Bear Down Wildcats

azcat49 wrote:Any guesses as to the opening line from Vegas. UCLA is bet heavily by the public as that opening line vs BYU went from 14 to 17. Also Vegas must really like them to establish them as a 14 point favorite against a good BYU team.


I think it opens as a pick em. If AZ is a 3 point favorite (basically saying the teams are even) I think too much money flows to UCLA. This should be a fun week

With no inside info, I'm guessing UCLA will be a six point favorite.

azpenguin wrote:

azcat49 wrote:Any guesses as to the opening line from Vegas. UCLA is bet heavily by the public as that opening line vs BYU went from 14 to 17. Also Vegas must really like them to establish them as a 14 point favorite against a good BYU team.


I think it opens as a pick em. If AZ is a 3 point favorite (basically saying the teams are even) I think too much money flows to UCLA. This should be a fun week

With no inside info, I'm guessing UCLA will be a six point favorite.

No way for the opening line. With the game in Tucson, it's somewhere between pick 'em and UCLA -2 or -3.

Disappointed that Scooby is hurt and Rosen is struggling. Would have been some great storylines

I really don't know what to make of this game.

-A true freshman QB coming off a bad performance at home and going to Arizona with game day atmosphere and a different looking defense in the 3-3-5/4-2-5.
-Arizona offense running extremely well.
-Defense doing better than expected given the complete depletion of the LB core against lesser competition.
-Secondary that is both vulnerable but opportunistic.
-Turnover margin.

So Scooby's time line was 3-4 weeks, which at the earliest would make him available for UCLA. is there even the slightest chance RR makes him a game time decision to at least make them game plan for him?

Fishclamps wrote:So Scooby's time line was 3-4 weeks, which at the earliest would make him available for UCLA. is there even the slightest chance RR makes him a game time decision to at least make them game plan for him?

I think it will be radio silence all week to make UCLA prepare for everything.

Gladiator Cat wrote:I know it was only NAU but man we took care of business and totally took over after the first qrt.

Best performance by miles against the Jacks ever.

It should be a really good game next week. Our guys should feel good about their chances with Rosen coming back down to earth.

What are you foreshadowing?

Saint James wrote:

Gladiator Cat wrote:I know it was only NAU but man we took care of business and totally took over after the first qrt.

Best performance by miles against the Jacks ever.

It should be a really good game next week. Our guys should feel good about their chances with Rosen coming back down to earth.

What are you foreshadowing?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology)

He's trying to get in your head gladiator

UAEebs86 wrote:

azpenguin wrote:

azcat49 wrote:Any guesses as to the opening line from Vegas. UCLA is bet heavily by the public as that opening line vs BYU went from 14 to 17. Also Vegas must really like them to establish them as a 14 point favorite against a good BYU team.


I think it opens as a pick em. If AZ is a 3 point favorite (basically saying the teams are even) I think too much money flows to UCLA. This should be a fun week

With no inside info, I'm guessing UCLA will be a six point favorite.

No way for the opening line. With the game in Tucson, it's somewhere between pick 'em and UCLA -2 or -3.

Opening line is UCLA -4.5 right in between our predictions

So here we are again. UCLA is coming to town for a big game. This is the game Arizona has yet to win, they just haven't been able to beat UCLA with high stakes on the line. There's a lot of season left but winning this game puts AZ at 4-0, up a game on both of the LA schools, and sets up the rest of the schedule nicely.

I've been saying for a while that Arizona wins this one big, but that was before the injury reaper came for the linebackers. I still think Arizona wins this one. I don't think Rosen plays as badly as he did against BYU but he's going into his first hostile environment. Casteel is going to turn up the heat on him with a lot of blitz packages. I don't think we've seen the playbook opened up yet the way RR wants to. I'm expecting more two back sets and for the receivers to make UCLA defend a lot of field. The big question for me is line play. UCLA mauled Arizona in the trenches last year on both sides of the ball. That was the first game where it was evident that something was not right with Solomon's wheels and he wasn't able to move well enough to neutralize the pass rush. RR will likely set up the game plan for some quick shots early to keep the Bruins on their toes. Plus the aforementioned two back sets to help handle the UCLA pass rush. One factor may also be that UCLA just had a slugfest against BYU while Arizona breezed and got guys some rest. We'll see how fresh guys are late in the game.

It's time to win that big one.

