Arizona vs. Stanford: Five Cardinal players to know

One Stanford player will be playing his hometown team on Saturday

The Stanford Cardinal were ranked No. 21 to start the season, but after a loss to Northwestern in week one, they fell out of the top 25 and looked like a team that was going to be middle of the pack in the Pac-12. However, an impressive road win over the USC Trojans in Los Angeles has put the Cardinal back into the mix atop the Pac-12 North.

That said, here are five players that have been instrumental in Stanford's success so far.

Blake Martinez, LB, #4

The Tucson native and Canyon Del Oro alum is the quarterback of Stanford's defense. He lead the team in tackles last year with 102 and was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention. He wasted no time picking up from where he left off as he currently leads the team in tackles this year as well with 48 -- 25 more than anyone else on the team. He averages 12.5 tackles per game, which is the third best mark in the entire country, and also has the team's only interception. There's a reason why he was named to so many preseason award watch lists.

Martinez grew up as an Arizona fan, and it's too bad that the hometown kid isn't a Wildcat, but you can't blame someone for wanting to go to Stanford instead.

Kevin Hogan, QB, #8

Yes, he's still Stanford's quarterback. Hogan gets his fair share of criticism for being mediocre, but he's been solid this season. He's completed 63.4% of his for 938 yards (234.5 yards per game), and has seven touchdown passes to just two interceptions. One thing that stands out when you look at Hogan's stat line this year is his yards per pass attempt. His average last season was 7.9, but this season it has climbed to 9.3. The Cardinal are breaking off big chunks of yards through the air.

One weird thing is that, while it seems Hogan has been at Stanford forever, he has never faced Arizona because of the timing of the schedule. The last time Stanford played Arizona was in 2012, and Josh Nunes started that game over Hogan.

Christian McCaffrey, RB, #5

McCaffrey is Stanford's workhorse running back. He's averaging over 20 carries per game and is averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Last Saturday, he ran for 210 yards on 30 carries against Oregon State. We saw last week how vulnerable Arizona is against the run, and McCaffrey could have another huge game if the Wildcats forget how to tackle again. McCaffrey is also an effective receiver, as he is third on the team in receiving yards (157), and actually leads the team in receptions (13).

The Cardinal have Barry Sanders in their backfield too. He's had a relatively quiet season, but he too had a monster game against Oregon State as he had 97 yards on just seven carries, including two touchdowns, one of which was from 65 yards out. McCaffrey is the bell cow, but Sanders can come in a take one to the house if you're not careful.

Austin Hooper, TE, #18

We know how tight ends can give Arizona's defense trouble, and Stanford has a good one in Austin Hooper. Hooper was named to ESPN.com's All-Pac-12 preseason first team. Last year, Hooper had nearly 500 receiving yards, and this season he currently leads the team with 185. He's also second on the team in receptions (12), and is tied for the lead in receiving touchdowns (2). UTSA TE David Gordon had nine catches for 109 yards and a touchdown against Arizona's defense, and so it wouldn't be surprising to see Hooper have a huge game as well.

Peter Kalambayi, LB, #34

Blake Martinez isn't the only talented linebacker that Stanford has. Junior Peter Kalambayi is making his presence known around the Pac-12. Kalambayi was a reserve for Stanford last year, but still managed to have 32 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, and 6.5 sacks. In his first start against Northwestern this year, he recorded 12 tackles. For the season so far, he second on the team in tackles (23), and has two tackles for loss, a sack, and a forced fumble.

Stanford always seems to have talented linebackers, and this season is no exception.

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Arizona football: The Wildcats are a national leader in explosive rushing plays

Arizona Fast.

The Arizona Wildcats' running game has been at its best in the last four games. With Nick Wilson averaging over six yards per carry, and the burst of excitement from Jerrard Randall and company, Arizona has become one of the most explosive offenses in the nation.

When you break down the number of "long rushing plays" -- anything over 10 yards -- Arizona is ranked in the top-three nationally for rushing plays ranging from 10-70 yards.

Yardage	Plays	Ranking
10+ Yards	40	T-3rd
20+ Yards	17	1st
30+ Yards	11	1st
40+ Yards	5	T-2nd
50+ Yards	3	T-3rd
60+ Yards	2	T-2nd
70+ Yards	2	T-2nd

Nick Wilson ranks seventh in nation in rushing yards, with 570 on 86 carries, and tied for ninth in carries per game. He's an absolute work horse, and has elements of Ka'Deem Carey in his game. Meanwhile, Jerrard Randall ranks 22nd in the nation in rushing yards per game, with just over 112 yards per game. He's totaled 337 yards on 22 carries, averaging over 15 yards per carry. With their rushing efforts combined, Arizona is the only program in the nation with two top-25 rushers.

As if that wasn't good enough, Arizona leads the Pac-12 in many offensive categories. Total touchdowns (27), points per game (48.3), first downs (118), yards per game (555), and long rushing plays (40).

With Anu Solomon going down with a concussion, Arizona will have to continue to rely on the run game. Whether it's Wilson, Randall, or even Jared Baker and Orlando Bradford, they bevy of backs will have to pick up some extra slack.

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Sonoran Hot Reads: Arizona basketball waiting to start practice

Arizona isn't starting practices as early as possible

We're coming up on six weeks until the official start of the Arizona Wildcats basketball opener, which means the team is eligible to start practice on Friday. But they won't actually start until Sunday, and Bruce Pascoe explains why, plus he drops every single Arizona basketball link you could ever need at the end of September

- Will Allonzo Trier live up to the hype this year?

Football

- Most sports books don't have a betting line on Arizona/Stanford because there's a lot going on with the Wildcats right now with Scooby out and Anu not being at practice on Tuesday

- Rule of Tree wonders if Stanford/Cal will be for the Pac-12 North. After having experienced that scenario here last year, let's hope this happens. They also make the case that losing early was the best thing for the Cardinal

- Building The Dam is already previewing next week's game because they have nothing better to do

Baseball

- D1Baseball seems to have named Arizona the 22nd-best program in the modern era, despite being the 9th-winningest program all-time

- The Mexican Baseball Fiesta is set to start Thursday at Hi Corbett

Other sports

- Soccer's Sheaffer Skadsen was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week

- Get to know some of Arizona swimming and diving's freshmen a little bit better in this week's Freshmen Files

- Women's golf finished second at the Annika Intercollegiate Classic

Tucson news

- UA was given a large grant for development of new green infrastructure

- There was an officer-involved shooting in Oro Valley that locked down CDO

River and la cholla @whatsuptucson http://pic.twitter.com/ipqiWXg0Ft

— gage#⃣1⃣5⃣ (@owsley00) September 29, 2015

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Wildcat Radio Podcast: DON'T PANIC

Pac-12 Power Rankings: Utah and California trending up, Oregon and Arizona State down

A lot of movement in this week's Pac-12 power rankings

Road teams are 6-0 in Pac-12 play so far this year, and not only are they 6-0, they are crushing the home opponents.

