Bear Down Wildcats

Screw it. Let's kick this pig since the odds are already out.

What: BYU Cougars @ The Arizona Wildcats
When: 9/1/2018
What time: 7:45 PM MST
Where: Arizona Stadium, Tucson Arizona
Current odds: AZ 13.5
TV: ESPN
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network

Cats Cover!

Oh Fuck ESPN

Expecting some in person photos like this:

That picture never gets old.

38-17

I will be streaming this game from Rocky Point. The first game of the year should aways be on the Thursday so you get the most eyeballs and all of us desert dwellers can get the hell out of dodge.

BYU's defense should still be pretty good and a challenge for the offense. Their offense isn't good but never count out any team from being able to drop 30 on our defense. This seems like a 31-28 kinda win

https://athlonsports.com/college-footba ... prediction" target="_blank

Final Analysis

BYU's sudden drop to 4-9 has created quite a challenge for Sitake in his third season on the job. "There's a huge urgency to get better," Sitake says. That can happen if the Cougars start putting points on the scoreboard. BYU scored 17 or fewer points in eight defeats in 2017, continually frustrating Sitake. An improved offensive line and receiving corps, along with more continuity at quarterback, should help in this pivotal year for the independent program.

ASUHATER! wrote:BYU's defense should still be pretty good and a challenge for the offense. Their offense isn't good but never count out any team from being able to drop 30 on our defense. This seems like a 31-28 kinda win

What do you want to bet on that BYU scores less than 24 points?

PHXCATS wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:BYU's defense should still be pretty good and a challenge for the offense. Their offense isn't good but never count out any team from being able to drop 30 on our defense. This seems like a 31-28 kinda win

What do you want to bet on that BYU scores less than 24 points?

I'd take that bet. BYU has a new QB, a new #1 WR and the most important part is playing against the UA defense, which hasn't been in the top 100 for quite some time.

UA will score a lot, and score quickly, so that gives BYU a lot of time to have the ball.

UA 49-31.

Merkin wrote:

PHXCATS wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:BYU's defense should still be pretty good and a challenge for the offense. Their offense isn't good but never count out any team from being able to drop 30 on our defense. This seems like a 31-28 kinda win

What do you want to bet on that BYU scores less than 24 points?

I'd take that bet. BYU has a new QB, a new #1 WR and the most important part is playing against the UA defense, which hasn't been in the top 100 for quite some time.

UA will score a lot, and score quickly, so that gives BYU a lot of time to have the ball.

UA 49-31.

What terms do you want

Until our defense proves they can, y'know, defend, I won't count out any team from BYU to Southern Mississippi to USC and anywhere in between from being able to score 30 points on us

PHXCATS wrote: What terms do you want

Just say "Merkin, you were right" and I will do the same for you.

I don't have sigs turned on so making that bet wouldn't work.

ASUHATER! wrote:Until our defense proves they can, y'know, defend, I won't count out any team from BYU to Southern Mississippi to USC and anywhere in between from being able to score 30 points on us

Terms for the BYU game?

ASUHATER! wrote:Until our defense proves they can, y'know, defend, I won't count out any team from BYU to Southern Mississippi to USC and anywhere in between from being able to score 30 points on us

BYU's offense was historically atrocious last year btw. As bad as our defense is, I wouldn't be surprised to hold them under 30. They had a couple games they didn't cross the 50 until the 2nd half, and only scored 30+ in 3 games last year, against teams that went combined 10-27.

I see BYU more at the 17-21 pt range. Maybe a late TD against 3rd string could push it into the the mid 20 range though.

I like Arizona 35-21 over BYU. I would guess Mazzone slowing things down with a big league and Houston following game.

BYU has only one QB who has accomplished anything...and he is still recovering from an Achilles tear. The fact that he will be 10 months out from surgery and still not the clear leader for a wide open job says as much about their situation as any.

That they were 2-8 in 2017 with him says much more.

