Game #1 vs UTSA Roadrunners discussion thread

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:19 pm

Close enough to start the discussion I guess.

Here's what they are wearing.

Fishclamps · Post by **Fishclamps** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:45 pm

Gonna be hard to beat us when they have every piece of gear except for some shoulder pads

FightWildcatsFight · Post by **FightWildcatsFight** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 2:52 pm

That mannequin's proportions are terrifying.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:52 pm

Think a bunch of guys on the 2's play for us so I wonder if we can cover 31.5. Maybe the over?

Fishclamps · Post by **Fishclamps** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:02 pm

I'd say yes if UTSA is a really bad team this year. Otherwise no because I expect a lot of vanilla packages to help the o line and defense gel with actual game experience. You also have to factor in the lack of a bye week so we'll most likely pull our starters as early as possible. The roadrunners could most likely make some of the ground back up in garbage time, AKA the second half.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:03 pm

Yeah I am having a hard time thinking that we cover the spread.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:07 pm

Yeah for up 28-10 or something a little bit into the third quarter I can see all starters being pulled and it ending up being a 41-27 kind of final score

Bruins01 · Post by **Bruins01** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:17 pm

azcat49 wrote:Think a bunch of guys on the 2's play for us so I wonder if we can cover 31.5. Maybe the over?

Both UA and UTSA have interesting under trends, for the former especially at home.

Texas-San Antonio
Under is 4-1 in Roadrunners last 5 games overall.
Under is 4-1 in Roadrunners last 5 games on grass.
Under is 9-3 in Roadrunners last 12 road games.
Arizona
Under is 4-1 in Wildcats last 5 games in September.
Under is 4-1 in Wildcats last 5 Thursday games.
Under is 10-4 in Wildcats last 14 home games.
Under is 5-2 in Wildcats last 7 games overall.
Under is 5-2 in Wildcats last 7 games on grass.

I didn't see the game against UTSA last year. Why was it so close?

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:23 pm

A few factors - it was Solomon's first road game, UTSA was playing with their hair on fire for a while, and Arizona didn't play well in a lot of facets. Jared Tevis made a ton of tackles and got the game sealing interception on a bizarre pass. Solomon made a couple of more big rookie mistakes against Nevada that kept that game uncomfortably close, had a bad first three quarters against Cal, and then suddenly he hit the switch. UTSA was the first start of that progression.

dc4azcats · Post by **dc4azcats** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:37 pm

azcat49 wrote:Think a bunch of guys on the 2's play for us so I wonder if we can cover 31.5. Maybe the over?

I think we cover the spread. UTSA returns 2 starters on offense and 4 on defense. They lost a huge senior class LY and it takes time for a team with little to no leadership to gel. Add that Anu and the offense has looked sharp and there's no chance RR puts the brakes on at any point in this game. Especially if we're scoring in a hurry.

Defensively, I think we play a lot of guys and if you look at our D the past 3 years in the OOC we've given up on average 16 ppg. I think this is our best D to date and I don't think UTSA is going to put up much on the board. Lets say they put up 14-21 and we average 43 ppg offensively in OOC games the last 3 years but, this is also our best offensive team since RR has been here. I think we score in the 50's and keep UTSA in the teens. We will play a lot of guys on both sides of the ball, but if Anu is in rhythm and hitting guys at a high percentage and not getting touched then he's going to play most of the game.

dc4azcats · Post by **dc4azcats** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:42 pm

Bruins01 wrote:
azcat49 wrote:Think a bunch of guys on the 2's play for us so I wonder if we can cover 31.5. Maybe the over?
Both UA and UTSA have interesting under trends, for the former especially at home.

Texas-San Antonio
Under is 4-1 in Roadrunners last 5 games overall.
Under is 4-1 in Roadrunners last 5 games on grass.
Under is 9-3 in Roadrunners last 12 road games.
Arizona
Under is 4-1 in Wildcats last 5 games in September.
Under is 4-1 in Wildcats last 5 Thursday games.
Under is 10-4 in Wildcats last 14 home games.
Under is 5-2 in Wildcats last 7 games overall.
Under is 5-2 in Wildcats last 7 games on grass.

I didn't see the game against UTSA last year. Why was it so close?

