TUCSON, Ariz. — The Arizona Wildcats venture off the mainland to open the 2019 football season this Saturday, Aug. 24 at Hawai'i.
This will be the first time that Arizona opened the season on the road since beating Toledo 41-2 in 2010. All-time the Cats have posted a record of 83-27-5 in the first game of the season.
A complete game preview can be found below.
SOME GAME THEMES: Year two of the Kevin Sumlin era begins off the mainland in Honolulu against Hawai'i in a late-afternoon tilt against the Rainbow Warriors...Arizona last visited Hawai'i to open the 1998 season...The Wildcats won 27-6 in front of 38,745 fans, before eventually going 12-1 on the season under late coach Dick Tomey...Chris McAlister returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to start the game and season off right...The Wildcats wouldn't mind a case of déjà vu 21 years later against a talented Hawai'i team....Sumlin's squad is eager to get back on the field after a 5-7 campaign a year ago and have put in the hours in the weight room, on the conditioning fields and practice fields to prepare for the season-opener...This year's matchup features two teams that were inside the top 50 in the nation last year in total offense...The Wildcats averaged 457.7 yards of total offense to lead the Pac-12 and finish 24th in the country...The Rainbow Warriors averaged 419.9 yards of total offense, good enough for 48th best in the nation...While the Wildcats excelled on the ground, leading the Pac-12 in rushing offense a year ago, Hawai'i did most of its damage through the air...The Rainbow Warriors were most dangerous through the air, averaging 310.3 passing yards per game, which led the conference and finished ninth in the nation...On the ground, Hawai'i averaged just 109.6 yards per game, which ranked 10th in the conference and 121st in the country...Not only does this matchup feature two dynamic offenses from a year ago, but it also features two high-level quarterbacks going head-to-head...Hawai'i signal-caller Cole McDonald finished eighth in the country last year with 3,875 passing yards and was sixth in the nation in passing touchdowns with 36...McDonald was named the team's Offensive MVP and was named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 3...For Arizona, Khalil Tate has shown he can be a force on the ground, as evidenced by his 1,411 rushing yards in 2017, and through the air, as shown by his 2,530 passing yards last season and 26 touchdowns...Both quarterbacks are on the preseason Davey O'Brien Award Watch List and should be in for big years leading their teams...The Wildcats will head to Honolulu on Wednesday after a workout in Tucson to continue their preparation for the Rainbow Warriors...Arizona was hoping to visit Pearl Harbor while in Honolulu, but won't be able to because the USS Arizona Memorial is temporarily closed as repairs are being made to the memorial's loading dock...The USS Tucson is also currently out on deployment as well.
TOMEY'S TEAMS: Earlier this year, legendary coach Dick Tomey passed away at the age of 80. Tomey accumulated a record of 183-145-7 in his time as a head coach and spent much of his career as the head man at Hawai'i and Arizona. Tomey served as the coach of the Rainbow Warriors from 1977-1986. Tomey posted seven winning seasons at Hawai'i and a top 20 national ranking in 1981. He went 63-46-3 in his time at Hawai'i. Following the 1986 season, Tomey moved on to Arizona, where he served as the head coach for 14 seasons and put together a 95-64-4 record, while leading the Wildcats to five bowl victories and a 10-win season in 1993 and a 12-win season in 1998. Tomey will be honored before the game Saturday, with several of his family members in attendance. The Wildcats will also wear a "DT" sticker on their helmets to honor the coach. Arizona will have more tributes for Tomey during its home opener against NAU on Sept. 7 and its Homecoming matchup with Oregon State on Nov. 2. Last month, Arizona announced it will name its practice fields the "Dick Tomey Practice Fields." The formal dedication is scheduled for Homecoming weekend.
Charting the Cats (Career):
Running back J.J. Taylor has 2,542 career rushing yards, which ranks 10th all-time at Arizona. Taylor needs just 30 yards to pass David Adams for ninth all-time. Taylor's 439 career carries are the fewest of any player in the top 10.
