Game #2 @ Nevada Wolf Pack discussion thread

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 10:54 am

Saturday, September 12th, 4:00 PM at Reno, NV, CBS Sports Network.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 11:16 am

Nevada beat uc Davis 31-17 Thursday. Were up 21-0. Their new qb was 13/20 for 163 yards and a td and ran for 45 and a td. Their rb ran for 124 yards and 2 tds at a 9.5 ypc clip.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 11:43 am

Anybody know anything about Tagaloa's injury?

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 11:45 am

Cactuscat · Post by **Cactuscat** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 6:48 pm

Wow, 11 pts. is a lot to cover. I imagine the Nevada faithful are licking their chops with that spread.

Maybe I'll be the o/u

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 8:36 pm

We get some key players back and we finally hit for 60 minutes. We might surprise

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:12 am

Rut Roh! They're having a whiteout.

wyo-cat · Post by **wyo-cat** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:25 am

So are we going to wear home colors?

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 11:34 am

UC Davis went Air Raid on the Wolf Pack and their QB went 32-47, albeit with a 5 yard average. Arizona's receivers are bigger and faster than a low-level FCS team's and Solomon is a better quarterback, plus a very potent 1-2 punch at RB. If the defense gets a few stops then this one is over by mid-third quarter. Reno has been known to be a dangerous place to play, so there's that. But I think this game being on the road will actually be a plus for the Cats, since RR does a good job of turning the early season roadies into a chance to get the team focused without the distractions at home.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 2:13 pm

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 2:14 pm

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 3:12 pm

Nevada's game notes.

http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/sports/m- ... 15aaa.html

Saint James · Post by **Saint James** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 3:19 pm

azpenguin wrote:UC Davis went Air Raid on the Wolf Pack and their QB went 32-47, albeit with a 5 yard average. Arizona's receivers are bigger and faster than a low-level FCS team's and Solomon is a better quarterback, plus a very potent 1-2 punch at RB. If the defense gets a few stops then this one is over by mid-third quarter. Reno has been known to be a dangerous place to play, so there's that. But I think this game being on the road will actually be a plus for the Cats, since RR does a good job of turning the early season roadies into a chance to get the team focused without the distractions at home.

Didn't we hear the same thing before the UTSA game? It seems to me that our defense needs to prove itself which it hasn't done. I'm losing faith that this 3-3-5 will come around except when playing Oregon.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:01 pm

Well, first let's see how many guys are healthy this week. Last week Scooby went down, and a lot of guys were getting hurt including three cornerbacks. At one point the linebackers were RJ Morgan, Jake Matthews and Haden Gregory. Gregory is likely starting this week.

The defense improved as the game went on as well.

Blair Willis tweeted that with the pick six and 8 PBUs that Arizona got their hands on 20 percent of UTSA's pass attempts. Also, don't forget that the defense chilled in a teensy tiny little bit by scoring twice.

So I'm not saying everything is fine and dandy, because the defense has work to do. But when you look at everything, I'm not going to be ragging too hard on them. I'll wait to see what we've got when the dust settles on the injury situation. Let's see what we get Saturday.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:25 pm

Arizona game notes.

chiefzona · Post by **chiefzona** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 6:14 pm

The defense always adjusts at halftime. That's the way Casteel plays it.

wyo-cat · Post by **wyo-cat** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 7:54 pm

chiefzona wrote:The defense always adjusts at halftime. That's the way Casteel plays it.

...this, and they have a whole week to work with the new personnel and their roles. I'm not too concerned about the d this week. They will step up.