UTSA had something like 40 seniors that graduated LY. As an example they returned 10 starters on each side of the ball LY and most of the 2 deep were seniors. I think it's par for the course when you've just started a program from scratch and it's only been in existence going on 5 years. That's not the case TY.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:55 pm

azcat49 wrote:Think a bunch of guys on the 2's play for us so I wonder if we can cover 31.5. Maybe the over?

The over looks really good to me. Which means you should probably put all your money on the under.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 9:40 am

From GoAZCats, Coach Rod after Tuesday's practice plus some photos.

PHXCATS · Post by **PHXCATS** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 10:48 am

Bruins01 wrote:
azcat49 wrote:Think a bunch of guys on the 2's play for us so I wonder if we can cover 31.5. Maybe the over?
Both UA and UTSA have interesting under trends, for the former especially at home.

Texas-San Antonio
Under is 4-1 in Roadrunners last 5 games overall.
Under is 4-1 in Roadrunners last 5 games on grass.
Under is 9-3 in Roadrunners last 12 road games.
Arizona
Under is 4-1 in Wildcats last 5 games in September.
Under is 4-1 in Wildcats last 5 Thursday games.
Under is 10-4 in Wildcats last 14 home games.
Under is 5-2 in Wildcats last 7 games overall.
Under is 5-2 in Wildcats last 7 games on grass.

I didn't see the game against UTSA last year. Why was it so close?

Arizona Stadium is not grass

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 11:22 am

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 11:24 am

FightWildcatsFight · Post by **FightWildcatsFight** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 12:23 pm

Speaking of grass, we are 0-3 on grass fields in the turfed Arizona Stadium era.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 6:51 pm

Current line:
Cats: -31.5
O/U: 52.5

ASUCatFan · Post by **ASUCatFan** » Wed Aug 26, 2015 7:33 pm

I've got my tickets for the nosebleeds. I can't wait. Football and Beer on Thursday, a day off of work on Friday to recover and then I get to watch my step brother start for Iowa on Saturday.

My anticipation of the start of the season has been keeping me up at night.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:09 am

FightWildcatsFight · Post by **FightWildcatsFight** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:30 am

Okay so realistically what are the odds that we lose this game?

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:39 am

5% at most

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:52 am

Kick off is when?

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:54 am

azcat49 wrote:Kick off is when?

7:00

FightWildcatsFight · Post by **FightWildcatsFight** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:58 am

ASUHATER! wrote:5% at most

I think it's a fair question to ask in these threads when people are predicting us to win 50-6.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:04 am

FightWildcatsFight wrote:Okay so realistically what are the odds that we lose this game?

UTSA lost 37 seniors, including QB, leading tackler, road game instead of in their dome. I just don't see them competing, and I was at the game last year.

azthrillhouse · Post by **azthrillhouse** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:16 am

FightWildcatsFight wrote:Okay so realistically what are the odds that we lose this game?

1000000000000000-1.

However, I don't like us covering that spread. Any spread over four touchdowns, even against NAU, is hard to do.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:30 am

azthrillhouse wrote:
FightWildcatsFight wrote:Okay so realistically what are the odds that we lose this game?
1000000000000000-1.

However, I don't like us covering that spread. Any spread over four touchdowns, even against NAU, is hard to do.

Especially with RR, who really doesn't like to run up the score on weak lower level teams.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:52 am

Yup. hence my prediction of 41-17

gumby · Post by **gumby** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:24 am

UAEebs86 wrote:
FightWildcatsFight wrote:Okay so realistically what are the odds that we lose this game?

UTSA lost 37 seniors, including QB, leading tackler, road game instead of in their dome. I just don't see them competing, and I was at the game last year.

Then again, those seniors weren't very good (4-8), and they competed.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:28 pm

6 days and the party starts!

dc4azcats · Post by **dc4azcats** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 6:45 pm

Merkin wrote:
azthrillhouse wrote:
FightWildcatsFight wrote:Okay so realistically what are the odds that we lose this game?
1000000000000000-1.

However, I don't like us covering that spread. Any spread over four touchdowns, even against NAU, is hard to do.
Especially with RR, who really doesn't like to run up the score on weak lower level teams.

