Arizona @UCLA Discussion Thread

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 2:28 pm

Cripes, another late game.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 3:05 pm

These guys got some confidence against UW, so I don't expect them to be starry eyed against UCLA. The Bruins will probably look at the tape and try to run, run and run on AZ. Rosen killed AZ through the air last year and I'm not sure that'll happen again this time. Arizona got to Browning 4 times and Rosen has not thrown well under pressure this year, so I'm sure Yates is going to be looking at ways to hassle him. The thing is, UCLA has not run all that effectively this year. They've run for 125, 219, 77 and 50 yards this year. I'd look for them to decide to try to bully Arizona up front and try to change their luck in that department. What I'm curious about is which UCLA run defense shows up. Is it the one that showed up against BYU, where they only allowed 23 yards on 25 attempts? (If you take out the sacks from that game it's 49 yards on 21 attempts - still stout as hell.) Or is it the rushing defense that showed up in the other three games, where they gave up 203 to A&M, 175 to UNLV (5 ypc) and 207 to Stanford? Their passing defense is allowing about a 50% completion rate, and a little under 200 yards per game. When you look at it, their defense sets up pretty well from AZ's perspective with Dawkins at the helm, provided Wilson is healthy. That said, Mora has had RichRod's number and this has been a weird series since 2012.

PieceOfMeat · Post by **PieceOfMeat** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 4:36 pm

12 points? I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd bet on ucla to easily cover that.

on the road at a tough opponent right after losing a close one against a highly ranked team? I don't know the stats on it, but I bet the stats would indicate the likelihood of a big loss is high.

OSUCat · Post by **OSUCat** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 5:18 pm

Has a RR team beaten a UCLA team yet?

Fishclamps · Post by **Fishclamps** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 5:50 pm

OSUCat wrote:Has a RR team beaten a UCLA team yet?

Meh, weirder shit has happened. I wouldn't be surprised if we beat UCLA and then lose to Rado or Utah.

whatisee · Post by **whatisee** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 5:56 pm

I'm going to be positive and say this is the UCLA team we need to play this year. Not a very good running team and not dominant on defensive side of the ball. On offense Rosen has looked pedestrian at times this season too. This is also technically Arizona's 2nd road game, so those jitters should be gone.

MrBug708 · Post by **MrBug708** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:24 pm

I'll probably end up jinxing us, but we probably needed Arizona to come to town. Defense has looked good this year so that's been helpful, but that last drive was killer for us and we need to improve pass rush as we only have two guys who can, one of which is limping and the other is undersized.

azcat49 · Post by **azcat49** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:37 pm

If we can muster up the same kind of effort with similar results of the fame going deep into the 4th until it is decided, then I would be very happy.

Not as confident our defense can hold up on the road in a true road game. Need our offense to be lights out

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Sun Sep 25, 2016 10:45 pm

At some point these 730pm starts need to end.

I love rearranging my sat nights around football as much as the next guy, but the wife will want a night out at some point.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 7:00 am

Arizona needs to field a competitive team to get the good times. Udub was an anomaly.

Main Event · Post by **Main Event** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 9:25 am

Won't be pretty

Newportcat · Post by **Newportcat** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:24 am

I thought we would play UW close as I figured our offense with Dawkins and JJ would have a better game then expected but UW shot themselves in the foot multiple times and should have beat us worse then what the scoreboard said.

I think this is a bad game for us as unless nick Wilson gets healthy our offense will struggle as those two back up RB's are not good and UCLA has a good defense. I also could see UCLA tearing apart our defense so my prediction is this game is ugly. I will be there but has not been pretty against UCLA under rich Rod.

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 11:25 am

even if nick is good to go physically, i worry that the latest injury will have broken him mentally. well, maybe not so much broken, but playing much more guardedly and doubting himself like we might be seeing with anu. dude has a lot he wants to prove to himself and others, but he's also been hella banged up over the years too -- a couple of concussions, neck, shoulder, knee, foot, and now ankle. that's a lot.

EVCat · Post by **EVCat** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 12:02 pm

I think we showed what the offense is capable of with the proper QB running it. Problem is the issue we had with Anu not running the ball, thus making a read option have no option, became true in reverse when we were converting WRs back to RB to play our 4th and 5th string RB. Once UW could identify we had no RB option, they started laying back in coverage and targeting Dawkins on the exchange. We were without a wheel. No matter how much one wants to bitch about depth, teams shouldn’t have to be 4th and 5th string ready at major positions (LB last year, RB this year). There is a mix of lack of depth and just some really shitty luck. Like having C exchange issues with a back-up center because our C…died in the off-season. That is just not typical stuff.

