Looking ahead to Arizona
by John Berkowitz on Oct 6, 2009 7:00 AM PDT
21 comments
The Arizona Wildcats invade Husky Stadium this coming weekend in what has evolved into a must win for both teams. The Huskies are coming off a heartbreaking loss at Notre Dame while the Wildcats are riding high after a week off following a big win on the road at Oregon State.
A lot of writers have been high on the Wildcats this season despite questions on defense and an offense that is still working the kinks out. Things seemed to click against OSU but the Beaver defense may be the most questionable unit in the league right now.
Nick Foles seems to have won the QB job coming off a great debut against OSU. Foles is a prototypical downfield passer with experience in the spread offense. The 6-foot-5, 230-pound sophomore played at Austin Westlake High School, a Texas football powerhouse, and played one season at Michigan State before transferring to UA. Foles was 25 of 34 for 254 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the 37-32 win at Oregon State.
The Wildcats are missing All American TE Rob Gronkowski who is out for the season after injuring his back. Gronkowski's injury has particularly hurt the Wildcats on third down and in the red zone, situations where a big target often can yield big plays. The Wildcats have converted just 39 percent (16 of 41) of their third downs this season; last year it was 46 percent. They picked it up against OSU but with Gronkowski out it still can be a struggle.
TB Nic Grigsby should be back in the lineup after the bye week according to coach Mike Stoops. Grigsby left the Oregon State game with a bruised right shoulder. Grigsby is averaging 101.8 rushing yards per game, and his 8.1 yards per carry leads the Pac-10.
WR Terrell Turner has proven to be an apt heir apparent to Mike Thomas, the Pac-10 Conference's all-time receptions leader. Through four games, Turner — a 6-foot-2-inch, 190-pound senior — leads the team in catches (15), receiving yards (133) and receiving yards per game (33.2). His two touchdowns are second among the Wildcats' receivers, behind sophomore Juron Criner's three.
Arizona’s retooled line was solid in its Pac-10 opener. Left tackle Phil Garcia and right guard Herman Hall looked the part of starters in their first extended playing time of the year. Foles wasn’t sacked once.
The Wildcats were solid up front on defense in their last outing. They held Oregon State to just 104 rushing yards on 30 carries. OSU star Jacquizz Rodgers carried 16 times for 85 yards, though his receiving numbers — 13 catches for 70 yards — seemed to balance an otherwise mediocre night. Defensive end Ricky Elmore and defensive tackle Earl Mitchell are both having a solid season. Linebacker Xavier Kelley is the teams leading tackler.
CB Devin Ross has proven to be a big time player for the Wildcat defense. Ross' pick of Beavers quarterback Sean Canfield with 1 minute 33 seconds remaining helped lock up the victory over the Beav's. The performance was redemption for Ross, who had been burned for a game-changing deep pass in Arizona's loss to Oregon State ago last season. Ross was named the Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Week for his perfomance against OSU. Fellow CB Trevin Wade has picked off four passes so far this season and had a key one against the Beavers.
A couple of weeks ago the prescription for beating UA was to load the box and stop TB Nic Grigsby. Things have changed since then because Nick Foles has proven himself to be enough of a threat to keep future opponents from focusing completely on Grigsby. Foles has the ability to stretch the field which can open up some big holes for Grigsby.
Washington's key to winning the game on Saturday is to play solid defense. The Washington offense behind the arm and legs of Jake Locker will score enough points to win. The key is putting enough pressure on Foles to force him into mistakes.
Playing on the road isn't easy as the Huskies know after facing Stanford and Notre Dame on consecutive weekends. Playing in Husky Stadium should give the defense a lift and be good for a TD in Washington's favor. The loudest venue in college football needs to rock this Saturday to give Washington the advantage it needs to win this game.
Officiating Fall Out
The University of Washington athletic department has asked the Pac 10 to take a closer than usual view of the officiating in last weekends Notre Dame football game. Pac 10 Commissioner Larry Scott has been specifically asked to get involved in the review of the game.
Bob Condotta of the Times had these comments from Woodward who says the two plays he wants reviewed are the two-point run by ND's Robert Hughes and the reversal of an apparent Chris Polk TD, both in the fourth quarter.
"The non-review of the two-point conversion was a mistake,'' Woodward said of a play in which some thought Hughes was down.
I took a long look at the replay last night and it was clear that Hughes knee was down and the ND OL carried or pushed him at that point which is an infraction.
We had a great view of Polk's touch down from the corner of the end zone and could not believe that call was reversed. When I looked at it on TV last night the NBC announcers agreed. It did look a lot closer in the replay on TV than it did from our angle on top of the play in the stands.
The one conclusion I did come away with was it was inconclusive to anyone who was reviewing the play from the video replay. The NBC announcers said the same thing. The rules are if the replay is inconclusive the play cannot be reversed. The play should never have been reversed.
Kibbles and Bits
WR D'Andre Goodwin and S Nate Williams are listed as probable for Arizona.