MrBug708 wrote:Disappointed that Scooby is hurt and Rosen is struggling. Would have been some great storylines

Rosen is struggling? Say it ain't so?? So school starts this week for Ucla which is never easy. Especially when you've been able to do nothing but concentrate on football. Rumor has it that Ucla has had a tendency to not play well the week school starts.

UW students still not on campus. Kinda crazy. I move my son in on Saturday, then it's over to Husky Stadium at 2 p.m. Then we hustle to ... where? ... to catch the Cats on TV.

Then it's back to Seattle to see the Cats and Dawgs on Halloween.

So it's nearly October before school starts there? Does it not end until like almost July 1st?

Quarter schools. Cal Poly hasn't started yet. Non-freshman moved in the last weekend, freshman the weekend before.

FightWildcatsFight wrote:

Saint James wrote:

Gladiator Cat wrote:I know it was only NAU but man we took care of business and totally took over after the first qrt.

Best performance by miles against the Jacks ever.

It should be a really good game next week. Our guys should feel good about their chances with Rosen coming back down to earth.

What are you foreshadowing?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priming_(psychology)

He's trying to get in your head gladiator

St. James, Wildcatsfight,

I'm telepathically telegraphing to the Wildcat faithful that the 3rd time is a charm karma is in play.

Mile's Jack will pose no surprises like he has in the past. He'll be just another LB in the big scheme of the game.

Wynn opened the first real betting line at UCLA -3. It will be interesting to watch this line.

I saw BYU now goes to Michigan. Holy sh#t did they just run a gauntlet. At Nebraska, home vs Boise St, roadies at UCLA and Michigan. That was a really good win by the Bruins I believe

Let the chess match begin.

They should say he's out/questionable and then have him ready to go Saturday

ASUHATER! wrote:They should say he's out/questionable and then have him ready to go Saturday

That's too obvious though, everyone would expect that. Gotta mix it up.

UCLA hurt us last year with a running QB and good defense. The NAU QB was running on us for awhile. The last time here UCLA beat us with Miles Jack coming out of nowhere. It seems to me UCLA always has a surprise for us. It would be nice if we had a surprise for them.

Keys to the game imo:

1. Our OL must do better than last year
2. Do not allow Rosen to run--though he is not a runner we make QBs look like good runners
3. Stop the run game--it seems to me that Perkins was not that big against us last year until maybe late
4. Start fast
5. Stop missed assignments in secondary

What other important keys do people see?

I think Perkins and Starks are going to get theirs. We need to just get them in 2nd and 3rd and long a few times and put it on Rosen's shoulders. Maybe being in his first Pac-12 road game will get in his head a little.

Saint James wrote:UCLA hurt us last year with a running QB and good defense. The NAU QB was running on us for awhile. The last time here UCLA beat us with Miles Jack coming out of nowhere. It seems to me UCLA always has a surprise for us. It would be nice if we had a surprise for them.

Keys to the game imo:

1. Our OL must do better than last year
2. Do not allow Rosen to run--though he is not a runner we make QBs look like good runners
3. Stop the run game--it seems to me that Perkins was not that big against us last year until maybe late
4. Start fast
5. Stop missed assignments in secondary

What other important keys do people see?

Last year you guys put pressure on Hundley and once Hundley had pressure, he'd tuck the ball and try to run and you guys did a good job at that. I'm hoping the blitzes come fast, it forces us to dink and dunk. Dropping players into coverage have made Rosen struggle as he misses the safety cheating over

I think UCLA had a great yesterday and are ripe for a let down game this weekend. And Arizona is going to be trying to show they are legit after playing a weak OOC

Saint James wrote:UCLA hurt us last year with a running QB and good defense. The NAU QB was running on us for awhile. The last time here UCLA beat us with Miles Jack coming out of nowhere. It seems to me UCLA always has a surprise for us. It would be nice if we had a surprise for them.

Keys to the game imo:

1. Our OL must do better than last year
2. Do not allow Rosen to run--though he is not a runner we make QBs look like good runners
3. Stop the run game--it seems to me that Perkins was not that big against us last year until maybe late
4. Start fast
5. Stop missed assignments in secondary

What other important keys do people see?

NAU had 43 carries for 75 yards. The QB which you speak of had 5 carries for 15 yards which obviously includes sacks. He did have a run of 17 yards but 43-75 is less than 2 yards a carry. I thought Sani Fuimaono in the middle had a really good game.