FINAL: After 6 games of Pac-12 play, road teams are 6-0, outscoring their hosts 273 - 143, that's a margin of 21.7 ppg.

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) September 27, 2015

With that, there's a lot of shake up in this week's Pac-12 Power Rankings. Tell us what you disagree with below!

1. UCLA Bruins

Previous ranking: 1

A dominant road performance keeps UCLA at No.1. They simply beat Arizona in all three facets of the game. Josh Rosen looked near flawless behind his offensive line, and Paul Perkins was a beast. Despite not having Myles Jack for the season, I think this team will represent the Pac-12 in the College Football Playoff.

2. USC Trojans

Previous ranking: 2

USC went to Tempe and came out on top in a must-win game. The defense continues to impress and Cody Kessler torched Arizona State's secondary. USC gets a bye week, and then goes to Seattle on Thursday night.

3. Utah Utes

Previous ranking: 5

Utah is the real deal. This team reminds me much of Arizona's team last year. They'll continue to keep winning and everyone will continue to pick against them. Not to go against what I just said, although their dominance over Oregon was impressive, this is definitely a down year for the Oregon Ducks. The Utes don't have consistent quarterback play from Travis Wilson, but with Devontae Booker, that offense is as explosive as any. Utah is also on a bye this week before they host California in what would be a pretty solid showdown.

4. California Golden Bears

Previous ranking: 7

A huge jump this week for the Golden Bears, and deservedly so. They have a brutal schedule coming in a few weeks, with a stretch consisting of a road trip to Utah, at UCLA, USC and at Oregon. We'll see if Jared Goff can lead and maintain the success throughout the season. Cal should have no trouble with Wazzu this weekend, giving us an undefeated matchup with Cal at Utah on October 10th.

5. Stanford Cardinal

Previous ranking: 6

Not an impressive win over Oregon State, but they've definitely gotten over their loss at Northwestern, who isn't looking bad themselves. Stanford can make a big statement with a win against Arizona, reasserting themselves as a true Pac-12 contender. Since their loss at Northwestern, Stanford has scored 31+ points in each game, which could cause Arizona some trouble on defense.

6. Oregon Ducks

Previous ranking: 3

Two losses just four weeks in for the Oregon Ducks. I was never sold on Oregon, just because no matter how good your system is, you can't just replace a Heisman-winning quarterback with an FCS transfer who had about a week of practice before being thrown into the season. The defense is also a huge liability, giving up 28+ in all four games thus far, and more than 42 points in two. Oregon will look to bounce back vs. Colorado this week, which should be fun.

7. Arizona Wildcats

Previous ranking: 4

The Wildcats fell flat on their face on national television. They just couldn't keep pace with UCLA and make plays. Turnovers killed the momentum early and took the crowd out of the game.

I think that UCLA is a top-five team, but Arizona had no clue what was going on when it came to defense and couldn't get anything going. This will be a must-win for Arizona at Stanford to regain some sort of momentum. If they can get past Stanford, they'll be on cruise control until about November 7th for their showdown vs. USC.

8. Washington Huskies

Previous ranking: 9

Washington is a missed field goal attempt and an interception away from being 4-0. Now, that's still asking for a lot, but they're definitely not a complete pushover. They dug themselves in a hole early in their two losses and simply ran out of time to mount a comeback. Come time for a cold, Seattle night, and they're definitely a candidate for an upset special. Just, hopefully not on Halloween night, when Arizona (and myself), make the trip.

9. Arizona State Sun Devils

Previous ranking: 9

Arizona State looks completely miserable. This was supposedly Todd Graham's best team at Arizona State, and they're sitting at 2-2, with two embarrassments vs. quality opponents, and less than stellar performances against Cal Poly and New Mexico. Mike Bercovici looks absolutely terrible, and DJ Foster has just 300 total yards through four games. Hopefully, they keep this up. UCLA is coming off a big win, so maybe ASU catches them off guard.

Todd Graham on ASU: We are the fastest we’ve been, strongest we’ve been, best staff and best team we’ve had.

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) August 2, 2015

10. Washington State Cougars

Washington State had a bye week, and I'm still loving the fact that they beat Rutgers in their house. They head to Berkeley to play California, and that could be a shootout.

Previous ranking: 10

11. Colorado Buffaloes

Colorado is actually 3-1. I'm not saying that they're a threat, but Colorado only had two wins all of last season, four wins in 2013, and just one win in 2012 and 2011. I really like Sefo Liufau and Nelson Spruce, which is probably what will keep Colorado out of the No. 12 spot in the power rankings.

Previous ranking: 12

12. Oregon State Beavers

Oregon State just isn't competitive. They'll show flashes of goodness, not greatness, and then it all goes away with one play. They get a bye week, which gives them an extra week to prepare for their road trip to Tucson for Family Weekend. Hopefully, this isn't a repeat of Washington State back in 2013, with a 1PM kick off time.

Previous ranking: 11

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Arizona vs Stanford: The Wildcats' upcoming game in Palo Alto is season-defining

The sky might be falling right now, but a win over Stanford could keep the Wildcats in the hunt for a Pac-12 South title. A loss, however, could have the 'Cats clawing just to make it to a bowl game.

The Arizona Wildcats were blown out by the UCLA Bruins this past Saturday, and they lost Scooby Wright III for "several weeks" with a foot sprain, plus Anu Solomon is "day-to-day" after suffering a concussion.

It seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for Arizona football lately, and this week's game against the Stanford Cardinal will determine if the sky will continue to fall, or if the Wildcats still have a chance to make this a special season.

What a win against Stanford would mean

With Scooby out, and Anu seemingly unlikely to play, it will take a lot for the Wildcats to beat a ranked Stanford team in Palo Alto. However, an improbable win could allow Arizona to jump right back into the Pac-12 South race.

Following the Stanford game, Arizona plays (in order) vs. Oregon State, at Colorado, vs Washington State, and at Washington. With or without Scooby Wright, the Wildcats should be favored to win all four of those games if they can get Anu Solomon back in time. And frankly, I think they would win all of them or lose one at most.

That means that if the Wildcats beat Stanford, we're still looking at a realistic possibility of the team being 8-1 or maybe 7-2 heading into the final three games against USC, Utah, and Arizona State.

Rich Rodriguez wasn't very specific about Scooby Wright's timetable to return from his foot sprain, but that USC game is five weeks away. You'd have to assume that there's a solid chance that Wright will be back by then -- just in time for Arizona to take on the meat of their schedule.