But we had the offense. The defense was opportunistic and had some gifts handed to them as well. The defense is what it is, and to win, we need the offense to be excellent. A last second FG and an OT loss to a top 10 team have us 2-2. I’d be more pessimistic if we were sitting on a 30 point beat down and both losses were not contested. And, yeah…we are a lower tier team this year. We could easily be 2-6 going into WSU. We could pretty easily be 4-0, but we were still dicking around with a QB that has the read option hit out of him on loss 1, and loss 2 was an OT loss.

I see a lot of mention of UW “giving us” a bunch to stay in the game, but we gave UW a bunch to keep them in the game, too. Like an ill-timed sideline pass to nowhere on an important drive that was as easy a pick as UW will get all year, or a 4th string RB fumbling a handoff with little reason, or going for 4th and goal from almost 3 yards out rather than taking the 10 point lead and an early psychological momentum in what was starting to feel like one of those nights with the swirling wind and deceptively loud-for-a-less-than-full-stadium Arizona experience. We also flubbed 2 snaps in the final 4 snaps of OT. Not sure why the other team making mistakes is gifting us and should be discounted when evaluating our teams success but we should not mention all the correctable and absolutely gift-wrapped mistakes we made to keep UW in this game. I don’t really doubt we were going to win that game if JJ stayed in. The offense was rolling, and the defense only needed to make one or two plays. We needed to play field position to keep them on long drives to maximize our chance at that play or mistake by UW that killed a drive, and we did. And we were moving the ball out of the read like textbook read option before JJ went down. At that point, just like with Anu vs BYU, we became one-dimensional.

We aren’t a good team. But we aren’t the trainwreck some want to make us out to be, either, when even reasonably healthy. 4th and 5th string RBs are not reasonable depth chart key players. We dealt with that, made a ton of mistakes (as did UW), yet there we were, with a chance to win. That chance became very hard to convert with our RB situation, though. If we had our starting team, or a reasonable facsimile, on the field in OT, Dawkins is not throwing in OT, we are not running an odd reverse on 1st and 10 from the 11. We were getting yards, Dawkins was throwing off the run, and we were gashing them. When JJ went out, we had to throw to throw, rather than it being set up by run success. We were in the opposite issue we were with Anu, but the same idea…no real option in the option.

PHXCATS · Post by **PHXCATS** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 1:01 pm

CalStateTempe wrote:At some point these 730pm starts need to end.

I love rearranging my sat nights around football as much as the next guy, but the wife will want a night out at some point.

Date night is Friday in my household. I suggest looking into the same because being on the west coast we will always have late games when we have national contracts. More early games years ago with regional coverage only.

Espn/abc have deals with all the conferences while Fox has PAC12 Big ten and big 12. Can't play at 9am and 1230 and 430 or 500 is usually only for top headlining games with all the other four conferences that must be played and those having much better draws nationally that pac12 games. ACC sec and the bigs can't play at 10 pm or later so that means pac12 is forced to many late games on fs1 or espn espn2 ESPNU. Early pac12 games on pac12 networks get no ratings for many reasons so that is reserved for the last pick after fox and espn select.

This is the check we need to cash for the exposure and cash with the big networks. Nothing to do with Larry Scott except he signed the deals that needed to be signed. Now pac12 networks is another story and Scott needs to go for that.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 2:03 pm

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 2:43 pm

nm..........

PHXCATS · Post by **PHXCATS** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 2:52 pm

Merkin wrote:Anu must cry if he doesn't see his name as co-starter.

Or RR wants to leave doubt just in case with ucla. Probably more likely right?

Carcassdragger · Post by **Carcassdragger** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 2:58 pm

Merkin wrote:Anu must cry if he doesn't see his name as co-starter.

Merk, honestly, why be such a dick to a 20 year old guy that has played his ass off for us and hopefully still has his best football ahead of him?

I just don't get it.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:30 pm

carcassdragger wrote: Merk, honestly, why be such a dick to a 20 year old guy that has played his ass off for us and hopefully still has his best football ahead of him?

