The bowl season in college football is upon us and one of the first kickoffs to end the college football season will be starring the University of Arizona Wildcats. The squad has battled injuries and the constant rumors of their head coach Rich Rodriguez supposedly entertaining the advances of other programs to take over the reigns elsewhere such as South Carolina among others. Instead coach Rodriguez seems to be sticking it out with Arizona as he desires to finish what he started with this team and looks to try and build towards the future with a win in the Gildan New Mexico Bowl after a season that is a large step down from where they found themselves last season.
Wildcats Quarterback Questions
Anu Solomon has had a season where the argument isn’t that he is one of the better Pac 12 quarterbacks in the conference but instead he could have been one of the better at his position if he had stayed healthier throughout more of the season. In limited time due to consistent injury troubles Solomon has been able to throw for over 2,000 yards with an impressive 62% completion percentage and his 18 touchdowns put him at 8th in that category among conference quarterbacks. It is hard to imagine what his numbers would be if he had stayed in the league but the projections could put him perhaps in the top five in most major categories, but that isn’t the world the Wildcats have lived in. Instead they had to rely on Jerrard Randall to take over at times and have found a strong scrambling option in the senior quarterback from Hollywood, Florida. His nine yards per carry leads the conference over all other quarterbacks and running backs shockingly which includes a long run of 73 yards earlier in this season. How Rich Rodriguez intends to use both of these players to their ability remains to be seen but the team has had a history since the emergence of Randall of going with both quarterbacks at times throughout a game. We’ll see which has more success on the Lobos defense.
Lobos Running Wild
The New Mexico Lobos did not stun people in the Mountain West with their offense where they placed ninth in the twelve team conference with just over 430 yards a game this season. However the team found multiple weapons in the running game this season with three players going over 650 yards on the ground throughout the year, including quarterback Lamar Jordan. When you include the speed of Jordan as well as the running abilities of Jhurell Pressley and Teriyon Gipson who both ran for 846 and 766 yards respectively it creates a serious threat of play action fakes as well as pitches after those fakes that could draw safeties and linebackers out of position. The thing for the Lobos however is that they will need to find a steady flow of passing as well as they stand with only 208 pass attempts this season which was the sixth fewest in all of college football. Jordan has not been very reliable in the passing game at times with his 53% completion percentage and his four touchdowns to six interceptions. Needless to say the Wildcats will more than likely run commit often in this game but that could create serious holes in the backfield and if the Lobos can take advantage of that they could seriously damage the Wildcats defense and when the team then tries to sit on quick throws it could create running lanes against an Arizona defense that has been gashed in the past.
Returning the Wright Way
Scooby Wright earlier this season returned from a knee injury and instead of starting a repeat performance from his dominance from last season instead found himself injured again and missing almost the entire 2015 campaign. It is reported that Wright will be returning in this bowl game against the Lobos and will likely be putting a lot on display in this game. It is still unclear if the former All-American will be returning to school next season so this game could realistically be his NFL draft showcase game. His knee injury has put a serious question on how high Wright is actually going to be considered in the draft by teams in the NFL. The major concern for Wright and the team is will he re-injure that knee during this game The other concern that NFL scouts as well as educated football fans will have is whether or not Wright will out think himself and press in his return as he tries to salvage whatever draft stock he may have left. The Lobos may want to take advantage of that and see just how hard the linebacker will try to force the issue on the defensive side of the ball. If he can just handle his job and assignments in the game he should be fine. If he presses and tries to do more than he needs to, there may be gaps in the defense that New Mexico can take advantage of.
This swan song for the 2015 Wildcats will kick off in Branch Field at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico this Saturday at 12:00 PM on ESPN.