Who knows how the final three games would play out, but with the way things have gone for Arizona football lately, the fact that they'd even have a chance to repeat as Pac-12 South champions would be remarkable. At worst they'd have a chance to make it to the Holiday Bowl or Alamo Bowl.

What a loss would mean

If Arizona loses in Palo Alto this weekend, well, I think it'd be time to just focus on making it to a bowl game. The opportunity to repeat as Pac-12 South Champions would be out the window, and the chance of making it to the Holiday Bowl or Alamo Bowl could be too.

At best, Arizona would be 7-2 heading into that final stretch against USC, Utah, and ASU. USC and Utah are top-10 teams, and we know that when Arizona plays ASU, it's always a toss up. Perhaps a eight or nine-win season could be possible with a trip to the Holiday Bowl or Foster Farms Bowl.

If Arizona drops a game to either OSU, CU, WSU, or UW, then we're looking at a 6-3 record heading into the final three games, and an 8-4 record at best (they're not winning all three games). That make the Foster Farms Bowl as the best-case scenario with the Sun Bowl and Las Vegas bowls as options if Arizona loses two out of three.

And if they lose all three? We have to create some sort of device that would wipe this season from our memory Perhaps no bowl game at all.

***

With all the adversity Arizona is facing right now, beating Stanford on the road is quite a daunting task. It's going to take all hands on deck, and probably some luck. That said, if they manage to pull off the upset, it could completely alter the overall outcome of the season.

If they can't do it, then it'd probably be time to reconsider what could be considered a "successful season". I know a lot of people had a 10-2 or 9-3 season in mind before the season started, but I don't think an 8-4 season sounds too bad right now.

But let's wait and see what happens on Saturday first.

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Sonoran Hot Reads: Harvey Mason Jr., Homecoming Parade Grand Marshall

This should be good

The basketball team hasn't really been making a lot of news lately, so here's something for all of you Arizona Wildcats basketball fans out there. Harvey Mason Jr. will be this year's homecoming parade Grand Marshall, along with the rest of his family:

Did you hear the news? @HarveyMasonjr and his Wildcat family will serve as #Homecoming101 parade grand marshals! http://pic.twitter.com/mldmoHwl5C

— Arizona Alumni (@UAAA) September 28, 2015

- Rob Dauster made Arizona/Gonzaga his 9th-best non-conference game this year, and it's the best involving a Pac-12 team

- The Boise State basketball writer at Mountain West Connection asked me some questions about Arizona to prep for that game in November

Football

- The big news on Monday was that Scooby Wright III is about to miss some more games. One of those games will be Oregon State next Saturday, which kicks off at 1 PM. Building The Dam has some literal hot takes on why that's not good for the Beavers and their well-being

- Jaelan Phillips was one of many recruits in town on Saturday. He recapped his visit with Scout

- Devon Modster was another guy who was in town, and he put out a mid-season senior year highlight video

- Brett McMurphy has Arizona meeting Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl....why must this week be so awful on every front? Mark Schlabach has the Wildcats playing NC State in the Sun Bowl

- Let's cheer up with this, ASU and Oregon are two of the ten most disappointing teams in all of college football

Other sports

- Volleyball is still ranked 14th, and they will host No. 8 Stanford on Wednesday

- Soccer moved up nine spots to No. 16 in this week's rankings

Tucson news

- Sun Tran is back, and bus drivers are out here getting scabies

- In Nogales, marijuana is falling from the sky

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Arizona football roundtable: On the UCLA game, Utah's statement and the WIldcats' quarterbacks

Let's move on to the next one

That game by the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday was pretty painful, so let's move on to other things in this week's roundtable, including the impressiveness of the Utah Utes.

Here are our thoughts on some things that are not Arizona's defense, because we all know it isn't good.

1. What song describes your emotions at halftime of that game?

Gabe Encinas: Meek Mill's diss track, because we had already taken the L not even half way through the game. That was a pretty embarrassing performance.

David Potts: "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. The song opens with the line, "hello darkness, my old friend," and I doubt any words could better describe how I felt.

Jason Bartel: "Sloop John B" by The Beach Boys. I feel so broke up, I wanna go home

Ryan Kelapire: Bad Day by Daniel Powter. We went through all of that College GameDay stuff just to be down by 28 at the half. That's definitely not a good day.

2. Should we be worried about the kicking game on top of everything else?

GE: I think that's just college kickers in general. Casey Skowron has done great things for Arizona and not so great things throughout his career. Missing two PAT's through four games isn't a good look, and the missed field goal in the first half just kinda summed up the game for Arizona. This is a big game next week, and it's not a game where Arizona can leave points on the board, making Skowron's kicking game a key to success.

DP: Is it even worth worrying about at this point? There are so many other problems - the offensive line, the defense's ability to stop the run, the defense's ability to get to the quarterback, the defense, etc. - that I'd rather just chalk this up to a bad game and only worry about it if it becomes a trend.

JB: I only bring this up because Skowron didn't miss an extra point last year, and he already has two misses this year, and it's not like college is playing with the new NFL PAT rules. I am concerned, because it's leaving points on the field that you can't be leaving out there. Did it matter this week? No. But will it matter in a game down the road? Probably.

RK: College kickers are what they are. They'll make some, and they'll miss some. Unless Skowron has a horrible streak where he can't make anything, I don't think the kicking game is something to worry about. And let's not forget that, despite the missed short field goal and extra point, Skowron did manage to make 44-yarder against UCLA too. He hasn't been that bad, and either way, you never want to have to rely on your kicker in college football.

3. Is Utah actually the team to beat in the Pac-12 South or is Oregon that bad?

GE: I think it's a mix of both. What Utah is going through right now makes it seem pretty similar to Arizona last season. No one will give them the true credit they deserve, and everyone one will continue to pick against them. Somehow, someway they've beaten four very respectable opponents and handled them fairly easily.

I never thought that Oregon was going to be that great to begin with, but I wouldn't have expected them to get pounded like that vs Utah, especially at home. With a FCS quarterback, trying to replace a Heisman winning quarterback in Marcus Mariota, of course they're going to encounter a lot of issues, whether it's a system or not. But the defense has been absolutely terrible through four games and Oregon might be the third best team in the North now.

DP: I think it's mostly that Utah is really good. Lest we forget, that Oregon team hung with Michigan State on the road a couple of weeks ago, so I think Oregon can't possibly be as bad as they looked this past week. That said, they're looking a lot more like a contender for the Las Vegas Bowl or the Foster Farms Bowl than the Rose Bowl or even the Holiday Bowl at this point.

JB: I never expected big things from Oregon, but I did not expect them to suffer their worst home loss in 40 years. I have never been a believer in Helfrich, and so far, this season is playing out in my favor with that. I just can't believe that the Utah offense will be consistent enough to win the South over UCLA, but the Utes are certainly either the best team or the second-best team in the division right now behind the Bruins.