In regards to LY, we didn't do much offensively and I would put that as a team effort over just blaming the OL. Perkins only had 71 yards LY, it was Hundley who killed us running the ball. With Rosen not a factor to run the ball it really makes a big difference to our D. I think we've proven to be much more effective when we know the QB isn't going to run. Then again, this D is really nothing like LY's D and that's with or without Scooby. You can see that Casteel has made some adjustments with Scooby out. It will be interesting to see what they do differently with Scooby back. The team has been installing new stuff in anticipation of this game but that was with the intent of Scooby and others being healthy. It will be interesting to see how that changes going into this week.

Where I think we can get to Rosen is on corner and safety blitzes. We had 7 TFL last night from our secondary (4) and (3) from our LB's respectively. Sani and Calvin Allen also had a TFL and we had a team TFL for a total of 10 TFL's last night. Of those 10, 5 were sacks. Our safeties and corners are much faster than LY and can get to the QB.

I like our secondary a lot because you can see the talent that's there. It's young talent but it's the most athletic secondary we've had since the Cason/ Fontenot days in my humble opinion. I can live with the occasional blown coverage because they scrap and they get back on that island and compete on the very next play. Our secondary had 3 ints last night including Neal and Denson with one each. Morrison didn't play much last night for some reason but Denson and Neal are only going to get better.

Should be a fun game with or without Scooby.

DC give me some hope:

I'm going of the view that Scooby won't be ready to go...Do we have the defense horses to stack up against UCLA? In your opinion without scooby what do we have to do defensively?

Outscore them CST. Confuse Rosen due to his inexperience but to do that we have to limit the run.

I do think this staff realizes This might be a coming of age game where we go from a chic, nice story to we are a program to be recognized as what RR is, a contender at the HIGHEST LEVEL. The coaches will have us ready

The winner of this game might jump out on the resy if the south as it is conveivable they all might have 1 loss. Utah has to go to Oregon and USC is up againstbit and might give ASSU a loss matching them. The winner of this game will have a 2 game lead on the loser.

Huge game folks

dc4azcats wrote:I like our secondary a lot because you can see the talent that's there. It's young talent but it's the most athletic secondary we've had since the Cason/ Fontenot days in my humble opinion. I can live with the occasional blown coverage because they scrap and they get back on that island and compete on the very next play.

The inexperience is still showing on the secondary a little bit, but damn do they fly around. Once the recognition is a little better (and that only comes from experience) this could be a hell of a group. I think by the end of the year Neal is going to be something special; this is a better fit for him than receiver because instead of putting himself in place and hoping to get a pass thrown his way, he can attack the receiver and assert himself on every snap. Sooner or later he's gonna jump one of those quick outs and get six.

CalStateTempe wrote:DC give me some hope:

I'm going of the view that Scooby won't be ready to go...Do we have the defense horses to stack up against UCLA? In your opinion without scooby what do we have to do defensively?

Here's what I like and it's similar in my mind to what Ucla did to us 3 years ago at the Rose Bowl. We had beaten them 5 straight, we were coming off a big win, they introduced new unis that night and the place was rocking. I was at that game and Arizona was just overwhelmed from the get go. They also busted out the infamous black face paint.

Now Ucla is coming here where they're coming off a tough hard fought win, ranked in the top 10, have beaten us 3 straight, have a great young QB and probably feeling really good about themselves. From Mora on down I'm sure they don't have any fear of this game as they've had our number and what they've done has worked 3 years in a row.

The place will be rocking on Saturday night and no doubt the team will be sky high. Can we keep the crowd in the game early and shake Rosen? Unlike Chief, Casteel has shown me time and time again that he can coach and I have no doubt that he's going to try and show Rosen some different looks. Arizona rested guys like Miller, Turituri (barely played) and we will see about Scooby to get ready for this game. If all 3 are available and healthy then I think the entire defensive playbook is open. I don't think it's a secret that everything they've worked on from the Spring to now in regards to new packages etc were practiced with this game in mind. Difference between the two teams is Ucla has a true frosh QB and UA has Anu. Ucla D has a ton of exp and talent but UA has a healthy Nick Wilson and some new twists that I think we will see this week. Keep in mind that BYU had a guy torch Ucla for 149 yards who some might say runs a lot like Wilson. Keep in mind that the Coaches have kept a close eye on Wilson and tried not to over work him so that he will be fresh for this game. A healthy and effective Nick Wilson is arguably the biggest key to this game imho.