Are you joking? We beat SC State 56-0. Unlv 58-13 and RR hugged the Unlv coach after the game. That was after we beat them 56-13 back in 14. I don't think he even has a 2nd thought in regards to scoring as many times as he can. I think RR has a lot of respect for Coker but that's not going to stop him or the team from scoring. Dick Tomey, yes. RR no.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:49 pm

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:52 pm

Sports Guys from goazcats.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:47 pm

dc4azcats wrote:
Merkin wrote:
azthrillhouse wrote:
FightWildcatsFight wrote:Okay so realistically what are the odds that we lose this game?
1000000000000000-1.

However, I don't like us covering that spread. Any spread over four touchdowns, even against NAU, is hard to do.
Especially with RR, who really doesn't like to run up the score on weak lower level teams.
Are you joking? We beat SC State 56-0. Unlv 58-13 and RR hugged the Unlv coach after the game. That was after we beat them 56-13 back in 14. I don't think he even has a 2nd thought in regards to scoring as many times as he can. I think RR has a lot of respect for Coker but that's not going to stop him or the team from scoring. Dick Tomey, yes. RR no.

I think RR lets them score enough to feel comfortable bringing in the backups. The current injury bug reinforces the problem that the lack of a bye week presents.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:29 am

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 12:18 pm

Do their qb and center will both be playing their first ever college games.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 7:45 pm

Arizona official game notes.

UTSA official game notes.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 8:01 pm

I'm the geek who actually reads these releases. Their cornerback coach's name is Jeff Popovich. I was curious if he was related to the other Coach Popovich from San Antonio, so I looked up his bio. Nothing about Pop, but this was fascinating:

A four-year letterwinner from 1996-99 at Miami, Popovich turned into a major contributor on special teams and in nickel packages on defense. After starting his career as a receiver, he moved to defensive back and was a standout on special teams coverage units and as a holder. He saw action in all 48 games (11 starts) and recorded 154 tackles, three fumble recoveries, one interception and one forced fumble. He was a three-time Big East All-Academic Team selection and an Academic All-America candidate.

After graduation, Popovich played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2000 preseason and for the Atlanta Falcons in 2001. He also was a member of the 2001 Barcelona Dragons squad that played in the World Bowl.

He got his first taste of coaching as a student coach at Miami during the 2000 season, helping the Hurricanes to an 11-1 record, a Big East Championship and a 37-20 Sugar Bowl victory against Florida.

Prior to his collegiate career, Popovich was a star quarterback and defensive back on the football team and a record-setting track & field athlete at Sabino High School in Tucson.

Popovich earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Miami in 2000.

UTSA Para 04 · Post by **UTSA Para 04** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:35 am

ANGCatFan wrote:I'm the geek who actually reads these releases. Their cornerback coach's name is Jeff Popovich. I was curious if he was related to the other Coach Popovich from San Antonio, so I looked up his bio. Nothing about Pop, but this was fascinating:

He is not related to Coach Popovich of the Spurs. However, an interesting fact about Coach Jeff Popovich is that he was on the show "The Bachelorette."

Here's an article about it from 2013 when we were getting ready to play y'all.

http://tucson.com/sports/football/colle ... cb470.html

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:36 am

Just about time for POM to start a game thread.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 9:52 am

Wildcat Football Weekly.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 10:43 am

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:19 pm

Fox Sports game preview.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-footba ... iew-083115

Puerco · Post by **Puerco** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 3:24 am

AP preview, actually. Too bad Fox ditched Gimino & company.

catgrad97 · Post by **catgrad97** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 3:25 am

I remember covering Jeff Popovich for the Star. Jeff Scurran was very high on him in HS.

Post by **UAdevil** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:49 am

azgreg wrote:Just about time for POM to start a game thread.

Yep. Come on on POM, we're getting anxious. It'd be bad luck for anyone else to start it.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:53 am

UAdevil wrote:
azgreg wrote:Just about time for POM to start a game thread.
Yep. Come on on POM, we're getting anxious. It'd be bad luck for anyone else to start it.

That's why i didn't start one.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:12 am

David Potts at AZDS with utsa by the numbers.

127

SBNation's Bill Connelly wrote previews for literally every FBS team during the offseason. At the end of all this, Bill Connelly ranked all 128 FBS teams. Of those 128 teams, he ranked UTSA 127th. That's not very good! As Jared Kalmus over at Underdog Dynasty told us on Monday, UTSA lost a ton of senior talent and returned just five starters. UTSA will get much better next year, but for the time being, this team has very little experience and, as such, is getting very little respect.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:31 am

Fox 11 in a quick video asks what is a good rep?

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