RK: I think it's still really close between Utah and UCLA atop the Pac-12 South. Oregon did play Michigan State tough on the road, so I don't think they're as bad as they played against Utah on Saturday.

4. If Anu Solomon is out, do you want to see Jerrard Randall, Brandon Dawkins, or a mix of both?

GE: I would like to see a mix of both, just to throw the pace of the game off for the defense. Dawkins is still fast, so when he's in, he can still scramble. And if Randall can earn the respect of the secondary, he could be deadly, but that's a big if. Randall is such a playmaker, that he might be best at receiver, with Dawkins in at quarterback. There's just too much explosiveness to be had in Randall for him to not be on the field.

DP: Randall. He established himself as the number two guy in camp, and he has been electric when given the opportunity. If Solomon is out, I think our best bet is to ride Randall and go to Dawkins only if that doesn't work.

JB: Definitely a mix of both. Randall kind of showed why we can't take him seriously as a passer, going 4-16 through the air. For what it's worth, Dawkins was 2-2 at the end of the game. If you put both of them in the backfield with Nick Wilson, what in the world is a defense to do? That could be amazing or a trainwreck.

RK: I'm torn on this. I don't like Randall having to throw the ball, but his running ability is outstanding and he's a big play waiting to happen. Plus, I'm not sure Dawkins is THAT much of a better thrower that he's worth taking Randall off the field for. That said, I do think that Dawkins should be used if Arizona is in an obvious passing sitation, like a two-minute drill or if they're down by multiple scores late in the game.

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Arizona football: Anu Solomon is day to day in preparation for Stanford

Anu Solomon will continue to be evaluated throughout the week

Anu Solomon's status for Stanford remains uncertain, as coach Rich Rodriguez said he is day to day after suffering a concussion vs. UCLA. He will be evaluated by the training staff every day this week, in an attempt to get cleared to play.

Through four games this season, Solomon is the only quarterback to throw for 11+ touchdowns and no interceptions. He's top 25 nationally in passer rating, currently sitting at 159, and top 35 in completion percentage, with 65.8%. Taking advantage of the intermediate routes, he's shown a stronger command of the offense.

And despite his success, there's still some complaints on his game. He over fires on the long ball repeatedly, doesn't have great arm strength, makes too many bad reads, and so on.

Anu Solomon is only a redshirt sophomore. And although he was able to find success throughout most of last season, while playing hurt, he's become a victim of his own success. Through the first three games, he has played exceptionally well, making his progressions, reading the defense and getting it done, albeit against mediocre talent. However, he had a rough outing while he was playing vs. UCLA, struggling to keep the offense going.

But, Anu Solomon is not even halfway through his second season as a starter and people expect him to get exponentially better, just because of his young age. Now, we don't know where Solomon's ceiling may be, but there will still be growing pains and bad games throughout his career at Arizona.

If he's cleared to play on Saturday, he'll tough it out and prepare to lead a banged up Arizona team vs. No. 18 Stanford. If the offensive line can't keep Solomon protected, or he makes some ill-advised decisions to take off, the injuries could linger much like last season, thus affecting his performance once again.

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Super Blood Moon Full Eclipse

I was driving home from a great photo shoot this evening, and witnessed this happening, as it literally rose up out of our horizon. I must have been under a rock this weekend (or buried in house projects and not reading the news) but I had no idea there was a blood-super-moon-eclipse due to happen […]

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Arizona football: Scooby Wright to miss several weeks with right foot sprain

Another tough blow to Arizona's best defensive player

At Monday's weekly press conference, Rich Rodriguez announced that Scooby Wright III will miss "several weeks" due to a right foot sprain he sustained during the UCLA game.

Coach said that the junior linebacker's left knee, which was the one he injured in the season-opener, came out fine. Wright suffered the injury when he landed awkwardly on his right foot at some point during the most recent game.

Rodriguez also said that the coaching staff feared that it was worse than what it was, but the MRI came back Monday morning and showed that Wright would miss a couple of weeks.

"If it was broken, which was a concern, we could have gotten a medical redshirt if we applied for it," Rodriguez explained. "Jamar Allah and Anthony Lopez suffered foot sprains in camp, and they returned in a few weeks, and with the way Scooby attacks his rehab, hopefully we'll have him back in a couple of weeks."

This, once again, means Tre Tyler is the guy in the middle for the Arizona defense. The Wildcats also need Derrick Turituri and DeAndre' Miller to get fully healthy to have any success on the defensive side of the ball.

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Arizona not quite ready for the big stage

When it comes to big time games, Arizona suddenly becomes a train wreck

With a primetime ESPN broadcast, hosting College GameDay, having Scooby Wright back on defense, to go along with all of UCLA's injuries on the defensive side of the ball, things were starting to fall in Arizona's favor. Not to mention it was the first road conference game for UCLA freshman quarterback Josh Rosen, facing a 3-3-5 defense, and it seemed as if Arizona might not actually be an underdog. But at the end of the day, Rosen and Paul Perkins exposed the 3-3-5 defense, and the home field advantage was tuned out early on, leaving Arizona flat on its face.

Rich Rodriguez has not won against Jim Mora at UCLA, but to be fair, Rich Rodriguez hasn't had much success vs. the Pac-12 South other than Utah and Colorado, who have been the weakest of the South for the past 3 years now. A combined record of 2-8 vs. Pac-12 South rivals Arizona State, UCLA and USC just isn't going to cut it for the program.

Arizona has come close to beating Pac-12 South rivals, but continues to fall short. They did have the opportunity to take down USC last year, but came up a field goal shy. Another competitive game with ASU back in 2012, falling just short again, followed by a blowout loss in Tempe back in 2013. They were completely shut down last year by UCLA after having them on the ropes at home in 2013. There's just been too much inconsistency within the Pac-12 South for Arizona.

Arizona was under the radar for much of the season last year, and still is to a degree, despite winning the Pac-12 South. But once they get to the big stage, Arizona just can't compete. The Pac-12 Championship Game was a complete nightmare, with Oregon finally getting redemption from the past two games. Then a few weeks later Arizona, gets drowned out in the first half in the Fiesta Bowl.

The expectation for this season should still be an 8-4 record at the bare minimum, but with Stanford finally getting things together and Utah rising in the Pac-12, those are two games that will be much more difficult than we once thought heading into the season.

Arizona can beat the teams they're expected to beat, and we saw that last year as well. But when it comes time to playing the giants of the Pac-12, or even coming up with tougher non-conference schedules, I'm not so sure Arizona is ready to compete. The talent level just doesn't seem to be at that level.

Rich Rodriguez is still working with some of his original recruiting classes, which wasn't loaded with big time talent. Whereas the UCLA's and USC's of the world have been landing 4 and 5-star guys for quite some time. Stars don't mean everything when it comes to recruiting, but the beginning talent level certainly makes a difference.

