor up the middle. That's for Zach Green and Nick Wilson. J.J. has unparalleled talent in space, and he can catch the ball. The "J.J. up the middle" approach has produced the expected results (against lesser opponents, no less). Hopefully, we'll see something different this week ... but I'm not holding my breath.

MrMeow wrote:I'm still puzzled why RR continues to send 5'6", 180 lb. J.J. Taylor up the middle. That's for Zach Green and Nick Wilson. J.J. has unparalleled talent in space, and he can catch the ball. The "J.J. up the middle" approach has produced the expected results (against lesser opponents, no less). Hopefully, we'll see something different this week ... but I'm not holding my breath.

Yeah watching that Friday was so puzzling. Like run after run up the gut by JJ when you have those other rbs just sitting on the sidelines is beyond reasoning.

CalStateTempe wrote:Wait again...another Friday night game?

What gives?

I mean we're pretty much a high school program at this point so it makes sense.

CalStateTempe wrote:Wait again...another Friday night game?

What gives?

I kinda like them.

ESPN's FPI likes us for some reason.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/ga ... =400935277" target="_blank

Free's up Saturday to watch some real football

azcat49 wrote:Free's up Saturday to watch some real football

I kinda like it too. Saturday is stress free and you can just enjoy watching good teams

Yeah, the Friday game worked great for me this week. Enjoyed some good games on Saturday in a few different places, and didn't have to focus on the Cats.

Worked for me. Left work at 12:30, left for El Paso at 1:30, enjoyed the game, stopped by Las Cruces for breakfast in the morning, and then picked up 40 lbs of roasted green chile in Hatch on the way home. Then kept tabs on the afternoon and evening games.

If the offense can play (I am aware that NAU and UTEP have bad defenses and Utah a decent one and Houston a good one) like they did the first and last week and the defense like the last two weeks, I like the Cats for the win.

35-24 'tah

At this point I would say playing Houston tough is more impressive than anything Utah has done.

Well that sucks, I have Sling Blue + Sports package, and FS1 is only on Sling Orange.

Have to fire up my Kodi box to see if I can find FS1.

Merkin wrote:Well that sucks, I have Sling Blue + Sports package, and FS1 is only on Sling Orange.

Have to fire up my Kodi box to see if I can find FS1.

Yeah that's what I have too. I do have a the foxsportsgo app on my roku and can use my dad's dish login to get the foxsports networks.

Here's a good stream http://ustreamyx.com/stream.php?id=fox-sports-1-b" target="_blank

Just don't install any apps or extensions, just press play.

NCAA Rushing Offense

1 Georgia Tech 372.5
2 Army 364.7
3 Tulsa 363.7
4 UNLV 350.5
5 Notre Dame 330.7
6 Arizona 328.0
7 Air Force 320.5
8 Miami 317.0
9 Maryland 315.0
10 Navy 305.0

NCAA Rushing Defense

1 Duke 47.7
2 Utah 49.3
3 Kentucky 57.0
4 Minnesota 59.0
5 Georgia 71.0
6 Texas A&M 76.7
7 New Mexico 78.0
8 Alabama 80.3
9 Michigan 82.3
10 Syracuse 84.3

Now, keep in mind the level of competition for these numbers.

Merkin wrote:Well that sucks, I have Sling Blue + Sports package, and FS1 is only on Sling Orange.

Have to fire up my Kodi box to see if I can find FS1.

Why not just do Sling Blue + Orange?? I assume you haven't fully cut the cord yet?

azgreg wrote:NCAA Rushing Offense

1 Georgia Tech 372.5
2 Army 364.7
3 Tulsa 363.7
4 UNLV 350.5
5 Notre Dame 330.7
6 Arizona 328.0
7 Air Force 320.5
8 Miami 317.0
9 Maryland 315.0
10 Navy 305.0

NCAA Rushing Defense

1 Duke 47.7
2 Utah 49.3
3 Kentucky 57.0
4 Minnesota 59.0
5 Georgia 71.0
6 Texas A&M 76.7
7 New Mexico 78.0
8 Alabama 80.3
9 Michigan 82.3
10 Syracuse 84.3

Now, keep in mind the level of competition for these numbers.

Yeah, they're pretty well meaningless right now. The teams that Utah has played haven't been able to run on anyone else on their schedules so far. Arizona has run up numbers against UTEP and NAU. Friday night is when we actually learn something.

Yeah Friday is when we learn if we're a 2 win team or a 4 or 5 win team.

Merkin wrote:Well that sucks, I have Sling Blue + Sports package, and FS1 is only on Sling Orange.

Have to fire up my Kodi box to see if I can find FS1.

Whenever I try to watch a live sports game on FS1 via Sling, it always seems to be unavailable/blacked out for some reason. That happen to anyone else here?

So live sports for games I care about is still a problem with core cutting.

I guess I have to wait another year.

PHXCATS wrote:At this point I would say playing Houston tough is more impressive than anything Utah has done.

Huh?

I am not saying that Utah's resume is impressive, but what exactly was so awesome about Houston (aside from 1 outstanding player)? They beat Rice easily?

