One bad snap. Two bad snaps. Three bad snaps. It felt like The Count from Sesame Street was just laughing at all of Tucson as the miscues kept repeating for the Wildcats on national television as UCLA took advantage of every opening they could find. While the depth of Arizona is a serious question mark for this Rich Rodriguez squad, the time to lick wounds is not something the team can afford with the Stanford Cardinal ready and waiting at Stanford Stadium as they look to display their return to prominence.
Can the Cats Win at Stanford?
If it feels like its been a while since the last win at the Farm, that’s because it is. Arizona has not taken home a W leaving Stanford since the 2006 stadium. Normally when it has been a near decade since your last win in your opponent’s house it breeds some kind of ill feeling in the bottom of your stomach. The last matchup between these teams however produced a classic. In 2012 the Cats were a touchdown away from tying the game and sending it to a double-overtime contest when they came up short. Pushing Stanford to an overtime finish when the Wildcats weren’t even ranked going into that game showed signs of what was to come for the Rich Rodriguez era in Arizona. One big difference though between this year’s team and that 2012 squad. They had a running back by the name of Ka’Deem Carey. While Nick Wilson shows signs of greatness, the sophomore will need to bring his best performance of the year thus far if the Cats expect to beat the Pac-12 North leading Cardinal squad.
Limiting Christian McCaffrey with Limited Defense
To say Arizona’s defense is hurting right now would be as big an understatement as saying the Great Wall of China is long. Scooby Wright is once again injured as he sprained his foot against UCLA in a game many felt the team rushed him back to the field too quickly and has now produced nervous chatter as to whether or not Wright will forgo his senior year and apply to the NFL draft come season’s end in order to save his draft stock from plummeting any further. The Wildcats will look to once again go towards their fourth-stringers at middle linebacker and lean heavily on packing the line of scrimmage with bodies in order to prevent Chrisian McCaffrey from having another 200-yard game for the second week in a row. Watch for the Cats to dare quarterback Kevin Hogan to throw on them and beat them through the air. A dangerous game to play considering Hogan is third in the Pac-12 in quarterback rating.
Second Stringer Signal Caller for Cats
Jerrard Randall may see himself under center for the Wildcats as Anu Solomon battles his concussion that he suffered after sliding into the thigh of a UCLA Bruin in last week’s contest. Should that be the case it will be imperative for Randall to find himself a comfortable spot in the run-pass offense of Rich Rod. Last week there were quite a few bad snaps that led to turnovers, but when Randall did get the ball it looked as if he was trying far too hard to gun the ball to his receivers rather than put touch on the pass and lead his weapons towards the sticks and eventually the endzone. Its common to see quarterbacks come into a game after an injury to their incumbent and perhaps force the issue a bit too much. Given the last week to really work on his game and his position in the offense perhaps he finds that touch pass and calmness in the pocket he was lacking last week. However, don’t expect the Cardinal defense to just Randall untouched on those rollouts. Once that whistle blows, it may look like a wave of red and white will be gunning for the senior quarterback.
The Cats will look to play the upset game against Stanford and knock off the No. 18 Cardinal and perhaps fight their way back into the playoff discussion at 7:30 PM in Stanford, California.