Things certainly have not looked bright for the Arizona Wildcats football team since the visit from ESPN’s Gameday crew. Since that game the Cats have yet to register a win and on top of that have come off looking quite outclassed in every games since. The 56 to 30 loss against UCLA started the downward spiral out of the Top 25 and the 55 to 17 loss really put a bow on the top of the hand that Rich Rodriguez’s squad has been dealt since the later half of September. Trying to get back on track against the Oregon State Beavers should look like an easy task, but this Wildcats team seems to be facing a lot more adversity than other squads.
Reading Into Solomon’s Return
With Anu Solomon’s progression back onto the practice field after the concussion he suffered against the UCLA Bruins the Wildcats are looking to utilize the quarterback’s skill set in the zone read once again. The last game against the Cardinal at Stanford, Jerrard Randal showed a lot of signs of a backup quarterback with his inconsistent passes and tendency to throw the ball into bad spots forcing punts on the offensive side of the ball. While Arizona still ranks in the top three in the Pac-12 in total offense, the passing game is struggling mightily with only 1114 passing yards to date which places the team in the ninth slot overall in conference. Oregon State will look to try and limit the stalwart play of Nick Wilson out of the backfield of Arizona and see just how reliable the zone read is for Solomon throwing the ball down the field. At some point the receivers of Arizona must start making plays if they are going to continue having success running the football, otherwise teams will just stack eight in the box and control the line of scrimmage from here until the end of the season.
Reprieve For The Defense?
If numbers never lie, this is the perfect team for the Wildcats to face after their terrible run of defense the last two weeks. The Beavers have amassed the fewest yards in the conference to date and seem to have a problem putting serious drives together throughout the year. That being said even a toothless beaver can still build a dam if he puts his mind to it. Oregon State has had moderate success running the ball throughout the year and while they still rank along the bottom half of the conference in that category, the beaten and broken U of A defense may give up a few yards in their struggling 3-3-5 set up. The last two weeks the team has given up 111 points as well as over 1,000 yards of total offense. The outcries of Arizona faithful are calling for an end to the 3-3-5, but Rich Rodriguez seems confident the lineup will eventually do the job they need to compete in the Pac-12
Bandaging The Linebackers
Scooby Wright is hurt again and it continues to plague the season for Wildcats and shows no signs of slowing down. The depth of the linebacker corp in general has been put under a serious microscope as many wonder whether or not Rodriguez has really been developing any of his future talent with the lack of production coming from the backups within that unit. Again, running the 3-3-5 is meant to focus heavily on the middle linebacker’s play and that specific player’s ability to flow towards the football depending on where the play goes. Thus far with Wright being out, the Mike linebacker has not flowed to the ball. In fact, some would say the entire defense has scooted at a snail’s pace to the ball over the last few weeks. If the 3-3-5 is going to continue at Arizona, there must be some consistent play out of not just the middle linebacker, but in the initial front eight as there has been no controlling the line of scrimmage nor putting pressure on the quarterback as of late. Should this be another blowout or even a shootout with Anu Solomon’s return perhaps igniting the offense, look for further pressure on Rodriguez to change the defense and move it to a traditional 3-4 setup.
The game will kick off at 1:00 PM at Arizona Stadium on FS1.