Our defense looks fairly different up front than last year...bulk can matter in stopping insane rushing yardage. The offense we will be facing was terrible last year. 20, 0, 13, 6, 24, 7, 10, 17, 41 as an outlier, 13, 31 vs UNLV, 10, 30...in today's game, those are awful numbers.

17.1 ppg by BYU in 2017, which wouldn't be enough to win games in any era since the forward pass, but it is especially sad in today's game. Consider...even the awful offense paired with the emergence of 1992's Desert Swarm defense scored over 19 ppg for Arizona.

Fanbases are myopic, both good and bad. They (we) focus on their own shortcomings and strengths too much, and often under-evaluate the opponent outside of very surface considerations (conference, overall record with little concern as to who was played, history).

Our defense is suspect. Their offense is VERY suspect. Their defense is pretty good. Our offense can be great with Tate in the game.

14 points sounds about right.

37-27 Cats

41-24 Cats.

Think the D will be better with Frosh and D line improvement.
Cats 41-20.

100 - 0

Just as long as they don't have Jimmer and the game is not in McKale....

97cats wrote:100 - 0

It's good to see this back.

Tanner Mangum is a guy who can chuck it all over the place. Has a hell of an arm. But he's about as liable to throw it to one of his guys as he is to a defender. We're going to get an idea of just how much the secondary has improved in the offseason. That said, I don't see how BYU in their current state is going to be able to hold Arizona's offense in check for four quarters. I think Arizona meanders some in the first half and then drops three scores on them in the third quarter. I'm calling this one 41-27 Arizona.

I don't know enough about them to make a prediction. What I do know is I don't like them and never have. It goes all the way back to the old WAC days. From what I read their defense is terrible and I can only hope its 100-0

gonna have to be on the lookout for byu players gouging eyes, punching balls, and stepping on fingers.

azpenguin wrote:Tanner Mangum is a guy who can chuck it all over the place. Has a hell of an arm. But he's about as liable to throw it to one of his guys as he is to a defender. We're going to get an idea of just how much the secondary has improved in the offseason. That said, I don't see how BYU in their current state is going to be able to hold Arizona's offense in check for four quarters. I think Arizona meanders some in the first half and then drops three scores on them in the third quarter. I'm calling this one 41-27 Arizona.

FWIW Mangum is not the Vegas favorite to be the starting QB.

https://www.betdsi.eu/sportsbook-bettin ... k-battles/" target="_blank

They don’t have a Ty Detmer on the roster and we finally have beef on the Dline. Think whomever they trot out will be in for a rude awakening. Pressure finaly applied on opposing QB’s will present a plethora of wonderful ball hawking opportunities this season. This will be fun!

Cats 48

byu 17

scumdevils86 wrote:gonna have to be on the lookout for byu players gouging eyes, punching balls, and stepping on fingers.

Exactly. The subtle gee it was an accident cheap shot.

They can do that b/c God is on their side.

UALoco wrote:They can do that b/c God is on their side.

God doesn't make them do that. Joseph Smith makes them do that.

We have a history of playing BYU poorly, like 20-10 loss type games where we got basically dominated all game. Seems like they rise to the occasion against us, Boise St type. At times they are a tough team to beat, especially early in the season before injuries start in and they have their full roster of players. I see them scoring in the 20-30 pt range. We can do better than that, but with that spread if things go right a 34-20 victory; hopefully not a 24-21 let down loss.

We've played BYU 4 times since the WAC days:

2006 Arizona 16 BYU 13 (I was at this game, last second field goal by Nick Folk won it)
2007 BYU 20 Arizona 7 (Sonny Dyke's new air raid offense vomited all over itself on the road at BYU)
2008 Arizona 31 BYU 21 (Las Vegas Bowl, our first bowl since 1998, not a bad game if I recall)
2016 BYU 18 Arizona 16 (Despite a pair of late 4th q TDs by Nick Wilson that put us up 16-15 with 1:26 left in the game we lose on a last second FG. I had basically blocked this game from my memory entirely...along with the rest of the the 2016 season)

