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Arizona Football: Everything You Need to Know About the USC Game

By Shereen Rayan

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Arizona’s football team and USC’s football team both have had a heck of a two weeks and they face each other this weekend. 

USC has beaten Arizona 11 out of the last 15 games in the series, and the last eight games have been decided by seven or fewer points. Once again the Wildcats are traveling to an opponent who is celebrating their homecoming, another late game.

Last season Arizona lost at home to USC, the game went down to the final seconds of the game. Then USC Coach Steve Sarkisian decided to ice Arizona’s place kicker Casey Skowron. In what seemed like a very late whistle, Skowron made the first field goal and as the ball sailed through the uprights, the referee whistle went off for a Sarkisian time out.

“The Injuries play a part of it, but I think the last couple of weeks it’s been execution.” – Coach Rich Rodriguez

This meant that Skowron had to kick the field goal again and this time he missed it much to the dismay that all the fans in attendance. If you look closely at the feature photo from this game, you can see it looks like Skowron was roughed, but there was no call. Skowron received supposed death threats for missing the kick. Later on in the season he made a field goal in a crucial game and became a hero. So goes Arizona Football fandom.

RELATED STORY –> Arizona Wildcats Kicker Casey Skowron: Villan to Hero

Arizona still has things to play for; one more win gets them eligible for a bowl game. Also, one huge win over the next three opponents will upset the Pac-12 and give the Wildcats and their fans something to feel good about. Maybe Yoga helped them?

Hopefully the team and players who played in that game remember how they felt last season after the loss and use that to motivate them to execute plays, step it up and beat the Trojans at home.

The Wildcats

If you don’t know what happened last week, you were face-deep in either candy or beer, in any case, the Wildcats lost to the Huskies, 49-3. You can beat yourself up over why it happened, or you can just accept what Coach Rich Rodriguez said after the game, which is saying they didn’t play well.

In Tuesday’s Pac-12 coaches call, coach Rich Rodriguez was asked a whole bunch of questions this week, and the questions and answers were insightful.

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Coach Rich Rodriguez and USC head coach Clay Helton go way back, “I may have met Clay when I was coaching at Tulane, and we were playing Huston and I believe he was the coach then, and I have a lot of respect for him then and a coach kind of followed his career. He’s done a fabulous job, and I know we traded, we were both young guys trading a lot of ideas when we got together.

Coach Rodriguez hasn’t seen too many changes in the teams since Coach Helton took over, “Not as much scheme-wise, I mean you see scheme and some things in all three phases that are a little bit different. But I think because the coordinators are in place, and the players know those scheme’s..they’re sticking to it. But the guys are playing really hard, I think they’re playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of swagger, so I think he has done a great job.”

Sep 19, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez talks to quarterback Anu Solomon (12) during the first quarter against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at Arizona Stadium. Arizona won 77-13. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

There has been a lot of talk in chat rooms about using injuries as an excuse; the feelings are mixed, but also fans seem to be extremely upset that we were on a roll from last year, and frankly they are having a hard time reconciling what has happened with their Arizona Wildcats football team. Coach Rodriguez addressed that question as well, “The Injuries play a part of it, but I think the last couple of weeks it’s been execution.”

Rodriguez is not happy and still making sure everyone knows that without a bye week, it’s hard to make changes.

"“Last games execution [it was] in every phase and the week before that I think it was defensively, you know poorly executed, we are doing all we can to fix some of our problems. Some of them can’t be fixed and we don’t have time to — with a kind of a break in the season so to speak in the season to kind of regroup and move guys.Normally maybe you would move guys around and try to fix a few problems that way but you really can’t do that when you have short weeks or weeks without a break. We got to have a sense of urgency and frankly we just gotta play better, it’s no secret. We’re just going back to work to try to fix it.”"

As far as his Quarterback Anu Solomon, he feels he is doing too much and he needs to let the game come to him and let the flow of the offense come to him. Also, he believes that USC’s coaching adversity has brought the team together, and they want to ‘right the ship’, and that’s what they are dong.

As far as tackling, he has a young defense playing now, and part of the concern is that if they get hurt, there’s no one to replace them. That’s how thin the team is on defense. The younger players usually spend most of their time bulking up so they can perform better next season.

The Trojans

The Trojans are coming off of a second straight win, this time beating Cal  27-21. USC’s Adoree’ Jackson intercepted Cal’s Jeff Goff for a pick six to put the Trojans up 24-7, pounding the nail in the coffin for Cal. It was his first interception of the season.

Oct 24, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (9) runs back a kickoff during the first quarter against the Utah Utes at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

The Trojans also had their star wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. Smith-Schuster apparently had been playing with a fractured hand, and the decision today was to perform the surgery. According to Gary Klein of the LA Times, he has racked up 53 receptions for 960 yards and eight touchdowns so far in the season but probably won’t play this weekend.

"Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had surgery on his right hand Monday and is doubtful to play against the Wildcats at the Coliseum.Interim Coach Clay Helton did not say definitively that Smith-Schuster would be sidelined against the Wildcats. But it’s unlikely USC would jeopardize the sophomore’s ability to play the rest of the season."

Coach Clay Helton offered praise for Rodriguez on the Pac-12 conference call, “I’ve watched coach Rodriguez coach for over 20 years, and I’ve always been a huge fan of his. I have a lot of respect for him; he’s one of the more offensive brilliant minded coaches there is out there.”  On Rodriguez’s offensive coaching abilities, “He has established one of the most premier run games as well as RPO games for a pass option star in the country averages 265 yards.”

Records: Trojans (5-3, 3-2) vs. Arizona (5-4, 2-4)  USC Favored by -19 (MGM)

Series: USC has won the last two and Arizona has lost the last two

Last game: USC beat Cal 27-21 Arizona lost to Washington 49-3

Game Time: 7:30 p.m. PST and 8:30 p.m. MST (AZ), TV – ESPN, Radio – TuneIn, Arizona IMG Sports Network

Date: Saturday, Nov. 7

Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

Hashtag: #AZvsUSC

Pre-Game Notes: 

Arizona Injuries (not good):

What our sister Fansided USC site editors have to say:

Next: What you may have known about the Washington game a Prayer to the Football Gods

Upshot:  Rich Rod and his team would love a win against USC, this is the fourth time he has faced the Trojans. If indeed his team just played crappy, then maybe there is a chance against the Trojans this week, especially because Cody Kessler‘s starting wide receiver will probably not play. That said, USC looked pretty darn great against a 6-0 Utah team, surprising everyone but themselves. Maybe Arizona will have the same experience this week; maybe the Trojans will think this will be an easy win, maybe.

“Probably 100 percent of our guys weren’t recruited from them [USC] and a lot of them are from California so hopefully they have a little edge about that,” – Coach Rich Rodriguez

Just like the UCLA game, the USC game has a special meaning for some players who come from California high schools who either played against each other or played with each other, so there is more to prove for those players in this game. This fact is not lost on coach Rich Rod, “Probably 100 percent of our guys weren’t recruited from them [USC] and a lot of them are from California so hopefully they have a little edge about that,” he said in his press conference today, “More than anything, to go out and compete on that stage. I would be disappointed severely if we didn’t give our best effort just because of that.”

We hate to pick against our Wildcats, but this week we hope they prove us wrong, we pray they prove us wrong.

Prediction:  

Arizona 17 USC 31

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