PHXCATS · Post by **PHXCATS** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 8:19 am

Wow it is going to be very warm there on Saturday

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 8:45 am

About as warm as it gets. May be in the 90s at kickoff. Last hurrah for summer I suppose. Reno is also at 4500 feet.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 8:47 am

PHXCATS wrote:Wow it is going to be very warm there on Saturday

catinfl · Post by **catinfl** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 9:11 am

Bored in between class so here's my run-down on the game:

Nevada runs a pretty similar offense. RR said he partnered with them at a few satellite camps this summer so the coaches are familiar. They have some talent in the front seven with Ian Seau (Junior's son maybe) and 6 out of 7 of them are seniors, but the secondary is iffy at best. They didn't cause any turnovers last week and if they don't get any turnovers they're not gonna win plain and simple. So the key to the offense is run and run well to keep them honest. They're gonna blitz and try to make Solomon make some bad decisions to cover up the problems in the secondary. I really hope Tagoloa is back.
Keys To the Offense:
Run the Ball to open up the passing game.
Protect Solomon
Get the Ball in space. We have some really dynamic playmakers and with Grant back we shouldn't miss a beat on offense

Their Offense with Fajardno was pretty good. After having Kapernick and fajardo for the last eight years they have a new QB. Tyler Stewart can not run as well as the other two and is mostly a passing guy. Nevada has always been good at rushing the ball and they have a senior Don Jackson as the starting tailback. He rushed for about 1,000 yards last year. Their Offensive line is very young and they only have one senior. The offense in general is very young. With Tellas Jones and Fotu back and a week to plan to live life without Scooby I think Casteel should be ready.
Keys for the Defense:
Sack the QB- we only had a couple sacks last week and without are best pass rusher in Scooby it won't get any easier. We can't leave time for him to pick apart the defense
Set the Tone- I really don't want to deal with what we had to last year in a game where I almost died from a near loss. Please set the tone and stop them and let the offense get a good lead.
Summon the Ghost of Bondurant- I want more turnovers that only the ghost of bondurant can supply. Like the Parks fumble.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 10:35 am

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 10:35 am

qwertyus · Post by **qwertyus** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 10:51 am

azgreg wrote:

Is it just me, or do most injuries happen the first week of the season?

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:45 am

Solomon made a couple of really bad decisions in the last game that helped turn what should have been a big win into an uncomfortable nailbiter. He threw a very ill-advised pass that got picked and he slid short of the marker on fourth down when the first was right there for the easy taking. One problem Arizona had last year was that Nevada was stringing together drives that were eating a ton of clock. Their first two drives ate up 15:34 combined. Arizona had the ball for 8:43 in the first half - that's it. However, aside from that pick, they made the drives count. Three of the four first half drives were touchdowns.

Rodriguez is less concerned with time of possession than he is number of possessions. More times with the ball means more chances to score. Don't let them put together 9 minute drives and the rest will likely handle itself.

RazorsEdgeAZ · Post by **RazorsEdgeAZ** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 12:25 pm

azpenguin wrote:
Blair Willis tweeted that with the pick six and 8 PBUs that Arizona got their hands on 20 percent of UTSA's pass attempts. Also, don't forget that the defense chilled in a teensy tiny little bit by scoring twice.

So I'm not saying everything is fine and dandy, because the defense has work to do. But when you look at everything, I'm not going to be ragging too hard on them. I'll wait to see what we've got when the dust settles on the injury situation. Let's see what we get Saturday.

I'll just add UTSA had less drives thus plays in 4th qtr over the other three (AZ offense had their most T.O.P of game in 4th). UTSA had 2 drives in 4th compared to 4 in each of the other qtrs. And UTSA did score a TD with their longest drive of the night in the 4th.

Aside from that AZ, is near last in FBS in in passing yards allowed (107), Total defense (106), Scoring Defense (86), 1st Down Defense (114), Rushing Defense (91) which equates to last or second to last in Pac12.

At this point, I can only be hopeful about the defense. I'll wait until AZ defense can provide me something to shift to optimism. Just need to see some improvement against Nev to get me there.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 1:44 pm

I was a bit worried after Thursday but now I think this game has lock of the year written all over it and the cats cover easily.

I think RR uses the OOC season well. He gets young guys time, puts them in a position to be successful and gain confidence and knows when to shorten the lineup so to speak.