Arizona did beat Oregon in back-to-back seasons, but Rich Rodriguez has said that the match up plays in Arizona's favor, virtually seeing an Oregon style offense in practice everyday. As for the USC win back in 2012, that was just a big time upset for the program.

The big names that Rich Rodriguez has landed haven't quite panned out yet. But with Rich Rodriguez' latest  recruiting class, once those guys start to take shape, that's when Arizona begins its true elevation as a program.

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Sonoran Hot Reads: Arizona volleyball picks up big win vs. Oregon

Olympic sports are getting it done

It was a tough football weekend, but there is some good news for Arizona Wildcats fans out there. Volleyball swept 18th-ranked Oregon on Sunday. Here are some of the highlights

- Tennis player Jason Jaruvang had a big weekend as well, taking home a couple of titles

- Swimming and diving released their 2015-16 schedule

Football

- ESPN has Arizona 7th in their Pac-12 Power Rankings, but ASU is 9th, so that makes it a little better

- Saturday offered some clarity in the Pac-12, maybe. There's still a loooong way to go though, because the Pac-12 is essentially the Hunger Games. But who will be Katniss and Peeta and make it out alive to Santa Clara?

- Did UCLA show that they might be the best team in the nation, even with all their defensive injuries?

- Arizona fell out of the polls, but so did Oregon, and that's the first time since 2009 they are not ranked in the AP Poll

- Casey Skowron is a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy

- Arizona recruiting target N'Keal Harry had a 75-yard TD grab this weekend

Tucson news

- There are new ozone standards, and Pima County is right on the edge of being compliant

- Speaking of atmosphere, space, sciencey things, Mars has liquid water on it, so let's all move to Mars next week if Arizona goes to 0-2 in Pac-12 play

- Snoop Dogg was at Tucson High. I once saw him at the Rialto, and it was everything you would think it would be

- Did you miss the Super Blood Moon? Here are some time-lapse videos of it

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Arizona vs. Stanford: Wildcats visit Cardinal for first meeting since 2012

Arizona and Stanford meet on the gridiron for the first time since 2012 on Saturday night. The game is at 7:30 PT on Pac-12 Networks

Arizona's game will be extremely late at night, starting at 7:30 AZ time on Saturday night. It will be on Pac-12 Networks{"cache_age":"3153600000","url":"https://twitter.com/StanfordFball/statuses/648167433862189056","height":null,"provider_url":"https://twitter.com","provider_name":"Twitter","author_name":"Stanford Football","version":"1.0","author_url":"https://twitter.com/StanfordFball","type":"rich","html":"

We kick off this Saturday vs. Arizona in Stanford Stadium at 7:30pm PT with @Pac12Networks broadcast. #GoStanford #BeatZona

— Stanford Football (@StanfordFball) September 27, 2015

\n","width":550,"source_url":"https://twitter.com/StanfordFball/status/648167433862189056"}

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UCLA vs Arizona: Position Group Grades

Mediocre at best

Saturday was pretty embarrassing on all three facets for the Arizona Wildcats. From the snap to the quarterbacks, the quarterbacks throwing, to trying to stop UCLA, it was pretty rough.

Offense

Quarterbacks

Anu Solomon seemed to be out of rhythm for as long as he was in the game. He completed four passes on ten attempts for 55 yards and a touchdown. He was able to move out of the pocket pretty well while reading the coverage downfield, fleeing seven times for 47 yards.

In came Jerrard Randall for the hurt Solomon, who proceeded to take his play of the game to the house for a 39-yard touchdown run, his shortest scoring run of his career. He went on to complete four of 16 passes for 45 yards, and threw a 16-yard strike to David Richards in the back of the endzone for his first career passing touchdown. Randall could not hit his targets at all, and had about five near interceptions. His passes were either way too high, much like his snaps received, or just wide out of bounds. He was able to provide more on the ground, per usual, with 16 attempts for 128 yards, eight yards a carry.

Overall Grade: C

Running Backs

Nick Wilson was the only positive of the game last night, and he ended up leaving the game with what seemed to be an upper-body injury. He got a few more carries than you would expect, considering Arizona trailed the entire game, with 24 carries for 136 yards, good for 5.7 yards per touch. Jared Baker got things going when Wilson stepped out, taking 10 carries for 58 yards and a touchdown, with a long run of 29 yards.

Overall Grade: A

Wide Receivers

There were only 28 attempts despite trailing by about 21+ throughout the entire time. That could be due to the success of Nick Wilson, as well as the ineffectiveness of Jerrard Randall's arm. A lot of drops occurred throughout the night, but that was also due to the lack of quality throws. Cayleb Jones was the best receiver for Arizona, snagging four for 44 yards.

Brandon Dawkins did not have a catch, but picked up 18 receiving yards after a Jamardre Cobb fumble was scooped up by Dawkins.

Overall Grade: C+

Offensive Line

Now, a lot of this grade weighs heavily on Cayman Bundage, who just had a rough day overall. Way too many snaps were flying right at the heads of Anu Solomon and Jerrard Randall, which immediately rattled them and threw them off guard. With the most crucial play of the game being Bundage's snap over the head of Anu Solomon, things just seemed to go downhill from there.

The rest of the offensive line was good, as Nick Wilson was able to run effectively all night long, despite the significant deficit and a quarterback who couldn't hit his targets.

Overall Grade: C+

Defense

Defensive Line

There was absolutely no pressure on Josh Rosen, which was one of the keys for Arizona. Rosen had all the time he needed and then some to read the coverage, wait for it to eventually breakdown, and then deliver the strike. The ends were getting slammed out there, allowing Perkins to get wide, forcing the secondary to attempt to tackle to him.

Overall Grade: D

Linebackers

We got Scooby Wright III back, and of course he led the team in tackles. He obviously wasn't his normal self, playing his first full game of the season. Around Scooby Wright, it just seems like it's a rotational committee at linebacker, with RJ Morgan, Derrick Turituri, DeAndre' Miller and Jake Matthews. They didn't do anything great, and Rosen was able to throw it right over the top. And sadly enough, if the linebackers were even able to get to the outside and reach Perkins, they still could barely bring him down.

Overall Grade: D

Secondary

The secondary, and Cam Denson especially, got worked on Saturday. Now, there was zero pressure on Rosen, which forced the defensive backs to cover UCLA's receivers for 8+ seconds. William Parks led the team in tackles with Scooby, and Tellas Jones was probably the best player on defense, but Jamar Allah did not perform well, taking poor angles and hesitating on the pursuit.

