Bear Down Wildcats

Lock of the year. Just had two great bets on the under and 13 points. This one will be a steal as well. Cats run for 175 yards and we win 27-10

Oh yeah!

Arizona is winning this one and it won't be by 1.

AZCat- I agree with the spread!

Greg Bell, a transfer from Nebraska, ran for 161 against the NMSU Aggies. His prior high was 160 yards v. Hawaii.

Good test of how the UA's run defense will hold up.

Draft kings opened at SDST -1 and 48.5 total

Vegas Insider has it at AZ -1.

I stand corrected, old eyes I guess

azcat49 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 12:45 pm I stand corrected, old eyes I guess

No, you're good. DK has it at SDSU -1.
https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/teams ... game-lines

Arizona loses again and the fanbase calls it a moral victory.

Hope I'm wrong.

New Mexico State is a historically bad outfit, so its hard to glean too much. Its so interesting to me on my next point. For background, my parents are New Mexicans and moved back there after I finished HS so I follow prospects there. O'Maury Samuels was billed as the greatest athlete the state had seen in 20 years and went to Michigan. Jordan Byrd was a ho hum recruit from a downtrodden school in the middle of Albuquerque that headed west to SDSU. Both were class of 17 or 18, I can't remember. Smash but to last night- O'Maury is back home playing for the Aggies and looked VERY pedestrian, and Jordan had some huge plays for the Aztecs. Moral is outside of the top 30-40 kids in the country, you really never know with recruiting.

As far as SDSU, they tend to always have dudes at the skill positions. The two variables to me are D line and coaching.

I really doubt that SDSU can win at the LOS the way BYU did on both sides of the ball but particularly defense. BYU has a bunch of Power 5/NFL prospect type of studs on their D Line most years, where SDSU occasionally hits on tweeners like the Gbaja-Biamila brothers back in the day. I don't see them having the depth either, but I could be wrong.

Coaching is the big thing. Brady Hoke has been going out to lunch on a 10 win season on the mesa back in the pre Tinder, hell pre Podcast days. I think he is a dipshit, and if memory serves he used to be among the only coaches I've ever seen that didn't wear a headset. I think Fisch and co will scheme circles around him. SDSU will make more splash plays than BYU but they don't have the horses to do the weardown.

My guess is Gunner throws a few more TDs and one frustrating interception, but the team will be in much better shape heading into the 4th. Michael Wiley and young Drake (I'm old enough that I saw his pops play a great game for Northwestern in the metrodome as an 8th grader, my god) should be able to get upfield as well. I think Cruz is going to be a dude for us. You can't fake arm strength or confidence and he has both. Big paws on the puppy, as Marlo Stanfield famously says.

At some level, it will be a statement win

I think we'll win and win decidedly. There were a lot of positives to build on and I think that plus the home field advantage will give us a fun Saturday night.

Need to throw more to the tight end.

Merkin wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 12:25 pm Greg Bell, a transfer from Nebraska, ran for 161 against the NMSU Aggies. His prior high was 160 yards v. Hawaii.

Good test of how the UA's run defense will hold up.

The trenches are probably the biggest advantage SDSU has, run game and D line are both supposed to be strengths for them and were vs NMSU.

Their run game did a lot, but the passing game was relatively poor. They devote a lot to the run, so if we want to win, we have to be able to stop that. Defensively, they got 5 sacks vs NMSU and held them to under 50 yards on the ground (albeit on only 21 non-sack rushes).

They want a slugfest and I don't think we have the skill guys to blow it open, so I'd expect a low scoring game where a turnover or two makes the difference.

Here's a stab at SDSU's lineup, based on last year's stats and their first game with NMSU at their temporary rent-a-site soccer stadium in Carson. NMSU is terrible, so the Aztecs just pounded at them for a 28-10 win. Frankly, from a personnel and experience standpoint, I'd say San Diego St looks a bit like BYU. Their punter averaged 56 yards a punt in the relatively heavy night air in Carson. If we're going to break that losing streak this week, we'll have to earn it. Also, if Morgan and Laie are still out on the O-line, that's a glaring issue for a unit that has already struggled. I'd guess maybe Baker and Burrola move up, but the rotation of subs in to keep people fresh might be a somewhat scary adventure. Also an opportunity for somebody.

QB Jordon Brookshire 6-2 215 SR 410 Yds 2TD/2INT
RB Greg Bell 6-0 200 SR 637 Yds/6 TD
WR Jesse Matthews 6-0 190 JR 326 Yds/1 TD
WR Kobe Smith 6-2 185 SR 122 Yds/2 TD
WR B.J. Busbee 5-8 155 SR
TE Daniel Bellinger 6-6 255 SR 203 Yds/0 TD
LT Jonathan Harrison 6-5 320 FR
LG Chris Martinez 6-4 310 SR
C Alama Uluave 6-2 305 SR
RG William Dunkle 6-5 330 JR
RT Zachary Thomas 6-5 300 SR

DE Cameron Thomas 6-5 265 JR 35 T/9.5 TFL
DT Jonah Tavai 6-0 305 SR 27 T/4.5 TFL
DE Keshawn Banks 6-4 275 SR 14 T/5 TFL
OLB Caden McDonald 6-3 235 SR 34 T/10 TFL
MLB Seyddrick Lakalaka 6-1 235 SR 28 T/5 TFL/1 INT
OLB Segun Olubi 6-2 220 SR
CB Noah Tumblin 6-2 180 SO
CB Noah Avinger 6-1 175 FR
S Tayler Hawkins 6-1 205 SR 37 T/1 INT
S Trenton Thompson 6-2 200 SR 35 T/4.5 TFL
S Patrick McMorris 6-0 210 JR 10 T/1.5 TFL

K/P Matt Araiza 6-2 205 JR 10-14 FG 49.8 Punt Avg
KR Jordan Byrd 5-9 170 SR 29.5 Avg/1 TD
PR Jesse Matthews 6-0 190 JR 9.4 Avg

#106 Arizona vs. #65 San Diego State (Massey Rankings)

Probably not going to garner a lot of national ink but could be big news in Tucson.