Quarterback Khalil Tate has passed for 4,364 yards in his career, which ranks 12th-most in program history. He'll need another 700 yards to break into the Top 10.
Tate has rushed for 1,872 yards. Another 128 yards would make him the 17th player in program history to run for 2,000 yards.
Tate has racked up 6,236 yards of total offense in his career, which currently ranks No. 7 in school history. With only 72 more total offense yards, Tate could move up to No. 6.
Tate has passed for 43 touchdowns in his career, which ranks tied for sixth in UA history. With two more touchdowns, Tate would match Bruce Hill for No. 5. Another six touchdowns and Tate would catch Anu Solomon, who currently sits No. 3 with 49 career touchdown tosses.
Cornerback Jace Whittaker, who utilized his redshirt season last year, is tied for ninth in career passes broken up with 28. He's currently tied with Trevin Wade and Randy Robbins and is one away from reaching Brandon Sanders' mark of 29.
Linebacker Colin Schooler enters the 2019 season with 35 tackles-for-loss in just two seasons. With 5.5 more, he'll reach the Arizona top 10 and tie Chris Singleton.
FOR OPENERS: Arizona is 83-27-5 all-time in the first game of the season, winning nine of the last 11…In those 11 contests, the Wildcats have outscored opponents by a cumulative 431-150, or an average of 39.2 to 13.6 points per game…UA lost last year's opener versus BYU at Arizona Stadium, falling 28-23...The Wildcats also fell to BYU to open the 2016 season...Prior to that, the Cats had won eight straight openers…The Cats and Rainbow Warriors have met twice previously in a season-opening game...Arizona hosted Hawai'i to open the 1952 season and won 57-7…In 1998, the Wildcats headed to Honolulu to open the season and topped Hawai'i 27-6, before eventually going 12-1 on the season and beating No. 9 Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl...For geography buffs, Coach Kevin Sumlin will open his fifth consecutive season against a school located west of the Mississippi River...While at Texas A&M, Sumlin opened the 2015 season against Arizona State, before opening the 2016 and 2017 seasons against UCLA...Sumlin and the Cats of course hosted BYU last year.
ROAD OPENERS: In a season where tributes to Dick Tomey will be deservedly plentiful, perhaps nothing is more appropriate than opening the season on the road...Under Tomey's leadership, Arizona opened on the road in seven of his 14 seasons...The Cats opened the season on the road four straight seasons from 1997-2000 under Tomey...In the 18 seasons since Tomey has been the head coach, the Wildcats have opened the season on the road just four times, going 2-2 in those games...The Wildcats last opened on the road in 2010 at Toledo, winning 41-2...Dating back to the beginning of the Tomey era, the Wildcats have gone on to compile a 44-27 record in seasons in which they won the season-opening game on the road...For comparison, when Arizona has lost its season-opening game on the road, the Wildcats have gone on to go 25-33 in those seasons...In other words, a win on the road to the start of the season has normally propelled Arizona to a successful season.
IN A RUSH: Arizona led the Pac-12 in rushing last season for the third straight year. The Wildcats averaged 202.4 rushing yards per game last year, marking the fourth straight season the program has averaged 200 or more yards per game. Arizona is one of just eight programs nationally and one of three Power 5 teams to average at least 200 yards rushing per game over the past four seasons. Georgia Tech, Army, Air Force, Navy, Georgia Southern, Oklahoma and Appalachian State have also accomplished the feat. Arizona's ability to rush the ball often ties to the success of the team. Over the past five seasons when Arizona has rushed for 200 or more yards, the Wildcats are 24-10. In games where Arizona hasn't reached the 150-yard mark as a team, it is 4-14. Arizona is 26-8 in that span when it has a 100-yard rusher. Arizona has dominated the Pac-12 rushing scene the past three years and is the only program to top 9,000 yards in that span with 9,270. In fact, only Oregon has topped the 8,000-yard mark.
