Arizona Football looks to rebound in their battle with USC

After dropping a tough game against the Washington Huskies, Arizona Football returns to action, hoping to rebound against the USC Trojans!

The Arizona Football team came crashing down to earth this past weekend. After stringing together four straight wins, the Wildcats experienced heartbreak, losing 51-27 at home to the Washington Huskies.

But unfortunately for Arizona, the road doesn’t get any easier from here either. Upcoming for the Wildcats is USC which will be this week, and historically the Trojans have been a tough match-up for the Wildcats. Then after that will be Stanford next week.

Arizona Wildcats

To make things a bit more bleak, Khalil Tate looked a bit pedestrian against a very talented Huskies defense, and now there are some concerns that he may not be fully healthy.

If Tate can’t go, that could hurt the Cats offensively, and would make winning all that more difficult.

However, perhaps the good news is that the Trojans are reeling, and have severely under-performed so far this season. At 3-3 and fresh off a loss to Notre Dame, this could be a great opportunity for Arizona to get back on track, and this will perhaps be their best chance to come away with a rare win against the Trojans.

But nonetheless, beating USC, especially in the Coliseum will be a tough, tough challenge, and with that said, here’s our ‘Week 8’ preview:

Know Thy Foe:

Team: USC Trojans (3-3, 2-1)

Conference: Pac-12 Conference

2018 Record: 5-7 (4-5); lost to Notre Dame in the final game of the season by a 24-17 final.

Head Coach: Clay Helton is in his fourth season (fifth including his interim year) with the Trojans, and has compiled 35-20 (26-11) record.

At 3-3 this season, his seat is plenty warm, and if they were to fall apart like they did last season, who could get the ax.

Key Returners/ Starters: This season, the Trojans have been incredibly inconsistent. They started the year really hot, beating Fresno State and Stanford to begin the season. Then they lost to BYU on the road and the outcomes have been inconsistent, beating a talented, ranked Utah team, and then lost back-to-back games against Washington and Notre Dame.

Freshman Kedon Slovis has stepped in and has stepped up in a big way for the injured JT Daniels. However, the Trojans have quite the talented backfield, using the trio of Vavae Malepeai, Stephen Carr and Markese Stepp.

The Trojans will also challenge Arizona’s inconsistent secondary, with the utilization of; Michael Pittman, Jr., Tyler Vaughns and Amon-Ra St. Brown. These three a big targets for the Trojans and have some solid stats this year so far.

They will also have talent along the offensive line, and once again it could really limit Arizona’s pass rush (or lack thereof).

Defensively, the Trojans haven’t been great this year, but they still have plenty of play makers on that side of the football, and their size and athleticism will certainly challenge Arizona.

They have mostly been led by the trio of John Houston, Jr., Talanoa Hufanga and Palaie Gaoteote IV. However, their talent doesn’t stop there.

The Trojans have some very talented pass rushers, like Jay Tufele and the true freshman, Drake Jackson.

Additionally, their secondary has been pretty good, and have a myriad of talented players like; Olaijah Griffin, Isaiah Pola-Mao and former Arizona commit, Greg Johnson. However, USC has quite a few injuries, and it’ll be interesting to see if they’re healthy this week.

Key Injuries: 

Arizona 

• No injuries are listed at this time

USC 

• WR- Kyle Ford (Out) – Ford is healing from surgery to repair a torn ACL and is out indefinitely
• TE- Chris Caulk (Out) – Caulk has been sidelined with an unspecified injury, and it is unknown when he will be ready to suit up this season.
• QB- JT Daniels (Out) – Daniels is recovering from surgery on a torn ACL and meniscus.
• WR- Bru McCoy (Out) – McCoy is battling with eligibility issues and an illness. He is not expected to be available for the 2019 season.
• OL- Andrew Vorhees (Out) – Vorhees is expected to miss the remainder of the 2019 season due to a foot injury.
• LB- Jordan Iosefa (Out) – Jordan is projected to be out of action until at least the latter part of October while healing from surgery to repair a dislocated patella and cartilage damage.
• LB- Solomon Tuliaupupu (Out) – Tuliaupupu is expected to miss his second consecutive season as he recovers from surgery on his left foot.
• LB- Abdul-Malik McClain (Out) – McClain has been sidelined while recovering from a knee scope. It is unknown when he will make his season debut.
• TE- Ethan Rae (Questionable) – Rae has missed the last two games with a knee injury, and it is unknown if he will face Arizona.
• TE- Josh Falo (Questionable) – Falo has an MCL sprain and did not play in the last game. It is unclear if he will be cleared to play against Arizona.
• CB- Isaac Taylor-Stuart (Questionable) – Taylor-Stuart left Saturday’s game with an apparent lower-body injury.
• LB- Palaie Gaoteote IV (Questionable) – Gaoteote IV left the last game with a left leg injury, and it is undetermined if he will line up versus Arizona on Oct. 19.
• CB- Greg Johnson (Questionable) – Johnson left the last game with a shoulder injury, and it is unknown if he will suit up Oct. 19 versus Arizona.
• CB- Olaijah Griffin (Questionable) – Griffin left the previous game with a back injury, and his status against Arizona is in question.

Game Information: 

When: Saturday, October 19th, 2019

Time: 6:30 PM PST/ 7:30 PM MST

Watch: Pac-12 Network

Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum- Los Angeles, CA (78,467)

Spread: -8.5 USC

Overall Series Record: 33-8 USC. This series has undoubtedly been lopsided, with the Trojans winning 14 of the last 16 meetings, and USC has generally been a bad match-up for the Cats.

Last Meeting vs. Arizona: USC won the last meeting between these teams, coming away with the 24-20 victory down in Tucson. Arizona’s last win came in 2012.

My Prediction: USC 34 Arizona 30. I think this game is a bit of a toss-up really, but going with history here, the Wildcats have generally played poorly against the Trojans and have been over-matched most of the times.

This last week was a real eye-opener for the Cats, as they lost to a superior opponent in Washington at home. Tate looked sub-par in the performance, and there’s a question as to whether or not he’s healthy.

If he is limited in playing SC, this could be another long night for the Wildcats. Although USC has quite a few injuries, they still have enough talent to win, and I think they come away here with the win.

Prediction record so far: 3-3

At Zona Zealots, we’re hoping the Wildcats can get back on track, and get that rare win against USC! As always, Bear Down, Arizona and beat the Trojans!