First meeting: 1936 (Tucson) Arizona 32-6
Home: 8-5-1 Arizona
Away: 3-4 BYU
Neutral: 1-1

http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/rec ... ighamYoung" target="_blank

scumdevils86 wrote:We've played BYU 4 times since the WAC days:

2006 Arizona 16 BYU 13 (I was at this game, last second field goal by Nick Folk won it)
2007 BYU 20 Arizona 7 (Sonny Dyke's new air raid offense vomited all over itself on the road at BYU)
2008 Arizona 31 BYU 21 (Las Vegas Bowl, our first bowl since 1998, not a bad game if I recall)
2016 BYU 18 Arizona 16 (Despite a pair of late 4th q TDs by Nick Wilson that put us up 16-15 with 1:26 left in the game we lose on a last second FG. I had basically blocked this game from my memory entirely...along with the rest of the the 2016 season)

Mike Thomas with a quick out instead of a kneel down to set the Pac12 catch record is maybe the most memorable part

Hey hey hey hey just fyi, BDW is giving away a pair of tickets to the byu game.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5274" target="_blank

Sid wrote:They don’t have a Ty Detmer on the roster and we finally have beef on the Dline. Think whomever they trot out will be in for a rude awakening. Pressure finaly applied on opposing QB’s will present a plethora of wonderful ball hawking opportunities this season. This will be fun!

Cats 48

byu 17

What's the D-Line going to look like this year? It seems like every year under RR we were told that it'd be "better" than the previous year, but every time I was disappointed. Aside from Kylan Wilborn who was good at pressuring the QB's, particularly in 3rd down, and Boles who seemed a good run-stopper, I was very underwhelmed by the unit. What's the projected starting 4? Are they actually any good? Or are we going to be starting Belknap because he beats out guys who should be bigger/stronger than him...

Right now (according to the roster) D line looks like this:
J B Brown - 6'3" 263
Kurtis Brown - 6'1" 291
P J Johnson - 6'4" 335
Nahe Sulunga - 6'2" 270
My-King Johnson - 6'4" 227
Mykee Irving - 6'3" 337
Abraham Maiava - 6'2" 300
Jalen Cochran - 6'3" 263
Justin Belknap - 6'3" 259
Matt Thomas - 6'1" 278
Finton Connolly - 6'5" 301
Sione Taufahema - 6'1" 339
Dereck Boles - 6'2" 306

Sec 31. Just got my season tix. Haven't had season tickets since 2009. Can't wait.

qwertyus wrote:

Sid wrote:They don’t have a Ty Detmer on the roster and we finally have beef on the Dline. Think whomever they trot out will be in for a rude awakening. Pressure finaly applied on opposing QB’s will present a plethora of wonderful ball hawking opportunities this season. This will be fun!

Cats 48

byu 17

What's the D-Line going to look like this year? It seems like every year under RR we were told that it'd be "better" than the previous year, but every time I was disappointed. Aside from Kylan Wilborn who was good at pressuring the QB's, particularly in 3rd down, and Boles who seemed a good run-stopper, I was very underwhelmed by the unit. What's the projected starting 4? Are they actually any good? Or are we going to be starting Belknap because he beats out guys who should be bigger/stronger than him...

Way too early to tell, but you can notice the weights that Greg replied with and be extremely hopeful that the “beef” will come into play. Hearing great things about PJ and albeit the kid is a juco transfer, I feel he will be a integral piece with Boles. Still a lot of practice time to go, but I’m cautiously optimistic this will be the year we can develop consistent pressure on the QB.

UAdevil wrote:Sec 31. Just got my season tix. Haven't had season tickets since 2009. Can't wait.

good fan

First numbers out for the BYU game

Arizona -11.5 with an over under of 62

ASUHATER! wrote:First numbers out for the BYU game

Arizona -11.5 with an over under of 62

I really like laying the 11.5. Yes, the OL is struggling (or the DL is improved...so hard to tell when scrimmaging yourself), but the talent is there with just enough experience. And while run blocking would be a concern, defenses cannot just pin their ears back and go after Tate, whose best play may still be the impromptu run. Defenses used to make that mistake with Oregon and their various QBs, especially Mariota, and we beat them two years in a row largely because we maintained gap discipline and kept him contained. Was that partially design, partially having a crap DL? Both. Same thing with Tate...if a D line comes busting off the snap, especially off the edges, they might just run themselves out of the play .