Betting the streak stops at 13.

Carcassdragger wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 12:58 pm Arizona loses again and the fanbase calls it a moral victory.

Hope I'm wrong.

You are exhausting.

Arizona WR Jamarye Joiner, LT Jordan Morgan may debut vs. San Diego State

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/football/ ... 6abpIKs9ps

Steeeeeeveeeee Kerrrrrrrrrrrr!.........

Fisch is making use of better use basketball alum than Lloyd is. Tommy needs to be taking notes.

Can Kerr make a few 3’s for us?

27-16 SDSU.

The stadium the Aztecs are leasing in Carson while they construct their new facility in Mission Valley seats 27,000. They announced a crowd of 10,000 last week, but reporters estimated it at 3,000. That would seem to indicate we won't get a big influx of SDSU fans in the visitor section this week. Everybody seems to like the intricate pattern on their helmets, but I think the black blob design down the middle kind of ruins it. (In any event, it's better than the bananas-with-tutus outfit ASU unveiled.) Their QB has struggled, so we'll probably get a steady diet of Greg Bell. Their punter had a 77-yard punt into the nighttime marine layer in Carson, so here in the desert we might want to raise the nets behind the goalposts when he punts.


Greg Bell

I worked in Carson. There is no fucking Marine layer at that stadium. It's Smog.

Sorry you had to work in Carson; wrong side of the 405. As to this weather discussion, here's a little overkill. The NWS Point Forecast for Dignity Health Sports Park (next to CSUDH) is for increasing clouds and/or fog each night, which can be labeled whatever anybody likes. It also shows the humidity increasing from around 50% in the afternoon to about 80% during the time of a night game, which presumably has the same effect on resistance impacting how far a football carries as the well-known negative nighttime impact on a home run swing at Dodger Stadium, which is also not sitting right on the edge of the South Bay. Meanwhile, the humidity in Tucson shows about 15% at kickoff, increasing to about 35% when the game's over. So, that's my attempted humorous point about how SDSU's punter may look like he's channeling Ray Guy Saturday night in Arizona Stadium. Now if a monsoon storm hits, all bets are off. That's it for weather.

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... TkWhd9lDIV
https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.p ... =graphical

Line is moving and most of the early money likes the cats in this one. It is now AZ-2 and I think it will go higher

I think I'm going to try to venture to San Diego for the season opener in 2022 at their new stadium.

Yeah, Aztec Stadium looks like it'll be pretty sweet. Don't know how hard it will be to get tickets, as it will only hold 35K. But, I think I'll probably shoot for that, too.

Even during their successful 2019 season, they only went over 35,000 once, and that was there home opener v. Weber State when they had 40,000. Never went over 30,000 after that.

So I would say yes, getting tickets to the UA is going to be extremely difficult. Donors, students, season ticket holders will get first crack.

I've been to ASU tailgates. They shouldn't even be ranked they are so bad

azgreg wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 5:36 pm

If you want to gate on concrete and roast your ass off. It’s the worst place in the world

When I was at Arizona a friend of mine had a handicap van (he was wheelchair bound). We parked right next to teh lab entrance. Step out of the van and right onto the sidewalk.

azgreg wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 5:36 pm

Is that because there are only 50 schools hosting games? I went to undergrad at Nevada and have been there as recently as Az/Nevada in 2015 and...I mean, tailgating exists there. That's pretty much the extent of it, existing.

Gotta love 94 degrees at kickoff

azgreg wrote: ↑Thu Sep 09, 2021 6:45 pm When I was at Arizona a friend of mine had a handicap van (he was wheelchair bound). We parked right next to teh lab entrance. Step out of the van and right onto the sidewalk.

I used to tailgate in that lot. It was sweet.

Are you talking about the lot on Cherry right across from the library? Many moons ago, you could get an annual renewable pass there through Parking & Transportation. That was awesome; just walk across the street and set up on the grass under a tree and you could hear the music from inside the stadium. That was before there was much happening on the mall. Then, they took that away. (They're putting up another building there.) In more recent years, we've preferred to walk north away from the post-game traffic. But they turned the lot we used into a lot for Facilities vehicles. This year, they put us in the Cherry Garage, but I don't know how that'll go in dealing with the bottleneck. We'll try it tomorrow, and if it sucks, we'll just pay to park wherever game-by-game.

TheCatInTheHat wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:27 am Are you talking about the lot on Cherry right across from the library?

No, the parking lot on the east side of the stadium right next to the mirror lab entrance.

This was the view from our parking spot.

Ah...that's another great spot; I know someone who tailgates there. Shade. But, these days we wimp out and go for the A/C indoors at the Davis Center.

Here's a game preview story from the San Diego U-T:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sp ... vs-arizona

And here's their story on Jedd Fisch's attempt at a turnaround at Arizona:

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sp ... 021-09-08/

Game notes: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ ... s_SDSU.pdf

depth chart: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/ ... s_SDSU.pdf

Getting the party started.