I think Rosen will have to play really well and if he does then they will have no doubt earned the W. But confidence in any young player at this level can be fleeing at times and for a true frosh who has the weight of the world on his shoulders for this game - it will be interesting to see how he does? I say weight of the world because he's the guy everybody has been talking about and no doubt he will be getting a lot of the hype going into this game. First true road game and a very hostile crowd will be a really good test for Rosen and the Ucla offense. No doubt the kid has aspirations of playing at the next level and no doubt he would like to impress with everybody watching.

The one thing I will say about Scooby and again, I'm not a doctor but the guy was in top notch shape before the injury which those that know this stuff say is a huge deal in regard to recovery time. He was a workhorse as you would expect when it came to his rehab and he hasn't had any setbacks as yet which considering how hard he goes is a good sign. I don't think RR is blowing smoke and making Ucla prepare for Scooby because if he's playing the OC for Ucla already knows what they want to do and if he's not, they already know what they want to do. I really don't think it changes much.

It certainly changes what Arizona will do and the biggest key is that Scooby makes everybody better. By doing what he does it puts all of the focus on him which frees up the other guys and I really think that's another big key for this game. A healthy Scooby is a huge advantage for Arizona in my mind. Not because he will make a ton of plays but because he will bring the level of play for the other players up a notch.

My gut tells me that Arizona is not going to waltz out there and try the same stuff as always and hope it works this time. I think we will show some new wrinkles on both sides of the ball. Try to get Rosen to think he's seeing one thing when it's really something else and get him to make a couple of mistakes. Offensively, I think we will show some new looks and try to get the Ucla D on it's heels a bit.

I like that we've improved each and every game thus far and I expect that we will continue that trend on Saturday night.

QB Sack %: 0.89% - 6th Nationally and 1st Pac12. USC is nearly 7.3% (98th nationally, 10th in Pac12). Oregon and ASU are over 10% and in the bottom 10 nationally and bottom of the league.

Rushing Yards Per Play: 6.1 - 8th Nationally and 2nd Pac12 behind USCs 6.4.

So UCLA is protecting the passer and running the ball at a top 10 level.

Side note, it's not the first road game for Rosen. Yes, I know you can discount UNLV as not being very good, but it'll be the second road game

And Mora is not thinking he has Arizona's number and just planning as usual. That's fandom wishes and hopes and comparing it to three years ago is silly. We bit had different situations and coaches.

I dont think we'll using Jack on offense this year

MrBug708 wrote:Side note, it's not the first road game for Rosen. Yes, I know you can discount UNLV as not being very good, but it'll be the second road game

And Mora is not thinking he has Arizona's number and just planning as usual. That's fandom wishes and hopes. I dont think we'll using Jack on offense this year

Bug, you're on an Arizona board so save the spin for the Bruins board. Unlv wasn't anything like any of the road venues in the Pac 12 with the exception of Wazzu in size and Stanford in having zero intimidation factor. So with that in mind, there's no way that Unlv prepared him for what he will see on Sat night. Not by a long shot.

As for Mora, again save that sh!t for the Ucla board because nobody else in the league including Oregon and SC has beat us 3 straight. Mora and his staff have obviously had success and no doubt they have a ton of confidence going into this game - and why wouldn't they? They've pretty much shut us down in all 3 games.

Do you think anybody on this board believes Jack won't play some RB against us? Seriously, take the spin somewhere else because it's nothing but weak sauce that nobody here is buying. Have a little pride. You're the ones who have beaten us 3 straight.

Man, I don't know. I can't help but think it's crazy for Scooby to come back for this game. It feels too soon. I'll be a nervous wreck for him if he plays.

I wouldn't expect Mora or UCLA to be over confident. He knows damn well what RR and this team are capable of. They know we beat Oregon two in a row and took the South last year.

I do, however, think Rosen could succumb to the pressure, atmosphere, hype and/or road. Good as he's undoubtedly going to be, it's only his third game.

seriously, I'm fully expecting Myles Jack to go all world on us again.

Thanks for your take DC, can't wait for Sat. CATS are due for this type of win on National TV.

I am not sure Scooby playing is the best but I have no idea what is going on with his knee at all. even if cleared maybe he should wait another week or so.

But what I would do either way if I were the staff would be to use Scooby like Willis Reed.

After the coin flip before the kickoff, have Scooby in pads (since he has practiced even with a yellow jersey) and his jersey run onto the field to get every fired up. I think this be the best non ASU crowd and atmosphere in Arizona Stadium history. Scooby does not even need to play but him firing up the crowd and making Mora and co think about it for a minute would do no harm.

CalStateTempe wrote:seriously, I'm fully expecting Myles Jack to go all world on us again.

