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Arizona Football: Wildcats vs NAU, Everything You Need to Know

By Miguel Gonzalez

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Yes, there are rumors of College GameDay coming to town for the UCLA game but before we get ahead of ourselves lets not forget that we still have a home game this weekend.

The Arizona Football team takes on Northern Arizona University this Saturday at Arizona Football Stadium. So before e get all excited about the possible top 20 showdowns in the desert next weekend, we must first take care of business this weekend.

NAU is nationally ranked 24th in the FCS Coach’s Poll and Stats Top 25. This year is also the year that the Lumberjacks celebrate 100 years of football in Flagstaff. What better way to celebrate than with a huge win against a Top-20 team?

I have heard a couple of interviews on the radio with our head coach Rich Rodriguez and the Voice of Arizona Wildcats Sports Brian Jeffries. From the sound of it and looking at back at some stats, beating NAU might not be the simple game win that a lot of people think it will be.

The Lumberjacks have beaten the No. 24 ranked Stephen F. Austin 34-28 on the road in week one. Last week they followed that up with a 41-5 win against New Mexico Highlands.

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NAU is a passing team and is ranked 2nd in their division in pass efficiency and have the 10th most passing yards in the FCS. Lead by their freshman quarterback Case Cookus, who is coming off a game where he went 17-24 in pass attempts for 296 yards and three touchdowns. He threw to Co-Big Sky Root Sports Offensive Player of The Week sophomore Emanuel Butler, who had 216 yards in last week game.

On the defensive end the Lumberjacks were led by Josh Bamrick and Derik Hall, who is a Tucson product out of Sahuaro High School, they had six tackles each. NAU as a defense was credited with five sacks, ten tackles for loss, and 11 quarterback hurries.

Now we look into how we match up and what we have going for us. It just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t mention Nick Wilson. Does he really need an explanation? He ran for 97 yards on 22 attempts, averaging 9.7 yards per carry and had unfair touchdowns. We might just rely on him to do the same thing again this week.

Anu Solomon had an excellent game last week also, going 24-33 for 264 yards and two touchdowns. Cayleb Jones led on the receiving end with 103 yards with a long reception of 41 yards. All combined it resulted in a final score of 44-20 for the Wildcats over the Nevada Wolfpack.

On the defensive end, the Wildcats held the Wolf Pack to 159 yards in passing. Wildcats let more yards on the ground then in the air that, given that we have almost eliminated the inside linebacker position because of injury is not the worst thing. We have had some great guys step up and do their part on the defensive end. It’s almost unfair to single anyone out because it has been a team effort on the defensive end.

After a reviewing the matchup, this game may be a little closer than expected but the Wildcats should be able to pull out a win and improve to 3-0. Arizona is going into a potentially huge matchup in the desert next week against UCLA. 

Let’s make sure we show up loud and proud Saturday to show how great an atmosphere Arizona Football Stadium is and why we should be noticed. Of course as always BEARDOWN and let’s go Wildcats Football.

Game Information: NAU (2-0) vs. Arizona (2-0)

Game Prediction: Wildcats 45 Lumberjacks 24

Location: Tucson, Arizona – Arizona Stadium (57,400)

Television: Pac-12 Networks

Radio:   TuneIn – Live Event  – Arizona IMG Sports Network

Series Lead: The Wildcats have won the last 11 meetings over NAU, The Lumberjacks have never beaten the Wildcats in Tucson.

Last Meeting: August 30, 2013, in Tucson –  Arizona 35 NAU 0

Buy Tickets: HERE

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