PAVING THE WAY: That Arizona has led the Pac-12 in rushing each of the past three seasons is certainly a testament to the offensive line. This year's group returns three full-time starters from a year ago in sophomore left tackle Donovan Laie, redshirt junior center Josh McCauley and redshirt senior right guard Cody Creason. Robert Congel, a transfer from Texas A&M who sat out last season, is the expected starter at left guard, while redshirt sophomore Edgar Burrola and junior college transfer Paiton Fears are still battling for the right tackle spot. On top of opening up running lanes for Arizona's outstanding rushing production, the offensive line has also been the best in the conference at protecting the quarterback over the past three seasons. Consider that during the same span where Arizona has rushed for 9,270 rushing yards, Wildcat quarterbacks have been sacked just 67 times. That number leads the conference and USC is the only other school in the Pac-12 in the 60's at 69.
NOT JUST SACKS: Not only has Arizona's front done a stellar job in protecting the quarterback, they've kept the defense out of the backfield in general. Last season, Arizona allowed just 50 tackles-for-loss, which ranked fourth in the country. The Wildcats allowed three or fewer TFLs in six of their 12 games last season. Conversely, Arizona's defense had 76 TFLs for a +26 difference.
TATE IS GREAT: As he prepares for his senior season at Arizona, Khalil Tate has already established himself as one of the most dynamic players in program history. Tate has thrown for 4,364 passing yards in his career and 43 touchdowns to 20 interceptions. He has also rushed for 1,872 yards and 15 touchdowns. He has averaged 6.8 yards per rushing attempt in his career and has accumulated 6,236 yards of total offense in his three-year Wildcat career. Last season, Tate started all 11 games he suited up for and posted career highs in passing yards (2,530) and passing touchdowns (26). His pass efficiency rating of 149.77 ranked second in the Pac-12 and was the fifth-best mark in Arizona single-season history. Tate is one of two returning Power 5 quarterbacks with at least 1,500 career rushing yards and 4,000 career passing yards, joining Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts, who did all of his previous damage at Alabama.
TATE WAS GREATER, LATER: Tate was especially strong late in the season for Arizona in 2018. The quarterback missed the Oct. 20 game against UCLA game to rest a foot injury. When he returned, Tate completed 75 of 124 passes (completion percentage of 60) for 1,115 yards and 15 touchdowns to just four interceptions. He averaged 278.8 yards per game. In his first seven games, Tate completed 53 percent of his passes and averaged 202.1 yards per game through the air. He also tossed 11 touchdowns in that seven-game span. It's also worth noting that two of Tate's final four games came against top 20 teams in Oregon and Washington State.
NFL CATS: The Arizona Wildcats are once again well represented in NFL training camps this preseason. There are currently 12 former Wildcats in the NFL, including three from last year's roster in P.J. Johnson, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Shawn Poindexter. The Wildcats of course lost one of their most prestigious alums in the NFL this offseason when Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement. The longest tenured NFL Wildcat is defensive lineman Earl Mitchell, who is preparing for his 10th professional season. Mitchell signed with the Seattle Seahawks this offseason, marking the fourth different team of his career. Brooks Reed, who is entering his ninth season, and Nick Foles, beginning his eighth NFL season, also both switched teams this offseason. Reed moved from the Atlanta Falcons to the Arizona Cardinals, while Foles, a former Super Bowl MVP, moved from Philadelphia to Jacksonville.
TAYLOR MADE: Redshirt junior running back J.J. Taylor finished the 2018 season with 1,434 rushing yards, the fourth-most in a single season in Arizona school history and the seventh-most in the nation last year. He became the 14th player in school history to accumulate 1,000+ rushing yards in a single season when he went for 212 yards in an upset over No. 19 ranked Oregon on Oct. 27. His performance last year also put him over the 2,000-yard mark for his career – Taylor has tallied 2,542 rushing yards in a Wildcats uniform, the 10th most in school history. The next player on the list – sitting at No. 9 with 2,571 yards, just 29 more than Taylor – is David Adams, who played for Arizona from 1984-86. Taylor eclipsed the 100-yard mark five times in 2018, four of which came in the Wildcats final five games of the season. He has piled up 100 yards in a game eight times during his collegiate career. His first career 100-yard game came in 2016 against Hawai'I, when he rushed for 168 yards and one touchdown.
