Oregon vs. Arizona: Breaking Down The Wildcats, Predictions And More
By Scott Coleman@scottcoleman55 Sep 24, 2011, 9:00am PDT
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The Oregon Ducks will head down to Tucson and take on the Arizona Wildcats in a primetime matchup on ESPN. With the bright lights on Arizona Stadium, let's take a closer look at the 'Cats and what they like to do:
Offense:
Nick Foles is a very good quarterback. Outside of Andrew Luck, he may just have the best arm of any QB on the west coast. Mobility is an issue, though, and his ability to evade defenders is pretty much nonexistent.
Keola Antolin, a senior, is an undersized running back capable of breaking off a few big gains, but durability is an issue and he has struggled early in the season. Ka'Deem Carey, a true freshman, was the star of Arizona's 2011 recruiting class and the kid is a freak on the football field. He still has some learning to do -- pass protection and hitting the correct hole have been an issue -- but he really impressed against Stanford last week.
Arizona's receivers are among the best in the nation. All-American candidate Juron Criner is very talented and Texas-transfer Dan Bucker has impressed in his first few games at UA. David Douglas and David Roberts are capable in the slot-position. The Wildcats do not incorporate a tight end into their offensive packages at all.
The offensive line has been a disaster so far, just as many expected. Because of graduation, players going to the NFL and injuries, the 'Cats only had one returning starter heading into 2011 and it has shown. The Ducks should have no problem getting into the backfield.
If they were completely healthy, the Wildcats would actually have one of the better defenses in the conference. That is not at all the case. After losing four starters to graduation last season, Arizona has lost three other starters -- linebacker Jake Fisher, cornerback Jonathan McKnight, safety Adam Hall -- all to ACL injuries. Safety Robert Golden has also battled various injuries throughout the season.
As for the players on the field, cornerback Trevin Wade has been excellent this season and his name is flying up the NFL draft boards. Paul Vassallo is a talented linebacker and lineman Justin Washington is capable of creating problems for the offensive line.
All-in-all, though, this unit is a pretty big weakness for Arizona and Oregon will likely have no problems moving the ball.
Special Teams:
The Wildcats, after having a terrible kicking game the last few years, are 1-for-6 on field goal attempts this season. All of them were from less than 45 yards away. You can do the math here.
The Wildcats will likely hang around early just as they did with Stanford, but in the end, Oregon's speed on offense proves too much to handle and the Ducks come away with a 34-17 victory in Tucson.
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