I really don't think he or the players got as uncomfortable as we might have against UTSA. I think they always knew they had that game and were in control.

I think they know going to Reno won't be easy but you will see us be much much sharper. I look for us to be very good offensively and both lines to handle their business well

dc4azcats · Post by **dc4azcats** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 2:41 pm

Scheer did a Q and A with the editor of the Scout site for Nevada. The one thing the guy said repeatedly in regards to Nevada is how bad their secondary is. He said that if Nevada can't pressure Anu and Anu has time to throw that it could be a long night for Nevada. He also specifically mentioned how Nevada didn't have an answer for Cayleb Jones LY and they don't TY either. Tough to blitz on Arizona if your DB's have to play off guys because they can't cover anybody.

ghostwhitehorse · Post by **ghostwhitehorse** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 3:59 pm

catinfl wrote:Bored in between class so here's my run-down on the game:

Nevada runs a pretty similar offense. RR said he partnered with them at a few satellite camps this summer so the coaches are familiar. They have some talent in the front seven with Ian Seau (Junior's son maybe) and 6 out of 7 of them are seniors, but the secondary is iffy at best. They didn't cause any turnovers last week and if they don't get any turnovers they're not gonna win plain and simple. So the key to the offense is run and run well to keep them honest. They're gonna blitz and try to make Solomon make some bad decisions to cover up the problems in the secondary. I really hope Tagoloa is back.
Keys To the Offense:
Run the Ball to open up the passing game.
Protect Solomon
Get the Ball in space. We have some really dynamic playmakers and with Grant back we shouldn't miss a beat on offense

Their Offense with Fajardno was pretty good. After having Kapernick and fajardo for the last eight years they have a new QB. Tyler Stewart can not run as well as the other two and is mostly a passing guy. Nevada has always been good at rushing the ball and they have a senior Don Jackson as the starting tailback. He rushed for about 1,000 yards last year. Their Offensive line is very young and they only have one senior. The offense in general is very young. With Tellas Jones and Fotu back and a week to plan to live life without Scooby I think Casteel should be ready.
Keys for the Defense:
Sack the QB- we only had a couple sacks last week and without are best pass rusher in Scooby it won't get any easier. We can't leave time for him to pick apart the defense
Set the Tone- I really don't want to deal with what we had to last year in a game where I almost died from a near loss. Please set the tone and stop them and let the offense get a good lead.
Summon the Ghost of Bondurant- I want more turnovers that only the ghost of bondurant can supply. Like the Parks fumble.

Ian Seau is Juniors' nephew. Also good enough to be on the Nagurski List. . .

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 7:38 pm

ghostwhitehorse wrote: Ian Seau is Juniors' nephew. Also good enough to be on the Nagurski List. . .

Amazing that with Junior's CTE and subsequent suicide Ian's parents would not let him play a contact sport.

Puerco · Post by **Puerco** » Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:56 pm

Saint James wrote:
azpenguin wrote:UC Davis went Air Raid on the Wolf Pack and their QB went 32-47, albeit with a 5 yard average. Arizona's receivers are bigger and faster than a low-level FCS team's and Solomon is a better quarterback, plus a very potent 1-2 punch at RB. If the defense gets a few stops then this one is over by mid-third quarter. Reno has been known to be a dangerous place to play, so there's that. But I think this game being on the road will actually be a plus for the Cats, since RR does a good job of turning the early season roadies into a chance to get the team focused without the distractions at home.
Didn't we hear the same thing before the UTSA game? It seems to me that our defense needs to prove itself which it hasn't done. I'm losing faith that this 3-3-5 will come around except when playing Oregon.