I just don't get it.

True, I retract my statement. Still don't get it though being co-starters. RichRod has proven with Dawkins and Bradford that being named co-starters for the BYU game doesn't really mean anything.

PHXCATS wrote:
Or RR wants to leave doubt just in case with ucla. Probably more likely right?

Could be, although Solomon looked like he still couldn't stand v. UDub, so not sure how he can scramble v. UCLA.

With no RBs, and UCLA dropping into coverage, maybe Solomon might have a better game assuming he was full strength and back in rhythm.

Carcassdragger · Post by **Carcassdragger** » Mon Sep 26, 2016 3:53 pm

Merkin wrote:
carcassdragger wrote: Merk, honestly, why be such a dick to a 20 year old guy that has played his ass off for us and hopefully still has his best football ahead of him?

I just don't get it.
True, I retract my statement. Still don't get it though being co-starters. RichRod has proven with Dawkins and Bradford that being named co-starters for the BYU game doesn't really mean anything.

PHXCATS wrote:
Or RR wants to leave doubt just in case with ucla. Probably more likely right?
Could be, although Solomon looked like he still couldn't stand v. UDub, so not sure how he can scramble v. UCLA.

With no RBs, and UCLA dropping into coverage, maybe Solomon might have a better game assuming he was full strength and back in rhythm.

Cool. Thanks buddy. Knew it was uncharacteristic of you. Good insight.

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:51 am

if tate's mind is set on transferring at this point, and i guess that's a big if, and RR needs to dig deep into the roster why not just say fuck it at this point and dress tate at WR or RB? yeah, totally out there and not coach's style, but might be better than trial by fire for a walk-on if gas tank issues or (knock knock) further injuries arise with the current subs. shrug.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:57 am

dirtbags wrote:if tate's mind is set on transferring at this point, and i guess that's a big if, and RR needs to dig deep into the roster why not just say fuck it at this point and dress tate at WR or RB? yeah, totally out there and not coach's style, but might be better than trial by fire for a walk-on if gas tank issues or (knock knock) further injuries arise with the current subs. shrug.

Does anyone think Tate is considering a transfer?

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:59 am

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 2:19 pm

http://www.espn.com/blog/pac12/post/_/i ... in-seattle" target="_blank

Chess match in Pasadena: UCLA head coach Jim Mora wasn't shy about sharing his concerns about Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins, saying that when Dawkins is in the game, it's like Arizona has a Wildcat quarterback (no pun intended) who can also throw the ball. Dawkins is second in the Pac-12 in rushing with 391 yards and seven touchdowns, but he's also completing 61.7 percent of his throws with three touchdowns and one interception.

This sets up a fun chess match between Rich Rodriguez's offense, which averages 30.5 points per game, and UCLA's defense, which allows 22 points per game. While the Bruins did allow McCaffrey to rush for 138 yards last week, they kept him out of the end zone, which most teams would consider a win. Expect UCLA linebacker Jayon Brown, who is extremely quick, to spy Dawkins most of the game. Brown is third in the Pac-12 with 33 tackles heading into this game.

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 2:25 pm

azpenguin wrote:
dirtbags wrote:if tate's mind is set on transferring at this point, and i guess that's a big if, and RR needs to dig deep into the roster why not just say fuck it at this point and dress tate at WR or RB? yeah, totally out there and not coach's style, but might be better than trial by fire for a walk-on if gas tank issues or (knock knock) further injuries arise with the current subs. shrug.
Does anyone think Tate is considering a transfer?

that was just based on something i read on azds. fwiw, the high likelihood of transferring was based on being pinched between brax's recommit and dawk, plus some stuff tate has been saying and folks have been telling him on twitter. but who knows.

i'll post a link once i get somewhere with a decent internet connection.

cordera89 · Post by **cordera89** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 3:16 pm

azpenguin wrote:
dirtbags wrote:if tate's mind is set on transferring at this point, and i guess that's a big if, and RR needs to dig deep into the roster why not just say fuck it at this point and dress tate at WR or RB? yeah, totally out there and not coach's style, but might be better than trial by fire for a walk-on if gas tank issues or (knock knock) further injuries arise with the current subs. shrug.
Does anyone think Tate is considering a transfer?

Why would Tate Transfer?

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Wed Sep 28, 2016 3:21 pm

I would give him a shot this year at RB. Really don't want to see Grant banged up.

