Arizona Football looking for continued momentum versus Colorado

Fresh off a upset win on homecoming, Arizona Football (4-5, 3-3) looks to build off their momentum when the Colorado Buffaloes (5-3, 2-3) come to town.

Who could have predicted an Arizona Football upset over the then No. 19 ranked Oregon Ducks. The Wildcats came in as big underdogs, and left as big winners in the Homecoming match-up.

The Wildcats would capitalize on a slow Oregon start, jumping out to an early, 23-8 lead just before halftime.

Arizona Wildcats

Arizona would continue much of their dominance in the second half as well, putting up touchdown after touchdown, eventually pacing themselves to the 44-15 win.

Despite wearing a boot before the game, Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate played a solid game, finishing with 189 yards passing and three touchdowns, helping to lead the Wildcats to the upset. Junior running back J.J. Taylor would ultimately steal the show though, running for 214 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries. Senior receiver Shawn Poindexter had two, crucial touchdown grabs on just two catches.

More impressive than the offensive performance, would be the defense coming up big in this one! Coming in, the Wildcats were in need of a gutsy performance, and they would surely deliver.

With the 1998 Wildcat team in attendance, it seems Arizona channeled the once dominant Dick Tomey defenses in this one, holding a potent Oregon offense to just 270 yards and 15 points.

The victory gives Arizona its fourth win of the season, breathes a bit of new life into the program and keeps their bowl-game hopes alive. A lot of work will need to continued to be done, but at this point, Arizona is not out of it.

Colorado will come to town next, a bit humbled after blowing a 31-10 fourth quarter lead, losing to a then one-win Oregon State team at home in overtime.

I imagine the Wildcats will get all that they can handle from a pissed of Buffaloes team, however, perhaps Arizona’s win over Oregon is what was needed to finish the year on a strong note!

With that said, here is our preview for week ten!

Know Thy Foe:

Team: Colorado Buffaloes (5-3, 2-3); lost 41-34 last week to Oregon State in overtime. The Beavers scored 24, fourth quarter points to comeback and get their first Pac-12 win.

Conference: Pac-12 Conference

2017 Record: 5-7 (2-7); lost 34-13 to Utah in the final game of the season.

Head Coach: Mike MacIntyre is 46-62 (22-49) as a head coach, and is 30-41 (14-36) while at Colorado. He first started his Division One coaching career at San Jose State, and now enters his sixth season in Boulder. MacIntyre took over a once-storied program that went a combined 4-21 the previous two seasons before his arrival.

Since then, he has certainly done a great job at continually rebuilding the reputation of this program. The Buffaloes are just two seasons removed from that remarkable 10-4 year and Pac-12 South Championship and are on the verge of going to their second bowl in the last three seasons!

Key Returners/ Starters: Colorado has been very Jekyll and Hyde this season. While they have looked absolutely great at times, they have also looked listless and pedestrian other times (see loss to Oregon State).

Overall, they are quite a solid team, with a good offense that ranks 39th in the NCAA.

They are largely led by quarterback Steven Montez, who has been good for the Buffaloes this season. In addition to the junior signal caller, Colorado has had a productive backfield with Travon McMillian, Kyle Evans and Beau Bisharat.

The receivers will probably pose the biggest challenge for Arizona this weekend. Wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. is a nightmare for opposing defenses, but he has missed the past few games, so if he doesn’t play versus Arizona, that would be a good thing for the Wildcats. Beyond Shenault Jr., the Buffaloes have also had great production from K.D. Nixon, coaches son Jay MacIntyre and Tony Brown most notably.

On defense, the Buffaloes have been almost equally as good. Overall, they rank 48th in the country and have been pretty stout in the run game, with Nate Landman and Mustafa Johnson being a big reason for that. Together, the two have combined for 20 tackles for a loss and 6.5 sacks on the year.

Beyond that, this group has talent every where in Rick Gamboa, Evan Worthington, Drew Lewis and Delrick Abrams Jr. among others.

Key Injuries/ Missing Players: 

Arizona: (According to SportsReference)

OL- Nathan Eldridge (out for season).
OL- Layth Friekh is still recovering from an ankle injury and his status is unknown
OL- Alex Kosinski still out.
DL- Justin Belknap is done for the year.
CB- Jace Whittaker has missed his fifth straight game with a hamstring injury and is questionable.
DE/LB- Jalen Cochran is still nursing an arm injury and could miss the game with Colorado.
RB- Darrius Smith has been dealing with a foot injury and is questionable.

Colorado:

DL- Jase Franke is out for the season after tearing his ACL.
TE- Jared Poplawski out for the year with a shoulder injury.
DB- Chris Miller will miss the rest of 2018 with a wrist injury
P- Alex Kinney will likely miss the rest of 2018 with a broken collarbone
K- James Stefanou is questionable versus Arizona having suffered a hip injury.
WR- Laviska Shenault Jr. is questionable versus Arizona after suffering a toe injury.

Game Information: 

When: Friday, November 2nd, 2018

Time: 7:30 PM PST – ESPN

Where: Arizona Stadium (Tucson, AZ)

Spread: -3.5 Arizona

Overall Series Record:14-6 Colorado

Last Meeting vs. Arizona: Arizona won the last match-up by a 45-42 final in Boulder. Tate ran for an FBS record, 327 yards and four touchdowns when he came in for an injured Brandon Dawkins. That game sparked the Tate era in Tucson last season.

Worth noting, Arizona has also won five of the last seven meetings between these programs.

Our Prediction: Arizona 37 Colorado 31. I’m back on the Arizona bandwagon for now. The Wildcats surprised me and many others this past weekend, and proved that if they’re focused, play hard at home, anything can happen.

The win over Oregon is going to give Arizona some much needed confidence, and perhaps something to play for moving forward. Their bowl game hopes are still alive, with two of their three final games being fairly winnable.

It will be interesting to see how Colorado responds after losing to Oregon State at home. Granted, they were missing Shenault Jr., but I could see him returning in this one, which won’t be a good thing for Arizona. However, I think the Wildcat defense is finally getting settled, they have a bit more confidence, and this offense is finally finding a rhythm.

Arizona will use a bit of their ‘Mojo’ from the win over the ranked Ducks, and come away victorious in this one! It’s all setting up for a marquee match-up with the Sun Devils in four weeks!

Here’s a bit of highlights from the Homecoming upset to help get you through the week!

Last week was a nice way for the Wildcats to get back on track in 2018 and could give them a bit of confidence to hopefully finish the year strong! Let’s hope it carries on! Bear Down, Arizona!