Arizona 2010 Football Preview
by John Berkowitz on Jul 27, 2010 8:14 AM PDT
5 comments
The Wildcats came oh so close to going to their first Rose Bowl last season. A let down at home during the closing minutes against Oregon sent Arizona to the Holiday Bowl where they were summarily thumped by Nebraska 33-0. That isn't the way the Wildcats expected to go out. Insiders say that they never recovered from that last second loss to Oregon.
Washington beat Arizona in the last seconds at home last year too. You would have to go back to the 1975 Apple Cup to find a more improbable ending to a game. This year Arizona gets the Huskies at home and on paper this seems to be a more evenly matched game than last year. UA was hit pretty good by graduation this past season so I think the gap has closed between the two programs.
The Wildcats had a high-flying offense last season, averaging 407.5 yards and 29.7 points per game. Junior Quarterback Nick Foles took over the starting job after transferring to Arizona from Michigan State. He threw for 2,486 yards and 19 touchdowns in ten games. He completed 260 of 410 pass attempts and threw nine picks.
Matt Scott who started a bit last season made a move for the starting job this spring. Foles went into a fade late last season and they came out about even after spring practice.
Senior Nic Grigsby and Junior Keola Antolin return at running back. Grigsby when healthy is one of the better backs in the conference but the injury bug has limited his effectiveness. Antolin has filled in nicely and they will split time so the load isn't completely on Grigsby.
Juron Criner returns at wide receiver after catching 45 passes for 582 yards, nine touchdowns, and an average of 12.9 yards per reception. The team loses Terrell Turner to graduation and senior Delashaun Dean to a weapons charge.
On the line the Wildcats bring back Sr C Colin Baxter and Sr T Adam Grant, who were named All-Pac 10 last season. OG Conan Amituanai 6-4 335 and OG Vaughn Dotsy Jr. 6-5 335 provide serious size in the interior.
On defense the Wildcats only return four starters. The defensive line looks pretty stout and features Sr DE's Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore leading the way. Sr D’Aundre Reed and Jr Apaiata Tuihalamaka round out the group which should be among the Pac 10's best however Arizona is starting all over at linebacker.
Arizona has a strong secondary, and should be set in the defensive backfield. Cornerback Trevin Wade had five interceptions and 71 tackles last season. Strong safety Robert Golden added two picks and 41 tackles.
Washington vs Arizona
Washington upset the Wildcats in Husky Stadium with a furious and unlikely fourth quarter comeback last season. To me Arizona was the better team last season regardless of the outcome.
This year Washington holds a definite edge even though this one will be played in Tucson. Nobody loses more in the Pac 10 to graduation than the Wildcats.
If Washington can cover the short passing game better and stuff the run they should be able to pick up a win on the road.
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Good write-up, John.
I think the lack of comments here sort of sums up most UW fans’ opinion of Arizona football. Sort of….meh.
I find it rather difficult to comment on our opponents in preview form
For starters I don’t know any of their players and follow them from a distance. I will say one thing- I’m not impressed with Nick Foles. It seemed like 80% of his completions were from screens. I want to see Nick Foles in a 7 step QB drop more often and see how effective he is in that department. Most spread QBs are taught to use the 3 or 5 step QB drop and are not in the pocket nearly as long, which translates to not given the opportunity of reading defensive coverage. The ball is gone before the QB has to decipher the coverage. This is one reason why I think Sam Bradford is a suspect to being a bust in the pros. The guy never had to decipher coverage in the pocket at OU.
All I saw was purple
I'm tired of this argument
The way we came back was unlikely— but you can’t chalk it all up to the interception. We were finally jumping the bubble screen, the offense was finding a groove, and there was 2:49 left. Stop them again and we could have scored on offense. Yes, the way we won was freakish. But even if that pass goes incomplete, there’s still a chance we win in another fashion. Arizona should have won the game, but they let us stay close enough.
(And just generally, if a team is passing with just a few minutes left, a comeback by the other team isn’t a complete shock.)
UW has the advantage in Tucson ty?
Arizona is 14-5 at home the last 3 seasons and UW is 2-14 on the road the last 3 years. Including 0-10 the last 2 seasons. Yet UW will come into Tucson and get a W? Really?
By the time you get to Arizona there’s a good chance that UW will be 0 for its last 14 road games. A lot of confidence for a team that hasn’t won on the road in over 2 years.
Lets see – UW plays a tough OSU the week prior to Arizona and Arizona plays at Wazzu the week prior. I’m guessing that’s not an advantage for UW.
As for Arizona’s defense – when was the last time Arizona had a bad defense? 2007? We returned 9 starters on D and yet it was 2008 where we only returned 3 starters that we had a top 3 D in the conference. LY we had the number 2 D in the conference and yet TY we will not have a good D? Guess we will see about that one.
On offense we return 8 starters from LY including all the skill positions. Grigsby was hurt LY and only rushed 5 times in the game which certainly limited Arizona LY. I don’t think that will be the case TY. UW gave up on average 149 yards rushing and 241 yards passing from a D that returns everybody except both DE’s? Is that the good news or the bad news?
I can’t imagine that Arizona won’t be more up for a game than they will be for this one – especially after the hose job by the refs in the booth not once but twice. It’s homecoming that weekend and the Zoo will be rocking for this game. The streak will continue at 0-15 on the road for UW.
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