Arizona Football: 5 Questions Heading Into Colorado
By Brad Malone
Thanks to a dominating 44-7 win over Oregon State at home last Saturday, Arizona Football is back on track for now.
October 3, 2015; Stanford, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Jerrard Randall (8) passes the football against the Stanford Cardinal during the first quarter at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The Wildcats have an excellent chance to pick up some wins the next few weeks, but first comes the Colorado Buffaloes this Saturday.
Colorado has a National Title and Heisman Trophy winner on their football mantle, but these are not your Dad’s Buffaloes. Colorado has been the punching bag of the Pac-12 since they joined the conference in 2011, but each year there has been baby steps in improvement. Rich Rodriguez and co. are hopeful the Buffaloes can wait another couple years before they start to get things figured out.
Here are five questions going into Saturday night’s game in Boulder.
Can the Red Zone Defense Improve?
Against the Beavers last weekend, the Cats defense looked like a second cousin to the 1985 Chicago Bears, but they still struggled to defend in the red zone.
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Last weekends Wildcats defense was a bit deceiving because Oregon State only made one trip into the red zone all day. The Beavers scored a second quarter rushing touchdown for their only points in the game.
The Cats red zone defense is the worst in the Pac-12. They have allowed their opponents to score 24 out of 25 trips into the red zone, giving up 19 touchdowns.
If you’re into stats, that means the Cats have allowed points in the red zone 96 percent of the time. If the Cats want to have any chance of getting back into the Pac-12 South race, this needs to improve drastically.
The good news for Arizona fans is Colorado is dead last in the Pac-12 in offensive red zone efficiency.
Will Anu Have His 2015 Break Out Game?
Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
The knock on Anu Solomon in 2014 was he was inconsistent. At times, he would be great one-quarter and then his play would drop off drastically the next.
Keep in mind this did not stop Anu from having a record-breaking freshman season.
Besides a concussion against UCLA, Solomon has been more than serviceable in 2015. Critics may point out his issues of overthrowing receivers so far this season, but this Arizona fan can accept that, considering Solomon has made good decisions and has not thrown an interception so far in 145 passing attempts.
Solomon has had some solid showings so far this year but nothing that screams video game mode.
This might change against the Buffaloes.
Last year Solomon had one of his best games, at home against Colorado. He passed for 211 yards and had four touchdowns with no picks. He added 105 yards rushing that night.
Is the New Defense a One Hit Wonder?
Arizona Wildcats
Tucson was not expecting the Cats only to give up seven points on a scorching Saturday. Fans were ready for a shootout until the last play.
The Arizona coaching staff squashed that theory when they started from scratch and tried a brand new linebacker corps.
Moving Arizona Western transfer Paul Magloire Jr. from safety to outside linebacker seemed to do the trick after all he led the team with nine tackles against the Beavers.
Plugging Jake Mathews and DeAndre Miller into the other linebacker spots made the transformation of the defense complete.
But will this continue to work?
Arizona’s defensive domination didn’t include an injured Davonte Neal and a banged up Jamar Allah, who sat out most of the game.
If Neal and Allah can come back on Saturday along with the new linebacker lineup, we may have a better idea if this defense is for real or made of duct tape.
Who Will Be the Cats Leading Rusher?
Oct 10, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats running back Jared Baker (23) runs the ball during the third quarter against the Oregon State Beavers at Arizona Stadium. Arizona won 44-7. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Averaging nearly 300 yards a game on the ground in 2015 the Cats only trail Oregon as the top rushing team in the conference.
Last week it was Jared Baker‘s turn to lead the team. He had 123 yards on the ground.
Baker became the third different player to lead the team in rushing in the first six games.
Will Nick Wilson or Jerrard Randall again lead the squad in rushing on Saturday?
After his three touchdown performance against Oregon State maybe Orlando Bradford will surprise us again, but this time with a career day on the ground.
The wild card in all of this is Anu Solomon. After his career rushing day against the Buffaloes last year, could he be a threat to lead the team in rushing in this one?
Probably not.
Can Arizona Lose This Game?
Most definitely.
College football is weird. Every week someone big goes down and instead of the country accepting the loss, they scratch their heads and say ‘How did that happen?’
Arizona has dug itself into a hole and is a lot of wins away from being considered ‘big’ again, but they should win this game.
If you thought the Cats killed themselves with turnovers against UCLA, then watch the game tapes of when the Buffaloes lost to Oregon and Sparky.
Wildcats fans should be a little upbeat about Colorado’s difficulties of holding onto the ball.
Arizona is 4-0 this year when it forces a turnover.