I doubt follow recruiting all that much but thought he had really poor throwing mechanics that needed to be corrected before playing at a P5 level.

Newportcat · Post by **Newportcat** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 6:57 am

From everything I have been told Tate has a LONG way to go before being a PAC 12 QB as his mechanics, pocket presence, accuracy, all need a lot of work. Basically been told zero chance it happens and the sooner Tate realizes he is a WR or CB the better it will be.

Not sure if he transfers or not but I have been told him and his family completely believe he will be a QB at this level which suggests he will...

Anyone going to this game. 95% chance I am there and the thought of dealing with getting in and out of the Rose Bowl is already making me upset. This game just feels like it could get really ugly and wheels could start coming off this team

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:00 am

thanks for the info, guys. i wasn't aware of his throwing mechanics. thought i read somewhere that he'd also been struggling with getting his reads down quickly and making smarter decisions (which i would expect from a freshman qb in RR's system), but then growing increasingly frustrated whenever he gets hit. guess he doesn't practice with the red jersey.

anyway, here's the tidbit about tate from the azds article:

"My understanding is that Khalil Tate only wants to play quarterback, and that the odds of him transferring at the end of the season are pretty high. His Twitter account doesn’t really do anything to change those feelings either. So to answer your question, putting him at another position wouldn’t really impact the odds that he transfers out. With two more years of Brandon Dawkins after 2016, plus a guy like Braxton Burmeister coming in, I don’t see Tate ever being the starting quarterback at Arizona."

BearDown89 · Post by **BearDown89** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:29 am

dirtbags wrote:thanks for the info, guys. i wasn't aware of his throwing mechanics. thought i read somewhere that he'd also been struggling with getting his reads down quickly and making smarter decisions (which i would expect from a freshman qb in RR's system), but then growing increasingly frustrated whenever he gets hit. guess he doesn't practice with the red jersey.

anyway, here's the tidbit about tate from the azds article:

"My understanding is that Khalil Tate only wants to play quarterback, and that the odds of him transferring at the end of the season are pretty high. His Twitter account doesn’t really do anything to change those feelings either. So to answer your question, putting him at another position wouldn’t really impact the odds that he transfers out. With two more years of Brandon Dawkins after 2016, plus a guy like Braxton Burmeister coming in, I don’t see Tate ever being the starting quarterback at Arizona."

Newportcat wrote:From everything I have been told Tate has a LONG way to go before being a PAC 12 QB as his mechanics, pocket presence, accuracy, all need a lot of work. Basically been told zero chance it happens and the sooner Tate realizes he is a WR or CB the better it will be.

Not sure if he transfers or not but I have been told him and his family completely believe he will be a QB at this level which suggests he will...

Anyone going to this game. 95% chance I am there and the thought of dealing with getting in and out of the Rose Bowl is already making me upset. This game just feels like it could get really ugly and wheels could start coming off this team

This has been my understanding of Tate's QB abilities since the beginning. It was definitely discussed during his recruitment. And remember, Modster was committed to play QB at the time too and Tate still committed. Seemed like he wasn't afraid of competition. My buddy who follows CFB recruiting comprehensively told me when he committed that he was an amazing athlete and a great get, but that he needed to play DB (he's a defensive coach and is always D-biased) or WR, and that QB was a complete waste of his athletic talent. Nonetheless, it appears RR sold him a bill of goods. He's listed on the roster as a QB and RR only talks about him as a QB. Perhaps he thought he could slip in behind Anu and play over BD, but now Brandon has clearly emerged as a rising talent.

Newport, Newport, Newport. Come on man. Didn't the UW game at least give you a little boost in confidence that this team can hang? The RB situation is clearly precarious - I've little confidence in NW's ability to stay on the field. But BD's emergence has rejuvenated the offense considerably in my mind and I look for him to get better with each game. And the defense isn't the total catastrophe it's been in the past. I think it's tightened up as well (first half of GSU notwithstanding). No doubt every single game is going to be a battle and this one will be a tough one on the road, but I'm not ready to think about the wheels falling off. That just brings to mind Stoops being 7-1 a few ago and then, well . . . I'm not going there.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 12:11 pm

Really getting sick of the rr show and his ability to talk about of both sides of his mouth, telling Tate he is a Qb in s just the latest example of this character trait.