Overall Grade: C

Special Teams

Casey Skowron brings down the group grade quite a bit, missing a chip shot field goal to end the first half and even an extra point in the 3rd quarter. The kickoff coverage was also miserable, allowing UCLA to start with great field position, not that it mattered because they would have scored from anywhere on the field.

Overall Grade: D

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UCLA vs. Arizona: Poor snap over Anu Solomon's head killed all momentum for the Wildcats

The timing of Cayman Bundage's worst career game couldn't have come at a worse time

After quickly scoring first to start the game off, Arizona then quickly lost any and all momentum for the first half. They allowed UCLA to march down the field with ease on their opening drive, going five plays for 45 yards in just over two minutes.

On the ensuing drive for Arizona, Cayman Bundage sent a snap over the head of Anu Solomon, giving UCLA the ball inside the Arizona 20. A Paul Perkins rush to the outside for 16 yards quickly changed the tide, giving UCLA a 14-7 lead.

Arizona didn't score on the next three drives, with two punts followed by another fumble, this one possibly due to a communication issue between Solomon and Nick Wilson in the backfield.

"Cayman's been good about that, but tonight he had a couple issues," Rich Rodriguez said after the game. "He gets excited, he's an intense player, but he's been good in the games. Tonight, he just had a couple of 'em."

Arizona ended up trailing in the first half 42-14, with UCLA converting both of Arizona's fumbles into touchdowns.

The killer for Arizona Saturday night was allowing UCLA to hold the ball and march down the field. It was crucial for Arizona to keep UCLA's offense off the field, a strategy popular among Arizona opponents. And once again, it worked, in a big way.

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Wildcat Radio Week Four Pick'em Results

Accountability at its finest.

Thanks to our friend @DaxTrujillo, Wildcat Radio has the results of our week four Pac-12 football picks on the podcast. We will keep a running tab after each week. The winner each week gets to host the podcast. Ties go to whomever has the best cumulative score.

Week Three Winner: Bryant (4-1)
Won: Stanford (-14), Cal (-3.5), UCLA (+3.5), USC (-6)
Lost: Oregon (-11)

Josh: (3-2)
Won: Stanford (-14), Cal (-3.5), USC (-6)
Lost: Oregon (-11), Arizona (-3.5)

Rick: (3-2)
Won: Stanford (-14), Cal (-3.5), USC (-6)
Lost: Oregon (-11), Arizona (-3.5)

Season Totals Against the Spread:

Bryant (18-14-1)
Rick (16-16-1)
Josh (16-16-1)

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College football rankings: Arizona Wildcats fall out of coaches and AP polls

Time for a bounce back

After being routed by the UCLA Bruins on Saturday night, the Arizona Wildcats have dropped out of the national polls for the time being, understandably.

Here's a look at how they look heading into week five.

	AP	Coaches	S&P+
1	Ohio State (45)	Ohio State (61)	Alabama
2	Michigan State (5)	Michigan State (2)	Florida State
3	Ole Miss (10)	TCU	West Virginia
4	TCU	Baylor	LSU
5	Baylor	Ole Miss (1)	Ole Miss
6	Notre Dame	Georgia	Clemson
7	UCLA	Notre Dame	Ohio State
8	Georgia	LSU	Oklahoma
9	LSU	Florida State	USC
10	Utah (1)	UCLA	Michigan
11	Florida State	Clemson	Georgia
12	Clemson	Utah	Notre Dame
13	Alabama	Alabama	Stanford
14	Texas A&M	Oklahoma	UCLA
15	Oklahoma	Texas A&M	Michigan State
16	Northwestern	USC	Wisconsin
17	USC	Northwestern	TCU
18	Stanford	Wisconsin	Baylor
19	Wisconsin	Oklahoma State	Duke
20	Oklahoma State	Stanford	Minnesota
21	Mississipi State	West Virginia	Florida
22	Michigan	Mississippi State	Penn State
23	West Virginia	Florida	Tennessee
24	Cal	Cal (tie)	Miami
25	Florida	Oregon (tie)	Texas A&M

Oregon fell out of the AP Poll, and shoutout to John Adams for voting Utah No. 1 in the nation. And, you can't even really question it. How Utah doesn't even sniff Michigan State after what the Utes did to Oregon compared what to the Spartans did to them is mind-blowing.

Arizona is technically 27th in the coaches poll and 28th in the AP poll. Ryan Finley, who I know was at the game because I saw him and talked to him, put the Wildcats 17th, and needs to reconsider so many things. That 17th is the highest Arizona was on any ballot.

I think the Wildcats fell to exactly where I thought they would. Just outside the Top 25 with a chance to redeem themselves in Stanford this week. Until then, they can deal with not having a number in front of their name.

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UCLA vs. Arizona: Wildcats players of the game

Who was actually good for Arizona?

That was an unfortunate showing by the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday against the UCLA Bruins, but there were actual bright spots around the team. So here's a look at who gets this week's Players of the Game nods:

Offense: Nick Wilson

By all metrics besides touchdowns, Nick Wilson actually outperformed Paul Perkins, and it wasn't really all that close. Both backs rushed the ball 24 times, and Wilson finished with 136 yards, while Perkins only picked up 85. Wilson was just gashing through holes consistently throughout the night, not having a single rush that resulted in a yardage loss. The Arizona pass protection may not have been great, but the run blocking game was on point.

Defense: Tellas Jones

Honestly, I couldn't tell you if anyone actually looked good on defense without going back and rewatching this (which I don't foresee happening), but Tellas Jones' numbers look pretty good compared to everyone else. He was tied for the team lead with six solo tackles, and also had a sack and a forced fumble. He seems like the most likely guy to fit that Tra'Mayne Bondurant mold, but more guys are going to need to perform a little better.

Special teams: Drew Riggleman

Riggleman basically wins this by default. Casey Skowron missed an extra point and a field goal, and Arizona was not able to return a kickoff or punt the entire night. Riggleman did average 49 yards on his three punts, and put two inside the 20. The one not inside the 20, he was in on the tackle. So he did have a good night, it's not entirely by default.

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UCLA vs. Arizona final score: Wildcats fumble opportunities against Bruins, fall 56-30

Turnover is not usually a good thing

There was a lot of turnover for the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday. There was the good side of it, where Scooby Wright III returned, and played a majority of the defensive snaps.

But then there was the bad side of it, mostly coming from the snaps of Cayman Bundage. Arizona's center was essentially responsible for two huge turnovers, sealing Arizona's fate against the UCLA Bruins. The Wildcats fell to UCLA by a score of 56-30.

Runnin' Randall: After Anu Solomon left the game due to an apparent head injury, the backup QB entered, and took the ball to the house. He went over 100 yards rushing on the night, finishing with 128. He also threw for a touchdown to David Richards, but then there was the turnover thing again, as he threw an interception to Ishmael Adams on one of many inaccurate tosses by the senior.

