USC at Arizona

[azgreg]

[UAEebs86]

[TheCatInTheHat]

When my son graduated a few years ago and I tried to make sure he remembered to reserve a copy, I discovered that the Desert Yearbook had been discontinued years earlier. Maybe just lack of current student interest, like the way nobody reads the Daily Wildcat anymore. But committees considering themselves empowered to cancel long-standing traditions just because of some momentary circumstance or because they don't want to be bothered is outrageous. The only name on the list cited on the linked Facebook page that matters is Robbins. He needs to be told "never another penny" by as many people as possible until this kind of meddling stops. It's not the university of some carpetbaggers banking nice retirement coin with cushy quarterly meetings on some BOD. It's the university of alums and the citizens of Tucson and all of Arizona. Some of this stuff needs to be codified in state law of some university by-laws or constitution specifically to disempower people like this.

[TheCatInTheHat]

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

USC's still in the Top Ten for a reason. It's the Caleb Williams Show on offense, with a supporting cast he spreads the ball around to, but notably targeting Addison Jordan. Defensively, they apply a lot of pressure, and they generate turnovers. They waltzed through fairly easy games in three of their first four. Then, Oregon State gave them a 17-14 scare in Corvallis, and they lost to Utah by one in SLC that the sycophantic LA sports media blamed on biased officiating because of their imminent brexit. So, in addition to the inherent degree of difficulty their talent level presents, we'll probably also be saddled with refs bending over backwards to "prove" nobody's biased against the LA schools. By having even more 50/50 calls go against Arizona.

OFFENSE
QB Caleb Williams 6-1 215 SO 19 PASS TD/1 INT 63.91 % 281.57 PASS YPG 33.6 RUSH YPG 3 RUSH TD
RB Travis Dye 5-10 200 RS-SR 7 TD 92.43 YPG
WR Addison Jordan 6-0 175 JR 7 TD 83.57 YPG
WR Mario Williams 5-9 185 SO 4 TD 70.43 YPG
WR Brenden Rice 6-3 205 JR 26.71 YPG
TE Lake McRee 6-5 230 RS-FR 1 TD 6.8 YPG
LT Jonah Monheim 6-5 295 RS-SO
LG Andrew Voorhees 6-6 325 RS-SR
C Brett Neilon 6-2 295 RS-SR
RG Justin Dedich 6-2 305 RS-SR
RT Bob Haskins 6-7 295 RS-SR

DEFENSE:
DE Solomon Byrd 6-4 250 RS-SR 16 T 3 SCK
DT Tuli Tuipulotu 6-4 290 JR 22 T 7 SCK
DT Stanley Ta'ufo'ou 6-2 270 RS-JR 15 T 1 SCK
DE Nick Figueroa 6-5 275 RS-SR 14 T 3.5 SCK
LB Eric Gentry 6-6 200 SO 52 T 1 SCK 1 INT
LB Shane Lee 6-0 245 SR 42 T 1.5 SCK 1 INT
LB Ralen Goforth 6-2 225 SR 26 T 1 INT
CB Max Williams 5-9 180 RS-JR 38 T 2 INT
CB Mekhi Blackmon 6-0 175 RS-SR 32 T 2 INT
S Jaylin Smith 5-11 180 SO 27 T
S Calen Bullock 6-3 180 SO 23 T 2 INT

KICKING:
P Aadyn Sleep-Dalton 41.0 YPP
K Denis Lynch 8-10 FG LONG: 45
KO Alex Stadthaus 49 KO/25 TB
PR Jordan Addison 4.75 YPP
KR Raleek Brown 21.4 YPK
KR Tahj Washington 27.0 YPK

[AzCatFan2]

When my son graduated a few years ago and I tried to make sure he remembered to reserve a copy, I discovered that the Desert Yearbook had been discontinued years earlier. Maybe just lack of current student interest, like the way nobody reads the Daily Wildcat anymore. But committees considering themselves empowered to cancel long-standing traditions just because of some momentary circumstance or because they don't want to be bothered is outrageous. The only name on the list cited on the linked Facebook page that matters is Robbins. He needs to be told "never another penny" by as many people as possible until this kind of meddling stops. It's not the university of some carpetbaggers banking nice retirement coin with cushy quarterly meetings on some BOD. It's the university of alums and the citizens of Tucson and all of Arizona. Some of this stuff needs to be codified in state law of some university by-laws or constitution specifically to disempower people like this.

I marched in 5 Homecoming parades as a member of the band, and several more as an alum. I really don't care if the parade dies. People are upset at losing tradition, and I enjoy tradition as much as the next alum, but if the only reason to hold the parade is tradition, and the students and staff all don't care, then that's not enough reason to keep the parade. As an old boss of mine used to say, "Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburgers. And never tell me the reason we do things the way we do is, 'That's what we've always done.'" Times change. People change. And for me personally, if you want to keep the parade, you need a better reason than, "It's tradition!"

As for the game, any way we keep USC to under 40 points? And as improved as our offense is, it's going to hard to win a track meet against USC with the athletes they have on both sides of the ball. USC will come up with a big play or 2 on D that will likely be the difference. I see another 49 - 24 type game. We may be competitive for a bit, but we won't be able to stop USC enough to make a difference. They will be able to stop us on occasion.

[azcat49]

You can bet the conference doesn’t want SC to lose to Arizona. They would love the LA rivalry game to be for the spot opposite Oregon/Utah

[PHXCATS]

There was hardly anyone watching the parade the last few times I walked by it or was near it the last several years pre-covid

Bring it back if people really want it, but Arizona, especially Arizona Football, should be trying to create new buzz and new traditions.

How can Arizona Football create a new Hospital Wave or Jump Around. That should be the focus

[azcat49]

We can’t even get a good intro video. Work in progress on all fronts

[TheCatInTheHat]

Apparently for USC, WR Jordan Addison and LB Eric Gentry are both questionable ("day to day"), but the Trojans can pretty well plug-and-play backups for each without missing much of a beat.

[CardiacCats97]

We can’t out-talent or out-muscle USC, so we’ll have to out-scheme them. Here’s where I won’t mind Fisch getting cute with the playbook if we are behind. Might as well throw the kitchen sink at them.

[azcat49]

Can we out scheme them on defense though? We have to get a few extra possessions to win and we have to be flawless when in the red zone

[CardiacCats97]

Can we put scheme them on defense though? We have to get a few extra possessions to win and we have to be flawless when in the red zone

I think we’ll have to hope they beat themselves

[Postmaster]

I heard today that Williams and de Laura have comparable stats, JDL might be a midge better.
EXCEPT USC has only thrown one INT and JDL has 7.
USC has also recovered every ball they have fumbled.