UALoco · Post by **UALoco** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 1:23 pm

I appreciate that RR is sticking to his word and treating KT like a QB. It is one of the major reasons he chose to come to Arizona because the other schools recruited him at other positions. I imagine he has heard his whole life that his #1 position is something other than QB. If he is transfers from AZ, it is on him because he wasn't patient/good enough to learn the system and compete for the starting job and not because we didn't give him a fair shake. He can't expect that we would stop recruiting for the position and have no competition. Also, he knew Anu and Brandon were here when he committed so it was all out on the table. If he is good enough, I am sure RR would give him snaps and a chance to compete, no one predicted Brandon to be as effective as he has been. That said, there is plenty of room to improve. Brandon still runs too quick, doesn't go through all of his progressions, and has accuracy problems with mid and long balls. He also tends to focus on one of two receivers that he is comfortable with like Shun Brown. You can't tell me that Trey, Nate, Samajie haven't been more open than their receptions show.

ASUHATER! · Post by **ASUHATER!** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 1:33 pm

if he sticks to it and learns and grows and does whatever he can to improve as a qb, i can see tate being the qb in like 2018-2019.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 1:47 pm

CalStateTempe wrote:Really getting sick of the rr show and his ability to talk about of both sides of his mouth, telling Tate he is a Qb in s just the latest example of this character trait.

Tate wanted a shot as a QB. RichRod said he'd give him a shot at QB and that's exactly what he's doing. If Tate can't beat out the other guys, that's not on RichRod. And he may very well get his chance to play with the way things are going. Remember that RR has done more with a lot less talent at the position in the past (Denker.) KT came here knowing full well what the roster already looked like and who the coaches were recruiting. Burmeister isn't going to play next year unless something insane happens. Solomon has had trouble staying on the field over the last year. There's a good chance that Tate is one hit on Dawkins away from playing next year.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 1:55 pm

At best Tate will be 3rd on the depth chart after Dawkins and Solomon next season, same with the following year after Dawkins and Burmeister.

I think it's great RR gave him a shot when no one else would at QB, but if he isn't picking it up and correcting his mechanics, he will never see the field.

Comes to a point where you just want to play.

dirtbags · Post by **dirtbags** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:22 pm

yeah, tate would be somewhere like usc if RR hadn't promised not to move him from qb. but if kt really has it in his mind that he's gone at the end of the season (again, big if - hope rod smith and the rest of the staff have been speaking candidly with him) then he's not keeping up his end of the bargain, annnnd - shit, why not suit tate up at WR while he's still here so someone else can slide over to RB? tough to make someone do something they don't want to, but would kt risk damaging his xfr stock like that? i'm being a bit hyperbolic, but hey, why not get a little bit of mileage out of the kid while we can?

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:30 pm

Yep, he'll be third. But, as I said, Solomon has had trouble staying on the field. I'm guessing by this time next year KT's ahead of Werlinger on the depth chart, so Tate may very well get a chance to play if Solomon and Dawkins (hopefully not gonna happen) get injured. Given Arizona's injury luck... If he wants to transfer, he can do that, but if he does then he's going to have to find out who would take him at what position. If he's not up to snuff as a D-1 QB, then is he going to transfer to play another position (and sit out another year) or will he look for somewhere, anywhere, that'll let him play QB? If he decides he's going to change positions, I'm pretty sure he'd get the chance to do so at Arizona without sitting out a transfer year.

I'm not saying he will or won't transfer. Just that it's early yet.

azpenguin · Post by **azpenguin** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:54 pm

Solomon's injury is apparently worse than we thought. Downgraded.

azgreg · Post by **azgreg** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:58 pm

Hey Merk, did you play RB in high school? Have any eligibility left?

UALoco · Post by **UALoco** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 4:15 pm

Man, from what you all are saying..BB is like the second coming of Aaron Rogers. You are telling me that KT will be behind BB next year if BB doesn't red shirt(big if) and KT doesn't transfer? I haven't seen either of these kids play but that is the type of hype we heard about Anu. I don't ever believe any of this hype until I see these kids take a snap against a D1..Big 5 program. Someone should be talking to KT and let him know that grass isn't always greener on the other side. If he transfers to any other D1, Big 5 program, there will be stiff competition..and that is after he sits out a year. I'll add that if I was him, and wanted to transfer, I wouldn't let them burn my redshirt and put me in as a WR or RB. What good does he get in that if he wants to be a QB? And why would he want to risk the injury? He is gonna need all the elgibility and playing time he can get to realize his QB dreams...and I don't fault him for that. Heck, even the backup QB's get paid bank for holding a clip board...well..an iPad these days...and they don't have to do all that running and getting hit.