Slippery Pauly: Arizona's tackling was beyond bad throughout the game, letting Paul Perkins get yards that he had no business getting against a Division-1 defense. If you watched the game, you may be surprised to learn that Arizona actually outrushed UCLA by a lot (353-213), but Perkins' three rushing TDs, plus a Josh Rosen rushing TD and an additional one from Nate Starks overshadowed Arizona's rushing performance. When you look at it, Perkins only averaged 3.5 yards per carry. It just felt more like 35.

The defense did look better in the second half, which is pretty obvious considering 42 of UCLA's points came before halftime. But still, you can not survive in the Pac-12 coming out looking like that.

Special special teams: To compound Arizona's tackling woes, the kick and punt coverage did the team no favors either, letting UCLA have favorable field position time and time again. And then you mix in a missed field goal and a missed extra point from Casey Skowron, and you've got a poorly coached up squad by Charlie Ragle.

Freshman Phenom: Yeah, Josh Rosen is probably pretty good at this whole football thing. He was able to read Arizona's defense just fine, going 19-28 for 284 yards and a couple of touchdowns through the air. He's going to be an issue the next few years.

The Wildcats will look to regain some composure and respect next week in Palo Alto when they face the Stanford Cardinal. But hey, at least GameDay was fun.

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Anu Solomon injury: Arizona quarterback heads to locker room after shot to head

Arizona's starting QB has left the game

Early in the second quarter, Anu Solomon took this nasty hit, and was then immediately taken to the Arizona Wildcats locker room.

Here's the play that sent Anu Solomon to the locker room 2nd qtr http://pic.twitter.com/gbiKkZ6eWx

— AZ Wildcat Country (@Wildcat_Country) September 27, 2015

Jerrard Randall replaced him, immediately ran for 39 yards and a touchdown. However, Randall did not look particularly effective throwing the ball, as he has already thrown an interception to Ishmael Adams. He does have his first career passing touchdown, hitting David Richards in the endzone early in the third quarter.

We'll update Solomon's status as soon as we know more, but he did not return to start the second half.

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UCLA vs Arizona: First half impressions

Anu Solomon leaves the half with an apparent head injury

The defense has been absolutely laughable for Arizona, and some costly turnovers have not helped Arizona gain any ground.

An impressive first drive for the Arizona offense to start the game out, scoring with ease. Some Nick Wilson runs, mixed in with some solid Anu reads, and Arizona was on the board after a 34-yard strike to Nate Phillips.

From there, it kind of went downhill in the first half. Nate Phillips was flagged for celebrating, causing Arizona to kickoff from the 20 yard line, and after a solid return from UCLA, they found themselves at near midfield to open the game.

A bad snap by Bundage led to UCLA another touchdown, giving UCLA two scores in the span of seven seconds. The entire defense is struggling to keep up with the receivers down the field, cover the flats, and wrap up to make a tackle. Paul Perkins is a beast in the backfield, and Arizona can't seem to stop him.

Rosen has a lot of time in the pocket, able to go over the top of the safeties and keep them honest, while mixing in the flats and Paul Perkins to the offensive rolling. There is absolutely no outside contain for Arizona, and Paul Perkins is exposing the defense single handedly.

Jerrard Randall needed to be mixed in on the offense, and after Anu Solomon left the field after taking a knee to the head, in comes Jerrard Randall, touchdown machine. His 39-yard touchdown run was the shortest of his career. When Jerrard Randall took over quarterbacking duties, it showed why he wasn't in contention for the starting role. He overthrew every pass to his receivers and threw an interception directly to a UCLA defender.

Fumbles by Anu Solomon were just Arizona shooting themselves in the foot, giving UCLA the ball in Arizona territory twice, not even giving the Arizona offense a chance to make a play.

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Photo Gallery: ESPN GameDay signs at The University of Arizona

View this gallery here.

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Sonoran Hot Reads: UCLA vs. Arizona previews galore

Getting ready for the big day

Saturday is finally here, and campus has been buzzing since the GameDay bus rolled onto the mall earlier this week.

There's plenty of stuff to know before the game starts, so here are some important things you should focus on:

- Scooby Wright III is likely to play for Arizona, according to Kirk Herbstreit and several other reporters. This, of course, is hugely important news for the Wildcats

- Our counterparts over at Bruins Nation have their weekly guesses, and also explore the coaching staff's continuity and how that benefits the Wildcats. They also gave us the UCLA perspective on the game

- This game will have College Football Playoff implications, but don't forget about the North too

- Think this is fairly obvious, but here are Desmond Howard and David Pollack telling us that the running game will determine the winner

- Did you know every Pac-12 team has a winning record?

- We were at this College GameDay crew availability, where they explain why Tucson is a great place to have GameDay

- The line has dropped to -3 for UCLA

- Arizona's weird defense might be enough to fluster Josh Rosen

- Anthony Gimino says UCLA will win 35-31. Of course, I was the only one on our staff that has Arizona winning. This advanced stats preview by Roll Bama Roll also has UCLA winning and covering

Other sports

- Women's soccer continues to impress, taking down No. 21 Washington 1-0

- GymCat Friday features Skyler Sheppard

- Margo Geer is one of nine finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year

- Women's golf starts their season on Sunday in Orlando. Men's golf is in 15th place after their first round

- Men's tennis went 13-3 on Friday

Tucson news

- Ann Weaver Hart is getting a nice bonus.

- That's it. It's Game Day! Let's go!!

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Arizona hosting 110+ recruits for UCLA

Some big names are coming to Tucson for College GameDay

Arizona is looking to capitalize on the opportunity that is College GameDay. Arizona will be hosting 110+ recruits, all on unofficial visits. Below are a list of a few notable and/or newer names to watch out for.

Melquise Stovall

A once USC commit, Stovall reopened his recruitment and has a few schools on his radar. He mentioned Arizona, Arizona State, both Washington schools, Oregon State, and Utah. They were all involved in his commitment prior to his pledge to USC, so we'll see how he takes the visit.

He's a 5-8 180lb all purpose back, ranked 167th overall and 4th in his position. He already took an official visit to Notre Dame earlier this month.

Josh JJ Allen

Josh is trying to make the trip out to Tucson, which would be an unofficial visit. He has some trips lined up for USC, Alabama and possibly a few others, but an impressive showing could keep him safe. He will be visiting with Long Beach City College teammate and Arizona commit London Iakopo on October 24th.

Byrce Gilbert

A 6-5 210lb junior receiver out of Higley High School (Gilbert, AZ), Gilbert will be a highly sought out recruit by the time his senior season rolls around.

AZCentral's Richard Obert ranked him as the 10th best high school receiver in the state of Arizona, just one of four juniors to make the list. He's a freak, owning a 39-inch vertical jump and a 4.6 40, while maintaining a 3.25 GPA. He's definitely someone to look out for in the 2017 recruiting class.