UA's defense held UTSA to 14 net points. I'm more worried about the offense getting on track.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:42 am

Puerco wrote:
Saint James wrote:
azpenguin wrote:UC Davis went Air Raid on the Wolf Pack and their QB went 32-47, albeit with a 5 yard average. Arizona's receivers are bigger and faster than a low-level FCS team's and Solomon is a better quarterback, plus a very potent 1-2 punch at RB. If the defense gets a few stops then this one is over by mid-third quarter. Reno has been known to be a dangerous place to play, so there's that. But I think this game being on the road will actually be a plus for the Cats, since RR does a good job of turning the early season roadies into a chance to get the team focused without the distractions at home.
Didn't we hear the same thing before the UTSA game? It seems to me that our defense needs to prove itself which it hasn't done. I'm losing faith that this 3-3-5 will come around except when playing Oregon.
UA's defense held UTSA to 14 net points. I'm more worried about the offense getting on track.

Who did they score the other 18 points against?

Puerco · Post by **Puerco** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:56 am

Oops, bad math. I should have said the defense held UTSA to 18 points.

UTSA's offense scored 32. UA's defense scored 14. Net scoring for UTSA's offense = 32-14 = 18 points.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:09 am

A couple of other bits - I don't ding the defense too much for UTSA's first touchdown because that was on a short field after Wilson coughed up the ball at the 30. Also, I'll be interested to see how Nevada attacks the secondary. They got pretty beat up last week and I haven't seen the injury report for this week; if I'm Nevada I make the secondary prove they can stop the pass.

Catstatic · Post by **Catstatic** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:31 am

Need more (any?) pressure on the QB. Love Gregory's story (another walk-on), but the kid cannot miss the QB when he has a clean shot. UTSA's freshman redshirt QB scored a TD when Gregory should have stopped him at the 4.

Go Cats!!

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:35 am

Arizona-Nevada Preview

http://espn.go.com/college-football/pre ... =400756892

Considering last season and its opening game of this one, Arizona is accustomed to playing in tight contests by now.

The No. 22 Wildcats, though, won't have all-everything linebacker Scooby Wright III for their next potential one, Saturday night's road matchup with a Nevada team that was competitive against them in 2014.

Arizona played in a game decided by 10 or fewer points for the 10th time in 14 contests Sept. 3, a 42-32 win over UTSA. The Wildcats also lost Wright, a unanimous All-American and winner of three national awards in 2014, to an injured left knee in the first half.

He is slated to miss three to four weeks following arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage.

"Scooby's thing, fortunately, is something that he got fixed and actually I think he's going to come back even stronger than he was before," coach Rich Rodriguez said. "And knowing Scooby, he will be chomping at the bit, but we will make sure, and trainers will make sure, that when he is coming back, he's coming back 100 percent ready to go."

Haden Gregory, a senior who has appeared in seven games, will try to fill Wright's sizable shoes when the Wildcats face a Nevada team they beat 35-28 in Tucson on Sept. 13.

Gregory had four tackles and two pass breakups last week.

"(Gregory is) a big kid and he's pretty athletic," Rodriguez said. "It's hard to compare a guy to Scooby because Scooby is one of the best defensive players in the country, but I thought Haden came in and made some plays, was pretty active. It was his first extended action there, so I think he will get better from that, and he's going to have to."

Wright had 14 of his 163 tackles last season against Nevada but didn't record any of his 14 sacks. The Wolf Pack gained 429 yards -- 321 through the air -- and tied the game at 21-all in the third quarter.

Arizona gained 507 yards, with Solomon completing 22 of 26 and throwing three touchdowns while Nick Wilson ran for 171 yards and two scores.

The third of Solomon's four TDs against UTSA helped the Wildcats begin pulling away after leading by one at halftime, and Jamar Allah followed with his team's second defensive touchdown.

Arizona went 4-1 on the road last season, beating two Top 25 teams, including then-No. 2 Oregon on Oct. 2.

The Wildcats make their first visit to Reno since 1924 and are 3-1-1 in the series. They beat Nevada 49-48 in the 2012 New Mexico Bowl by scoring two TDs in the final 46 seconds.

