By the Numbers: Analyzing the Arizona Football loss to Cal

As Arizona Football (2-2, 0-1) fell to Cal 49-31 in a lopsided loss, we look at the Wildcats’ defeat to the Golden Bears by the numbers. 

We are now into week five of the 2022 Arizona Football season, and the Wildcats have come crashing back to reality.

A week after earning a big win over FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, the Wildcats had a dose of humble pie this weekend as Arizona was thumped by Cal by a 49-31 final.

Outgained 599 yards to 536, freshman running back Jaydn Ott and the Golden Bears ran all over the Wildcats as Arizona fell to 2-2 (0-1) on the season.

Despite leading at the half, Arizona Football was unable to hold on as Cal came storming back for the big win. And we look at the numbers in the Wildcats’ loss.

354 – Coming in, we had heard that the Cal offensive line had been struggling this season. Well, on Saturday, the Golden Bears showed no signs of trouble.

Against the Wildcats, Cal rushed for 354 yards (274 from Ott) and four touchdowns on 38 carries (9.3-yard average). No matter what Arizona did, they had no answer, and for the third straight game, this defense looked overmatched and was outplayed.

The rush defense is still concerning and as long as Arizona cannot stop the run, they are going to struggle to win games.

536 – Despite Arizona’s huge loss to Cal on Saturday, the Wildcats were still able to move the ball well, totaling 536 yards (401 passing) and scoring 31 points.

Unfortunately, the defense was unable to hold up as they were out-gained and outplayed en route to the 49-31 loss. The second half was the difference-maker however, as the Wildcats scored just seven points and were out-gained 304 to 207 yards.

3 – The Wildcats had 3 turnovers on Saturday! Unlike last week where they had 0 turnovers against the Bison, the Wildcats were sloppy against the Golden Bears. Throwing two picks and fumbling the ball twice, as a result, the turnovers resulted in 14 points for Cal.

This game may have been different if Arizona had taken better care of the football but unfortunately, that is not the case and the Wildcats lost in dominating fashion, falling to the Bears 49-31.

8 – Last week, the Wildcats were penalized just once in their big win over the Bison. This week was a different story unfortunately as the Wildcats were penalized eight times for 76 yards.

The eight penalties against the Bears yesterday were huge as the Wildcats were plagued by mental breakdowns and perhaps a little frustration as Cal ran away with the massive win over Arizona.

0 – Despite hearing of all the struggles that the Cal offensive line had been experiencing coming into this week’s game, Arizona was unable to generate one sack against the Golden Bears and a non-mobile quarterback in Jack Plummer.

Granted, Arizona ranks just 66th in college football with 6.0 sacks on the season; however, on Saturday, the Wildcats were unable to generate any kind of pressure as Cal and the Golden Bears ran over, and picked apart Arizona’s defense.

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