Newportcat · Post by **Newportcat** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 8:30 pm

BearDown89 wrote:
dirtbags wrote:thanks for the info, guys. i wasn't aware of his throwing mechanics. thought i read somewhere that he'd also been struggling with getting his reads down quickly and making smarter decisions (which i would expect from a freshman qb in RR's system), but then growing increasingly frustrated whenever he gets hit. guess he doesn't practice with the red jersey.

anyway, here's the tidbit about tate from the azds article:

"My understanding is that Khalil Tate only wants to play quarterback, and that the odds of him transferring at the end of the season are pretty high. His Twitter account doesn’t really do anything to change those feelings either. So to answer your question, putting him at another position wouldn’t really impact the odds that he transfers out. With two more years of Brandon Dawkins after 2016, plus a guy like Braxton Burmeister coming in, I don’t see Tate ever being the starting quarterback at Arizona."

Newportcat wrote:From everything I have been told Tate has a LONG way to go before being a PAC 12 QB as his mechanics, pocket presence, accuracy, all need a lot of work. Basically been told zero chance it happens and the sooner Tate realizes he is a WR or CB the better it will be.

Not sure if he transfers or not but I have been told him and his family completely believe he will be a QB at this level which suggests he will...

Anyone going to this game. 95% chance I am there and the thought of dealing with getting in and out of the Rose Bowl is already making me upset. This game just feels like it could get really ugly and wheels could start coming off this team
This has been my understanding of Tate's QB abilities since the beginning. It was definitely discussed during his recruitment. And remember, Modster was committed to play QB at the time too and Tate still committed. Seemed like he wasn't afraid of competition. My buddy who follows CFB recruiting comprehensively told me when he committed that he was an amazing athlete and a great get, but that he needed to play DB (he's a defensive coach and is always D-biased) or WR, and that QB was a complete waste of his athletic talent. Nonetheless, it appears RR sold him a bill of goods. He's listed on the roster as a QB and RR only talks about him as a QB. Perhaps he thought he could slip in behind Anu and play over BD, but now Brandon has clearly emerged as a rising talent.

Newport, Newport, Newport. Come on man. Didn't the UW game at least give you a little boost in confidence that this team can hang? The RB situation is clearly precarious - I've little confidence in NW's ability to stay on the field. But BD's emergence has rejuvenated the offense considerably in my mind and I look for him to get better with each game. And the defense isn't the total catastrophe it's been in the past. I think it's tightened up as well (first half of GSU notwithstanding). No doubt every single game is going to be a battle and this one will be a tough one on the road, but I'm not ready to think about the wheels falling off. That just brings to mind Stoops being 7-1 a few ago and then, well . . . I'm not going there.

I do like Dawkins and think he is much better then ANU but our first true road game sets up so badly for us. a Pissed off UCLA team who is better then there 2-2 record suggests. Mora seems to have Rich Rods number. Literally we have one true RB who is not very good and two WR's playing RB. Maybe Nick Wilson but probably not. I think our defense sucks and could see UCLA dominating at the line of scrimmage. I was at the game on Saturday and was not impressed with our defense, looked like we were running a 3-3-5 still. Washington seemed to run at will against us and Jake had plenty of time to throw to wide open receivers.

Who knows, why I am going as stranger things have happened but tough to see us winning this game or it being close. And things only stay tough as we play at Utah and then at home against USC and then Stanford. USC seems like only game we will have a good shot to win.

MrBug708 · Post by **MrBug708** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 9:02 pm

I'd be curious to see if it was Noel Mazzone who had your number and not Jim Mora

BearDown89 · Post by **BearDown89** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 9:27 pm

Newportcat wrote:I do like Dawkins and think he is much better then ANU but our first true road game sets up so badly for us. a Pissed off UCLA team who is better then there 2-2 record suggests. Mora seems to have Rich Rods number. Literally we have one true RB who is not very good and two WR's playing RB. Maybe Nick Wilson but probably not. I think our defense sucks and could see UCLA dominating at the line of scrimmage. I was at the game on Saturday and was not impressed with our defense, looked like we were running a 3-3-5 still. Washington seemed to run at will against us and Jake had plenty of time to throw to wide open receivers.