"We know their staff really well, in fact we partnered with them in some satellite summer camps this summer. We have a lot of similar philosophies and their kids play extremely hard," Rodriguez said. "We've had a few tough games with them, last year and a few years ago in the bowl game so we have a lot of respect for them."

The Wolf Pack ran for 232 yards in last week's opener, a 31-17 win over UC Davis. Don Jackson had 124 yards on 13 carries and the game's first two TDs.

RazorsEdgeAZ · Post by **RazorsEdgeAZ** » Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:57 pm

Nevada LB says they'll shut down AZ run game.

Senior linebacker Bryan Lane Jr. is one of the few Wolf Pack players who played in both of those games. He seems plenty confident Nevada will be able to slow down Arizona’s vaunted offense.

“They want to spread us out and get to the perimeter and get one-on-one situations,” Lane said. “We get 11 hats to the ball and we’ll shut it down really good. They can’t run on our front four, so we’ll shut that down as well. We just have to stay poised and just rise to the occasion.”

http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/college ... /71944740/

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:06 am

Probably not wise to tell a guy who ran for 171 against you last year that he's not going to be able to run on you.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 10:30 am

ANGCatFan wrote:Arizona game notes.

Nevada Game Notes.

Interesting point on our depth chart, Turituri and his back-up at SLB, R.J. Morgan, are both classmates from Central Point, OR. Pretty rare to have 2 guys from the same high school class holding down one position. Also, as I remember it, Morgan was the more sought after recruit and we picked up Turituri when we noticed him while watching Morgan.

Pretty easy trip from Central Point to Reno, so we should have a good crowd cheering on whomever is playing SLB.

dc4azcats · Post by **dc4azcats** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 1:22 pm

azpenguin wrote:Probably not wise to tell a guy who ran for 171 against you last year that he's not going to be able to run on you.

Not only that but over 500 yards of total offense. They couldn't stop Nick and they had nobody who could cover Cayleb LY ( 9 catches for 116 yards and 2 TD's) and they don't have anybody who can cover him TY. I get being confident and stuff but keep that in your locker room.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:00 pm

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:18 pm

ANGCatFan wrote:

Going from past RichRod experience, he'll probably keep both Denson and Miller out of this one.

dc4azcats wrote:I get being confident and stuff but keep that in your locker room.

Yeah, I'm quite sure no one on the team has noticed that quote or will use it for any sort of motivation ok I couldn't type that with a straight face

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Sep 10, 2015 5:01 pm

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 5:39 am

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 6:09 am

This week's Sports Guys. No Jake, but still a good discussion.

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:25 am

Javier Morales looks at Arizona's history in road non-conference games.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 9:03 am

http://collegefootballnews.com/2015/ari ... on-preview

What’s Going To Happen?

The “Whiteout”. The absence of Wright. It adds up to coach Brian Polian’s biggest win in Reno. Arizona is eminently vulnerable on defense without Wright, and its O-line will struggle with Nevada linemen Ian Seau and Lenny Jones. This is one of those games in which Solomon regresses in a tough environment … and the students rush the field at the conclusion of an upset win.

Arizona vs. Nevada Prediction

Prediction: Nevada 35, Arizona 31, Line: Arizona -11.5, o/u: 62

ANGCatFan · Post by **ANGCatFan** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:30 am

Game breakdown from Reno Gazette-Journal.

Prediction

Arizona 34, Nevada 27: The Wolf Pack is a double-digit underdog, and that seems a little high. Nevada has played with Arizona the last couple of years and now get the banged-up Wildcats at home. It will be tough to slow down Arizona’s offense, but the Wildcats’ defense has some weaknesses. UTSA put up 32 against Arizona last week and the Wildcats are down their best defender. Nevada needs a fast start like it had last week to put some pressure on Arizona. The Wolf Pack doesn’t want to play from behind. I expect Nevada to stay tight the entire game, but Arizona’s offense should be enough to keep the Wildcats ahead as Nevada looks for its fifth win over a Top 25 team in team history.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:34 am

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:48 am

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