Thanks for your take DC, can't wait for Sat. CATS are due for this type of win on National TV.

We had a 4th and 2 on Saturday and we didnt hand it to Myles Jack. We also had a short run for TD and we passed up on using Jack.

Vanderdoes getting hurt seemed to have limited Mora's desire to use defensive players on offense right now. I can understand the Arizona fear about us using him, but Im not sure Mora is interested in it right now, especially with how Perkins is playing

Couple of things I noticed:

1) Our offensive line looks like men. Not a single guy looks soft in any way, and I think they are getting better and better;
2) There seems to be very little drop-off with the backups. Similar to the Cardinals' "next man up" mantra from last year. Really the only player that must stay healthy is the QB, which the Cardinals also discovered last year. It's ridiculous how many middle linebackers have been injured, but the backups are doing fine.
3) What this means is the Cats should be fresh in the 4th quarter, being able to use lots of guys. I don't even notice who is on the field anymore. Doesn't seem to matter;
4) This year is the best (by far) the Cats have looked in their OOC games, though their first game against UTSA was troubling;
5) I was surprised UCLA at home didn't beat BYU by double digits. Rosen is a true freshman. They have injuries as well. This game is in Tucson, and the Cats seems to be clicking;
6) This is a big step up in competition. Still, I like our chances.

Go Cats!!

UCLA strength is in it's OLine. When it got late in the 4th last week and Rosen had been struggling, they just handed it to Perkins and that other kid and ran it down the throats a good BYU team.

Can we limit there running game and jow many do we have to committ on defense to do do? I don't know. I would think they will committ as many as needed and make sure Rosen has to beat them, at least early.

I think we will rotate Denson, Neal and McCall mostly at corner and probably play more cover 0 or 1 man high safety.

On offense I think there success against us has been because they have stopped our run game, mainly because they know Anu won't pull and run. I think we might see some kind of a wrinkle here to at least keep them honest and make Wilson more effective and open up the passing game as well.

How good is BYU really? I mean I like them and all but they are 2 hail marys away from being 0-3.

MrBug708 wrote:Side note, it's not the first road game for Rosen. Yes, I know you can discount UNLV as not being very good, but it'll be the second road game

It's not so much that UNLV wasn't very good, it's more the environment. UNLV isn't a terribly hostile environment as it is, and when you looked at the crowd shots the place was half blue.



Walking into Arizona Stadium is going to be a completely different animal.

MrBug708 wrote:I dont think we'll using Jack on offense this year

I doubt it as well. Arizona actually kept him pretty well in check on the few plays he was used last year. Why would you use him, anyway, when Perkins is running the way he is?

azcat49 wrote:On offense I think there success against us has been because they have stopped our run game, mainly because they know Anu won't pull and run. I think we might see some kind of a wrinkle here to at least keep them honest and make Wilson more effective and open up the passing game as well.

I know Anu has missed a couple of run reads but I think a lot of the bit of him not running is that they're keeping those plays in the tank. Defenses are going to key on Wilson on any running play and Solomon is probably going to have a couple of designed runs.

Yes UNLV is like a bowl game. 50-50 attendance versus anyone decent, beer, and I didn't run into any annoying fans when I went...just one homeless guy across the street in a field that looked to be high on the salts. Nevada was more of a road game then UNLV could ever be (just not as loud as most stadiums).

I just assume Scooby won't be playing. I really hope we win this game, get that last big monkey off our back.

scumdevils86 wrote:I just assume Scooby won't be playing. I really hope we win this game, get that last big monkey off our back.

Win or lose, one more and bigger monkey to go though.

I'd like to get a few quick scores and put the pressure on fUCLA to throw. Maybe force Rosen make some mistakes and shake his confidence early. I don't want to see their running game get any momentum, that is how they came back against BYU. I think that would be the best scenario. Can't wait to be there and be loud.

File this under the least surprising news of the dayhttp://www.bruinsnation.com/2015/9/21/9 ... mael-adams

azgreg wrote:

Atta boy!

Good to see there's a red out. That's been occurring every home game I thought. DC-you sound off your game. I can smell the fear from here.

chiefzona wrote:Good to see there's a red out. That's been occurring every home game I thought. DC-you sound off your game. I can smell the fear from here.

I'm feeling really good for this game. RR is the best coach this program has ever had and he along with his staff is the best in the conference and certainly up there as far as in the country goes. In RR I trust.

As far as "fear" goes? I'm not playing so what's there to fear?