Who knows, why I am going as stranger things have happened but tough to see us winning this game or it being close. And things only stay tough as we play at Utah and then at home against USC and then Stanford. USC seems like only game we will have a good shot to win.

Well, when you put it like that.... Hell, even Bug gives us a shot in the arm.

Seriously, I get it. It's hard to think we're in for another spell where it gets a lot worse before it gets better.

qwertyus · Post by **qwertyus** » Thu Sep 29, 2016 10:39 pm

Newportcat wrote:I thought we would play UW close as I figured our offense with Dawkins and JJ would have a better game then expected but UW shot themselves in the foot multiple times and should have beat us worse then what the scoreboard said.

I think this is a bad game for us as unless nick Wilson gets healthy our offense will struggle as those two back up RB's are not good and UCLA has a good defense. I also could see UCLA tearing apart our defense so my prediction is this game is ugly. I will be there but has not been pretty against UCLA under rich Rod.

Laughed at the bolded. We threw a pick, fumbled the ball twice (both times giving UW short fields to work with), got stuffed on a 4th and inches from the goal line, lost our 3rd string RB for the season, all the while playing with an already weak defense decimated by injuries....

How you come to the conclusion that our staying in the game was due to UW's incompetence more than our own playmaking is absurd, yet coming from you not surprising.

Newportcat · Post by **Newportcat** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:57 am

qwertyus wrote:
Newportcat wrote:I thought we would play UW close as I figured our offense with Dawkins and JJ would have a better game then expected but UW shot themselves in the foot multiple times and should have beat us worse then what the scoreboard said.

I think this is a bad game for us as unless nick Wilson gets healthy our offense will struggle as those two back up RB's are not good and UCLA has a good defense. I also could see UCLA tearing apart our defense so my prediction is this game is ugly. I will be there but has not been pretty against UCLA under rich Rod.
Laughed at the bolded. We threw a pick, fumbled the ball twice (both times giving UW short fields to work with), got stuffed on a 4th and inches from the goal line, lost our 3rd string RB for the season, all the while playing with an already weak defense decimated by injuries....

How you come to the conclusion that our staying in the game was due to UW's incompetence more than our own playmaking is absurd, yet coming from you not surprising.

Sorry, probably better to say Washington did not take advantage of our terrible "Typical Arizona football" mistakes by shooting themselves in the foot when given them and should have beaten us a lot more then what the scoreboard said. Our defense was really only missing Deandre Miller and I guess Parker Zellers but Deandre is the only one who means something. When we keep making those type of mistakes, teams are going to crush us and not be as kind as Washington was. We still can not snap the ball consistently or field a punt. Does anyone else not get nervous watching us field punts every single time? Its so pathetic.

Maybe Noel was the reason UCLA has had our number, we shall see on Saturday

RazorsEdgeAZ · Post by **RazorsEdgeAZ** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 10:32 am

Don't think UCLA that much better a team. Both AZ and UCLA have same overall and conference records. Both lost to a top10 team in OT. With the injuries, think UCLA ultimately will wear out AZ and force Dawkins to throw more. Still think AZ has a outside chance to win if their offense can get a quick start.

Yea, it's UCLA and RR hasn't beaten UCLA and AZ hasn't beaten UCLA in Pasadena since the PAC was still the Pac-10. Don't know I buy into surface playing a advantages/disadvantages role (I sure think RR does). Read a Stat that RR at AZ is 2-11 when playing on grass surfaces. Both wins against Buffs. Not that many grass surfaces any longer and they happen to be in top Pac12 teams stadiums.

cordera89 · Post by **cordera89** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 3:16 pm

Newportcat wrote:
BearDown89 wrote:
dirtbags wrote:thanks for the info, guys. i wasn't aware of his throwing mechanics. thought i read somewhere that he'd also been struggling with getting his reads down quickly and making smarter decisions (which i would expect from a freshman qb in RR's system), but then growing increasingly frustrated whenever he gets hit. guess he doesn't practice with the red jersey.

anyway, here's the tidbit about tate from the azds article:

"My understanding is that Khalil Tate only wants to play quarterback, and that the odds of him transferring at the end of the season are pretty high. His Twitter account doesn’t really do anything to change those feelings either. So to answer your question, putting him at another position wouldn’t really impact the odds that he transfers out. With two more years of Brandon Dawkins after 2016, plus a guy like Braxton Burmeister coming in, I don’t see Tate ever being the starting quarterback at Arizona."