SCHOOL(ER)'S IN SESSION: Junior linebacker Colin Schooler has put together an incredible Arizona career through his first two seasons, racking up 214 total tackles, 35.0 tackles for loss, and 7.5 sacks. He finished the 2018 season, his sophomore campaign, with 119 total tackles, good for fifth-most in the Pac-12. Additionally, Schooler's 21.5 tackles for loss during last year's season were second-most in the conference, just 0.5 behind Utah's Chase Hansen. Schooler led the Wildcats in tackles seven times last year, and finished second on the team twice. Over his two-year career in Tucson, Schooler is averaging 8.56 tackles per game and 1.40 tackles for loss per game. Schooler opened last season with a career-high 16-tackle game against BYU and notched double-digit tackles on six occasions. He enters the 2019 season on the cusp of breaking onto a pair of Arizona career leaderboards – He is 36 tackles shy of becoming just the 24th player in Wildcat history to log 250+ tackles, and is 5.5 tackles for loss shy of the Arizona career top-10 (records dating back to 1967).
AT A LOSS FOR YARDS: Schooler's 21.5 tackles for loss in 2018 were the second-most in the Pac-12 and the fourth-most in a single season in school history. He averaged 1.79 tackles for loss over 12 games last season, and upped his career total to 35.0. Schooler's 21.5 tackles for loss in 2018 were the most recorded by a Wildcat player in 24 of the last 25 years, with Scooby Wright's 29.0 TFL in 2014 being the lone exception.
HAVING A FIELD DAY: Sitting right behind Schooler is another junior linebacker, Tony Fields II, who has logged 193 career total tackles, 12.0 tackles for loss, and 7.0 sacks in two seasons with the Cats. After leading Arizona with 104 total tackles in 2017, he finished second on the squad in 2018 with 89. Last season, Fields and Schooler combined to total 208 tackles, the fourth-most by any Pac-12 duo of leading tacklers in 2018. They were 18 tackles clear of the No. 5 duo.
EXPERIENCED SECONDARY: Between redshirt senior Jace Whittaker, redshirt junior Lorenzo Burns, and junior Scottie Young Jr., the Wildcats feature 82 combined games of experience in the secondary. Whittaker, a cornerback, has four seasons of disrupting opponent's passing games under his belt and to that end he has broken into the Arizona career top-10 in pass breakups; he currently sits in a tie for No. 9 all-time with 28. Whittaker logged four PBU as a freshman, 12 as a sophomore, and a career-high 16 as a junior in 13 games. He was limited to one game due to injury last season. During the 2017 season – Whittaker's last complete campaign – he logged at least one pass breakup in seven games, including three games with three PBU. His single-game career-high came on Oct. 10, 2016 at Utah, when he notched five pass breakups. For a complete chart of the Arizona top-10 in PBU, see the sidebar on page nine. Burns, another cornerback, has 23 career pass breakups to his name and hauled in five interceptions during the 2017 season. He has also picked up 121 total career tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 2.0 sacks during his three seasons in Tucson. Burns' five interceptions during the 2017 campaign were the most logged by a Wildcat since Trevin Wade also hauled in five in 2009. Four of Burns' five sacks in 2017 came during a six-game stretch from Oct. 21 at California to Nov. 25 at Arizona State. Young, a safety, took over the mantle from Burns in 2018, grabbing three interceptions to lead the team and rank sixth in the Pac-12. Young saw extended action as a true freshman in 2017, logging time in 10 games and tallying 53 tackles, one interception, and two pass breakups.
