Game Preview: Washington at Arizona

"Take a shower, shine your shoes
you got no time to lose
you are young men you must be living"
-Dispatch

Who: UW at Arizona

Where: Arizona Stadium, Tuscon, AZ

When: Saturday, October 20, 2012, at 7:00 pm Pacific Time

Watch it on the Pac12 Network ... not some other nefarious site ... while your at it, you might hear the voices of Ted Robinson, Glenn Parker and Ryan Nece

History

A series that started in 1978, the Huskies lead, all-time, 18-9-1. What exactly does that mean? For every time the Wildcats beat the Dawgs, the Huskies win twice. The longest win streak Arizona has on the Huskies is 2 games, though there was a stretch of three years (1987-1989) when Arizona won twice in a row after tying the Dawgs in 87.

The most unforgivable loss for the Huskies in this series came in 2003, when the Dawgs went down to Tuscon to beat an abysmal Arizona team that ended up finishing 2-11 that year ... they failed, giving Arizona one of its two wins that year. Hey, it was good news for Wildcat fans as it snapped their streak of 13 straight home losses in conference play.

Last Week

Against USC, the Dawgs came out sloppy and promptly fell behind 10-0. The Huskies were plagued by turnovers and a costly special teams melt-down (a blocked punt/recovery for a TD). It led to a beleaguered Husky Nation to cry out in dismay, "oh, what might have been ...," before nodding off into a drunken stupor.

Arizona had the week off after losing a nail-biter to Stanford .... (Hey, if Stanford can score on these guys, we can score on them). Apparently they needed the bye-week to get some injured players back (Who doesn't?). I'd wager RichRod used it to try and figure out how to fit more than 900 offensive plays in one game ....

Numbers

2 - the number of times Matt Scott has punted this year

3 - the number of kicks the Dawgs have blocked this season

5 - the number of Arizona receivers averaging over 10 yards per reception, and also have more than 10 receptions on the season

6 - the coldest temperature ever measured in Tuscon ... in Fahrenheit of course

6 - the total number of sacks the Wildcats have tallied this season

12 - the total number of sacks the Wildcats have surrendered this season

170 - the number of yards each Wildcat receiver is averaging this year ... this includes senior offensive lineman Addison Bachman

181 - the number of rushing yards Arizona is giving up each game

247 - the number of passing plays Arizona opponents have attempted this year

247 - the number of rushing plays Arizona opponents have attempted this year

297 - the number of passing yards Arizona's is giving up each game

494 - the number of offensive plays Arizona's opponents have run this year

543 - the number of offensive plays Arizona has run this year

1152 - Matt Scott's punting average this year ... in inches

1539 - the number of miles from Husky Stadium to Arizona Stadium

Questions needing answers

Offense: How many yards will Bishop Sankey put up? Will Keith Price stop turning the ball over? Will pass protection look like something other than a sieve? Who's going to have the most receptions? Who's going to have the most dropped passes? Can our run game force Arizona to put 1 or 2 more defenders in the box? Will we see more than just short passes?

Defense: Can our secondary slow down Matt Scott? Can Wilcox take advantage of Arizona's porous offensive line? Will we see some more sacks from Josh Shirley? Can the defense keep Arizona to less than 30 points? Will that even be enough? How many turnovers can the D force? Will Marcus Peters have another pick-6? Is the Shaquinator going to be healthy enough to make a significant impact this week?

Miscellaneous: Who's going to be catching the punts? Will our return team pull a little piggy and take one all the way home? Who would really win a fight between a husky and a wildcat? Why would somebody live in Tuscon? When was the last time it snowed there?

Let's start this game fast! There's no time to lose, and starting slow is completely unacceptable. This is the week our offense needs to come alive.