Nathan Tilford needs to play more and we need to put JJ in the slot and use Wilson and Tilford in the backfield at the same time. Run some jet sweeps with JJ

Harvey Specter wrote:

PHXCATS wrote:At this point I would say playing Houston tough is more impressive than anything Utah has done.

Huh?

I am not saying that Utah's resume is impressive, but what exactly was so awesome about Houston (aside from 1 outstanding player)? They beat Rice easily?

It's sort of a bad vs worse thing. Utah's played 3 teams that are below average to bad. At least you can say Houston is decent, which is more than any of Utah's opponents look like right now.

This is not to say that we'll win, but just that Utah has a really unimpressive resume.

Harvey Specter wrote:

PHXCATS wrote:At this point I would say playing Houston tough is more impressive than anything Utah has done.

Huh?

I am not saying that Utah's resume is impressive, but what exactly was so awesome about Houston (aside from 1 outstanding player)? They beat Rice easily?

The defense. Running for 5 yards a pop except for Dawkins that game against the best defensive player in college football right now.

BYU sucks
North Dakota played them tough
San Jose State sucks

Houston is far better than all those teams and UA was right in it after an awful game by the qbs. I like the Cats chances a lot here.

azcat49 wrote:Nathan Tilford needs to play more and we need to put JJ in the slot and use Wilson and Tilford in the backfield at the same time. Run some jet sweeps with JJ

Definitely excited to see Brightwell in action . . .

More Tilford, more JJ in the slot with Brightwell. Don't really care about Miller but I guess he can help until he gets injured again (same for Wilson). Tate needs to redshirt and let RhettRod be the back up.

Either we surprise and RR keeps his job or we suck and he gets fired. An injured Tate won't save him

If we beat Utah, we can get to six wins.

We should be able to beat ASU and OSU. That's 5 right there.

So then we just need 1 more. Maybe we can steal one. Crazier things have happened.

UALoco wrote:If we beat Utah, we can get to six wins.

We should be able to beat ASU and OSU. That's 5 right there.

So then we just need 1 more. Maybe we can steal one. Crazier things have happened.

Cal has overperformed I feel but that was one win I was counting on that doesnt look good.

Cats are due for a win vs a UCLA or Washington State.

Well let's beat Utah first and I would agree with OSU and ASSU but I just don't see us beating anyone else, especially UCLA or Wazzu

Line movement a little odd. Got to Utah -4.5 now it's down to -3.

UALoco wrote:If we beat Utah, we can get to six wins.

We should be able to beat ASU and OSU. That's 5 right there.

So then we just need 1 more. Maybe we can steal one. Crazier things have happened.

With 2 weeks to prepare, and Buffs coming off Wash and UCLA, think Cats could surprise at Boulder. Cougars look really tough but still think Cal, is doable. Bears did look pretty good at home against Ole Miss.
Also Ducks come off Huskies, which is probably 2nd biggest rivalry behind Beavers, to play Cats, with Oregon St next, so decent spot for Cats in Eugene too.

Call me crazy and maybe it's just the optimistic fan in me, but I think we've got a better than puncher's chance Friday night.

azgreg wrote:Call me crazy and maybe it's just the optimistic fan in me, but I think we've got a better than puncher's chance Friday night.

Do you have 3 good reasons as to why that is?

chiefzona wrote:

azgreg wrote:Call me crazy and maybe it's just the optimistic fan in me, but I think we've got a better than puncher's chance Friday night.

Do you have 3 good reasons as to why that is?

I know you are being facetious but....

1) RR owns Utah
2) UA always wins a big game as a dog at home and will use the force to win this one
3) Dawkins is Hansel, so hot right now

How about this: Name 3 reasons why, on the field, that Arizona wins this game.

chiefzona wrote:How about this: Name 3 reasons why, on the field, that Arizona wins this game.

How about you admit you are trolling.

Dawkins
Taylor
Brown

This game will determine if my apathy continues or if I start drinking the koolaid for the 2017 season.

nm.....

Merkin wrote:[nm

Did you intend to put this somewhere else Merk?

Are u saying we r fixing to nuke Utah?

chiefzona wrote:How about this: Name 3 reasons why, on the field, that Arizona wins this game.

Utah so far undisciplined. Penalty prone. So far they are averaging nearly 100 yards in penalties per game
They are having a hard time converting on 3rd downs. One of the worst in the Country
Utah so far bit turnover prone. Averaging over 2 turnovers a game
If UA can get in red zone, Utah so far terrible stopping teams. Teams scoring almost 90% of the time.

Off the field, Vegas thinks they can be competitive. Not saying UA will win, but MAYBE competitive

chiefzona wrote:How about this: Name 3 reasons why, on the field, that Arizona wins this game.

1. Utah hasn't really shown they're any better than us. They won a close one vs a below average BYU team that has been slapped around by legit teams. They hammered two bad teams like we did. Results to date are pretty comparable.
2. We have a ton of youth, and you figure we have greater potential than Utah to grow from game to game.
3. We have the offensive weapons to produce points. Do we? That's for the game.

I don't think we're a favorite, but we have a decent shot. Utah just doesn't do a whole lot that stands out right now. Maybe they turn it on, but we'll see.