I am much more concerned with OL woes in the classic running game, but I don't know if teams are going to want to send the kitchen sink after Tate, or make sure they are holding their lanes and sending pressure off and on. Tate's best play last year may have come on a dropped ball. If you run your ends up field, you better have heavy pressure pushing the middle back, too, or Tate has a freeway to run through. I always think of Elmore and Reed getting such huge upfield bursts, but our tackles not getting push, turning even frickin' Frankenstein Osweiler into a rushing QB.

Anyway...I like the 11.5, in part because I don't think BYU scores more than 24, and I think we have 35+ in us.

Watch...the final will be 35-24. I won't have money on it so that probably won't happen, but if I get a chance to drop money on it, it will...

We win by >21 with 3 players with over 100 rushing yards and Tate has 2+ TD passes.

The defense will allow less than 400 yards of offense and gets 2+ turnovers.

I like our chances.

BYU (0-0) vs. Arizona (0-0) Game Preview
Like you have anything better to do than stay up really, really late to watch the debut of the Kevin Sumlin era at Arizona.

And you really don’t have anything else going on to keep you from checking out what Khalil Tate can do in the offense under the new coaching staff.

However, this might be the new and improved BYU.

It’s BYU. It’s not going to be that miserable offensively for forever.

The defense that had its moments last year has to rise up in a hurry, and the offense has to prove it can hang around. If neither of those things happen, it’s going to be a rough run to start the year. Win, and then the fun possibilities for a huge season start to pop up, even with trips to Wisconsin and Washington coming up before the end of September.

Or, Tate goes off and you’re not going to want to miss it.

One Reason Why BYU Will Win
The defense – with a full offseason to prepare – might just be good enough to keep Mr. Tate from going crazy.

Fred Warner might be gone from the linebacking corps, but there’s going to be speed with a few parts being moved around. Just about everyone is back up front against a very, very shaky Wildcat O line.

Tate will get his, but as long as the Cougar defense is keeping the big plays to a minimum, it should be able to hold its own.

On the other side, there will be an offense. There has to be.

With Dylan Collie coming in from the Hawaii, the Cougars have a real, live No. 1 receiver for an improved passing game. This could get into a bit of a shootout, and this year, BYU is far better equipped. But …

One Reason Why Arizona Will Win
This is going to be a whole lot of fun.

The Rich Rodriguez offense was a blast, but Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone should take things to another level with so many great parts returning.

Of course, Tate is a Heisman-level star, but he doesn’t have to do it all. The veteran receivers are in place, and JJ Taylor is a great-looking running back. The O line is going to be a problem early on, but the skill guys should be just good enough to overcome it.

Yeah, the Arizona defense is the Arizona defense – it’ll never be confused with Alabama’s – but the BYU offense still has miles to go to be nearly decent again. If Tate and company can get up early, this might be over.

What’s Going To Happen
BYU’s defense will put a wet blanket on all of the fun …

For a half.

It’ll take a little while for Tate and the Arizona offense to break out, but just when most of America goes to sleep, it’s all going to kick in with a wild second half.

The Cats will hit two big home runs, and the Cougars won’t be able to answer. It might not be the Heisman-clinching moment in Week 1 for Tate, but it’ll be effective.

Fearless Prediction & Line
Arizona 37, BYU 20
Line: Arizona -11.5, o/u: 60.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2

sd86 enter the tix giveaway
everyone else too!

I feel like I was watching Mangum play qb at BYU in some game on ESPN in like 2012.

BYU discussion thread.

https://www.cougarcorner.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21400" target="_blank

ASUHATER! wrote:I feel like I was watching Mangum play qb at BYU in some game on ESPN in like 2012.

According to his Wiki page he grayshirted his first year then went onto a 2 year mission before returning in 2015 so he was there then.