WR Devin Aguilar and LB EJ Savannah are expected back for Arizona. They missed the ND game with injuries.
Safety Justin Glenn will miss the rest of the season with a broken fibula and ligament damage. He will undergo surgery later this week.
Safety Jason Wells may see action this coming weekend. He has been practcing with the scout team.
OG Nick Wood is competing for Greg Christine's starting job this week.
S Nathan Fellner is the latest true frosh to play this season. The grandson of Jim Sweeney has been impressive in practice and with the loss of Justin Glenn is being groomed for extensive playing time this season.
Jake Locker explained yesterday why he declined to be interviewed after the game. It was the first time during Jake's career that he had dodged a post game interview.
"I didn't feel like I was in the best emotional state to answer questions,'' said Locker, who showered, dressed and boarded the bus before just about anyone else on the team. "I didn't want to have to sit up here today and explain anything (that he might have said Saturday). I felt like it was in my best interest and the team's best interest to take some time to cool down. That's what I thought after the game.''
The last UA quarterback to throw a pass in the NFL is now 58 years old. That would be Bill Demory, who played, briefly, for the New York Jets in 1973.
Since near the end of the 2007 season, Arizona:
- Has won 14 of 21 games.
- Is 9-5 in Pac-10 games.
- Has a 3-2 record against ranked teams.
- Defeated the No. 2 team in the country (Oregon, 2007).
- Won the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl, 31-21 over BYU.
- Has been competitive against everybody, not losing a game by more than 10 points.
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Larry Scott
When he was named Pac 10 commissioner I had the thought that at some point in time he will have to address the state of the inept Pac 10 refereeing. This incident should give some impetus in that direction even though the Pac 10 refs had the call right on the TD and wrong on the extra point.
A change at the top should mean the good old boy Pac 10 referee network gets examined closely and changes made were needed. I hope he has a good football adviser that is not a Pac 10 referee.
Jack
Pac-10 officials
Are they the ones that should be to blame? As you say, they got the call right on the TD and the replay crew (Big East???) messed it up. And, although Hughes was down on the 2pt conversion, that call was pretty tough to make on the field, and the replay crew should have signaled for a review.
Seems like whichever conferences refs were in the replay booth are to blame. I heard they were Big East, but I could be wrong. What have you heard?
That's what I heard too...
Pac-10 officials on the ground with Big East manning the replay booth.
by doubledeucedawg on Oct 6, 2009 2:16 PM PDT up reply actions
Both were tough calls
The TD replay was inconclusive. Now way should they have reversed it.
On the two point conversion it was impossible to see the knee touch down without the replay. We did see a significant stop in momentum from the sidelines. Since there was that stop in momentum it should have been reviewed.
by John Berkowitz on Oct 6, 2009 4:42 PM PDT up reply actions
remember
the Arizona referee who lost games for Washington and Washington State vs. Arizona until they finally canned him? At least I hope they did? He is still not refeering is he?
Officiating
I think it will take Scott about a year to clean house and get the type of staff in all area’s that he feels comfortable with.
Don't think Butler was the holder on Folk's FG...
Probably Fouch, right?
AP mistake
We have no control over the credits on the photo’s. So if they screw it up we can’t correct it.
One more true frosh has played
I believe true freshman walk-on Cole Sager played for the first time Saturday, as well. I hadn’t seen him on the field prior to this weekend, but he’s been inserted into the KO return squad, back deep blocking for Quinton Richardson. He appeared the man designated to blow up Notre Dame’s. The kid isn’t afraid of contact and did a pretty great job.
Yes, but...
The first two times things went well; he delivered a good square hit on the first man. But a few times after that he went into what appeared to be the hole, only to chase or miss someone because QR went somewhere else. It appeared from our vantage point that QR missed the set-up (and a big return) those times, though all I can say for sure is that there was some disconnect. Hopefully this will be corrected in the film room and practice.
Just the same, what a thrill for a freshman walk-on to play at Notre Dame!
Camera angle is the tattle tale
I don’t know about all you fellas, but Desmond Trufant is going to be a player. That guy had a helluva game!
We can blame the coaches, officials, and players all we want but at the end of the day it all comes back to learning how to win on the road. We simply didn’t get it done and had an astronaumical amount of chances to get it done. A young team will eventually figure it all out. We’re not there yet, but getting darn near close. In the mean time we need to win as many home games as possible. We are a different team at home. Grab a few key wins at home in the meat of the season will help us gain confidence in ourselves to eventually get that elusive road win.
ND had more then the luck of the irish last saturday. They had homer Big East officials overturning a contraversial Husky TD. The replay was not conclusive- therefore the call stands as called on the dam field! [according to instant replay rules]. Bad angle?
