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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