Newportcat wrote:From everything I have been told Tate has a LONG way to go before being a PAC 12 QB as his mechanics, pocket presence, accuracy, all need a lot of work. Basically been told zero chance it happens and the sooner Tate realizes he is a WR or CB the better it will be.

Not sure if he transfers or not but I have been told him and his family completely believe he will be a QB at this level which suggests he will...

Anyone going to this game. 95% chance I am there and the thought of dealing with getting in and out of the Rose Bowl is already making me upset. This game just feels like it could get really ugly and wheels could start coming off this team
This has been my understanding of Tate's QB abilities since the beginning. It was definitely discussed during his recruitment. And remember, Modster was committed to play QB at the time too and Tate still committed. Seemed like he wasn't afraid of competition. My buddy who follows CFB recruiting comprehensively told me when he committed that he was an amazing athlete and a great get, but that he needed to play DB (he's a defensive coach and is always D-biased) or WR, and that QB was a complete waste of his athletic talent. Nonetheless, it appears RR sold him a bill of goods. He's listed on the roster as a QB and RR only talks about him as a QB. Perhaps he thought he could slip in behind Anu and play over BD, but now Brandon has clearly emerged as a rising talent.

Newport, Newport, Newport. Come on man. Didn't the UW game at least give you a little boost in confidence that this team can hang? The RB situation is clearly precarious - I've little confidence in NW's ability to stay on the field. But BD's emergence has rejuvenated the offense considerably in my mind and I look for him to get better with each game. And the defense isn't the total catastrophe it's been in the past. I think it's tightened up as well (first half of GSU notwithstanding). No doubt every single game is going to be a battle and this one will be a tough one on the road, but I'm not ready to think about the wheels falling off. That just brings to mind Stoops being 7-1 a few ago and then, well . . . I'm not going there.
I do like Dawkins and think he is much better then ANU but our first true road game sets up so badly for us. a Pissed off UCLA team who is better then there 2-2 record suggests. Mora seems to have Rich Rods number. Literally we have one true RB who is not very good and two WR's playing RB. Maybe Nick Wilson but probably not. I think our defense sucks and could see UCLA dominating at the line of scrimmage. I was at the game on Saturday and was not impressed with our defense, looked like we were running a 3-3-5 still. Washington seemed to run at will against us and Jake had plenty of time to throw to wide open receivers.

Who knows, why I am going as stranger things have happened but tough to see us winning this game or it being close. And things only stay tough as we play at Utah and then at home against USC and then Stanford. USC seems like only game we will have a good shot to win.

In four games you just figure that out that were still running the 3-3-5. No one isn't happy on how our defense is playing nor the fact that were still having Injury bug season again. But within those four straight loses to Mora and his Bruins we have lost Big, Lost small, Lost Embarrassing and lost one that got away. Beside our expectation weren't high this year anyway.

HaCats · Post by **HaCats** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:27 pm

I don't know what happens in games 5-12.....we may give up 50 to Ucla tomorrow and that will be a whole new discussion. But if you can't see improvement in this year's defense to last year's defense, I don't know what to tell you. If you would've told me that with this group of defensive players, and with the injuries that we have already sustained.....that we wouldn't give up more than 28 points in regulation in any of our first 4 games, I would've taken that all day long before the season started. And I certainly would've said if that were to be the case, that we'd be worst case 3-1.

If you want to bitch, then bitch at the embarrassing lack of talent on that side of the ball.....which certainly falls on RR's shoulders. But this defense is far more active, their is stunting going on, movement, more blitzing and more aggressiveness. That is pretty obvious to the eyeballs.

HaCats · Post by **HaCats** » Fri Sep 30, 2016 4:30 pm

That said, just in terms of 'feel'...I agree with the majority that tomorrow night 'feels' like one of those games where after a largely encouraging performance last Saturday, we come out sloppy, mistake prone and lose badly. I would love to be wrong.

And I also notice that whenever we play at the Rose Bowl in that thick natural grass....RR's offense looks like it is operating in quick sand.

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