That bad angle is by design? Why? Notre Dame and NBC could actually put that camera on the endzone line. But it is placed specifically so that ND can use it to their advantage. Guarrentee you if that was a ND TD, the call would’ve never been overturned. It’s all about the improper, yet specifically-placed angle of the camera. Don’t fool yourself…
All I saw was purple
On Zona
Only Pac10 team never to go to Rose Bowl, lets help keep it that way by beating them. They have closed the gap on overall W-L against UW. DJ was 7-3-1, Lambo 3-1, Rick 4-0. Gilby 0-2, and TW 2-2, but the biggy was the last two games Ls 41-48 and 14-48 (96 points). We made Tuitama look like an all american both games but he still didn’t make 1st team all PAC 10, another UA trivia: no 1st team Pac10 QB ever . I had read that Tuitama is waiting tables in Tucson trying to get his degree.
Hope our getting banged up at ND doesn’t hurt us too badly this week. We must stop Grigsby or his replacement, and hopefully Foles/Scott won’t get enough time to beat us with passing. Our defensive pass pressure is non existent and that is what worries me the most. Zona as always is very strong on D, and I am not discounting the earlier games against patsies. They were strong last year toward the end and returned most everybody. It might be hard to outscore them this go. This game is critical to our desires to go bowling. I thought we would be 3-2 at this point and was counting Zona as a win, now not so sure. Crowd will need to be a factor. GO HUSKIES
Splits are still intact
I agree with prrbrr- I thought we’d have a better overall record at this point. Clearly the Stanford team is as good as advertised, but it still was a winnable game. But the meat of the season is just beginning and we’ve got the early season non league gauntlet out of the way.
As I said in preseason if we can split the Pac 10 states, i.e. ASU/Arizona, Stanford/Cal, Oregon/OSU, USC/Ucla, and beat our in-state rival WSU then everything is still a go. The key at this point to get bowl eligible is we’ve got to win at home. Winning at home through the meat of the season will help us gain much confidence to get a win on the road.
The ND loss was a tough pill to swallow. Like the LSU game, we outplayed the domers and found a way to come up short. Young teams do this, but we’re learning real fast and it’s just a matter of time. I’m ready to see our team back home at larger-then-life Husky Stadium.
Win at home and everything will take care of itself. WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
A different team at home
We played a really good game in South Bend, better then I thought we would. And to come up short is a positive for this young team.
Now I am not about moral victories. Lord knows we’ve had too many of them under past coaches. But the ND loss will be beneficial. We are gaining more and more confidence playing on the road. At Palo Alto we didn’t heed the warnings of “trap game” and it bit us on the buttocks. At South Bend we came out focused and prepared to win. We lost, but I think we learned something between the Stanford game and the ND game.
Arizona is another one of those “must win” games. If we have visions of going to a bowl- this game is HUGE! Offensively we are coming together, where our running game is catching up to our passing game. As prrbrr mentioned, I hope we aren’t too banged up defensively to get after the wildcats. We’ve got to come out and hit them in the mouth and feed off the hostile frenzy of Husky Stadium and do not take our foot off the gas.
Go Huskies! WOOF!!!
All I saw was purple
I don't know if we have a "Woof!" in us this week
But I think that we may come back with a growl so low that it sounds like it’s coming from the underworld. I don’t sense that this team has any quit in them, and they’re apt to be so miserable-rotten-po’d-mean this week that they may take out some nasty frustrations on UA.
Hopefully, we’ll have a solid game plan through which to channel that anger.
did you see that mel kiper has jake locker rated the number 1 qb to be picked in the first round
tebow will play tight end in the nfl and play some qb on wildcat formations. sam bradford was exposed to a big time hit by a large byu defensive player. he would get seriously hurt in the nfl and i think the scouts see that now. i see bradford a step above ken dorsey if you even remember him. he was the browns third string qb last year. don’t know where he is this year. colt mccoy does not do it for me either. jake locker has always been able to run but now you can see him zip passes to wr’s. if jake plays well in husky stadium we win if not it could mean overtime. husky’s 31 arizona 24.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Oct 7, 2009 5:31 PM PDT up reply actions
Top 3
1. Jimmy Clausen- been in the pro style a long time, but subpar arm strength- he’s reached the ceiling on his potential.
2. Jake Locker- can move up to No.1 if he can continue to improve in accuracy and learn when NOT to take a sack- no where near his ceiling.
3. Colt McCoy- smart, durable, and athletic enough to learn a pro style offense.
I wouldn’t touch anybody else at this point as a pro scout. Tebow is a helluva stud and athlete, but he’s a fullback playing in a Urban Meyer gimmick offense. Bradford is too frail- that’s all that really needs to be said.
All I saw was purple
Nick Foles
I have only seen him once. It was a game against my daughter’s school with Todd Reesing at qb and Foles looked clearly the better qb. It’s ironic that he originally committed to ASU and now he is at Arizona (due to the coaching change). He’s big but not real mobile so the way to beat him is with a good pass rush – not something we’ve been good at.
Still can’t get over the officiating at the ND game. It reminded me a lot of the OU/Oregon game. Wasn’t there an acknowledgement and apology from the Pac 10 after that game? I hope Woodward demands something similar from the Pac 10 and Big East. While it doesn’t change the outcome, I think it is due out of respect to our players.
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