In just four games this season, he has caught 17 receptions for 388 yards, closing in on his season total from last year, 32 for 505.

Zakari Rackey

Gilbert's teammate at Higley, Zakari Rackey, will also make the trip to Tucson. He is a 6-2 180lb senior defensive back, who would likely be looking at a walk-on/preferred walk-on situation. He runs a 4.5 40 and has accounted for nine tackles through three games, giving him 31 career tackles at Higley.

Darnay Holmes

One of the most prized recruits in the 2017 class will be in attendance on Saturday in Darnay Holmes. Ranked No. 2 among all corners and No. 7 in the nation, Arizona could have a pretty good shot at landing. His brother, Darik Holmes, is a freshman running back for Arizona.

Holmes could virtually pick any school he wanted, but you have to think his brother could have some sort of influence.

2017 five-star CB Darnay Holmes will take unofficial visit to #Arizona for #UCLA game this weekend #BearDown http://pic.twitter.com/QQFGitSOQ2

— Adam Gorney (@adamgorney) September 22, 2015

Mitch Lightfoot

A basketball recruit will be in attendance, with 6-8 200lb power forward Mitch Lightfoot. It's essentially down to Arizona, Kansas, and Utah, or so it seems. He's got an official visit coming up in October to Arizona, so this visit gives him a little sneak peak, with some Arizona football thrown into the mix.

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UCLA vs. Arizona: Q & A with Bruins Nation's Greg Burcham

We chatted with BruinsNation's Greg Burcham about Josh Rosen, defensive injuries, and Pac-12 officiating.

Every week, we talk to someone who covers the opposing team to get an insider's perspective on our opponent. This week, we talked to Greg Burcham, a managing editor over at BruinsNation, to get his thoughts on this game.

1. Josh Rosen looked really impressive against Virginia, but struggled a little bit against BYU. How do you expect him to perform against Arizona this week?

Greg Burcham: Well, it's a little harder to predict now than it was a week ago, isn't it? Josh looked so polished and poised and calm in the first game that we thought maybe we weren't going to see a lot of the bad mistakes and poor decisions that you'd expect from a true freshman. But that's exactly what he looked like against BYU, especially in the first half when he threw 3 picks. One was just kind of a bad luck bounce on a tight throw, but two were just simply bad decisions - rolling right and throwing late back across the middle on a shortened field.  To his credit, he didn't seem to show much wear for it, and he played a safe and solid, if not spectacular, second half. Rosen has great tools and an enormous ceiling, but while he may be adept at making college level throws, reading college level defensive fronts and coverages is still new to him. I'm sure your defensive coordinator noticed that BYU threw a lot of disguised fronts and zone blitzes at him, and that's what will force Rosen and Bruin fans to face those growing pains. So having said that, it's hard to predict which Josh Rosen we'll see in Tucson, but I think a lot of his fate will be determined by the success, or lack of, in the running game. If the Bruins can control the ground game, then Rosen will have the luxury of picking and choosing his spots and will hopefully have learned some lessons from last week about trying to do too much. If not, then the Arizona defense will really have the advantage on the kid.

2. Both Arizona and UCLA have seen their defenses devastated by injuries early this season. What defenders for UCLA do you expect to see step up now that Myles Jack, Eddie Vanderdoes, and Fabian Moreau are out?

Greg Burcham: Yeah, don't you just hate injuries? Having said that, it would be great if Scooby could use one more week of recovery, just to be safe, you know? As for the Bruins, it's going to be committee approach. Vanderdoes was an honorable mention All Pac-12 Player last year, but the Bruins had some good luck with Eli Ankou and Matt Dickerson and Jacob Tuioti-Mariner filling his spot in the last 2 games. The Bruins are lucky to have probably the conference's top NT beside them in Kenneth Clark as he's going to demand a lot of double teams which leaves a bit more space for the tackles filling in for Vanderdoes. Fabian Moreau was the Bruins best corner, but they are pretty deep in the secondary, and the Bruins did get a bit of a break with the return of Ishmael Adams this week. Adams was suspended since the preseason after a knuckleheaded episode with an Uber driver got him arrested. All the major charges are now dropped (he may still face a misdemeanor count), so he was reinstated this week. Another option would be to move Randall Goforth from safety to corner and go with his backup Tahaan Goodman. Replacing Jack is near impossible because he is so good at playing both the run and pass. He plays one ILB in base defense and then slides outside to cover the slot receiver in the nickel.  Look for Aaron Wallace or Isaako Savaiinaea and Jayon Brown to work in his ILB spot against the run, and we could see Adams come in to play that slot cover position in nickel. The problem with all that is it is so hard to sub against Arizona's high tempo offense, and it would be easy enough to audible to a play depending on personnel. Filling Jack's shoes will be the major challenge for DC Tom Bradley this weekend.

3. As a UCLA fan, what aspect of this match-up worries you the most? What aspect are you the most confident in?

Greg Burcham: This game worried me from the start of training camp since it's the first conference game and I simply expect the talent level and speed and competition to be that much higher than any of the preseason opponents (Virginia, UNLV, BYU). I don't think Arizona got enough credit in the run-up to the 2015 season. Most people were picking Southern Cal, then ASU or UCLA, and then Arizona and Utah kind of coming next. All Arizona is is the defending Pac-12 South champs who beat Oregon last year, and who have a lot of key players including QB coming back. The South is just so deep this year that there is so little room for error. On the other hand, and this may seem sort of counter intuitive, but I think this week's injuries will really rally the Bruins together in a sort of an us-against-the-world mindset, and I think they'll come out focused and play their best game so far this year. Now, they may or may not have enough talent across the lineup to beat a great team on the road anymore, but I feel confident that we'll see a great effort from U.C.L.A. this Saturday. And U.C.L.A. has been really solid on the road the last couple years.

4. What is your prediction for the game?

Greg Burcham: The Pac-12 refs will screw something up. That's pretty much a given. Honestly, I think the the main focus of the Wildcats' defense should be stopping the Bruins run game which racked up 296 yrs against BYU. If the D can contain the Bruins running game, then the pressure falls on Rosen to keep the offense moving, and I'm sure the Arizona DC saw some things from the BYU game that he'll use or tweak to confuse Rosen. You have to like the reliability of Anu Solomon over Josh Rosen right now. That, combined with the high tempo offense of the Cats, should let them really dictate the play to the Bruins defense, especially if they can pinpoint certain personnel in the secondary. It should be a very interesting matchup, and whichever teams survives this will have a huge step up in the Pac-12 South race.

Thanks to Greg for answering our questions! Be sure to follow him on Twitter @gbruin91 and to check out BruinsNation for the UCLA take on this game.

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