Arizona defeats UCLA 29-21
by uofafanatic on Oct 31, 2010 6:11 AM PDT
in Arizona Wildcats Football
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PrintArizona survived the upset bid in Pasadena. Not "barely", or "by the skin of their teeth", they survived it. The Wildcats out-performed the Bruins most of the night, but were dogged by the zone defense that the Arizona defensive staff love to run. It is beginning to seem like the defense is playing with one hand tied behind their backs at times.
Opposing teams have certainly caught on to it. If you’re playing the Wildcats, you prepare to face a zone defense. That’s it. Because Arizona will only rarely mix it up with some man to man. So you instruct your QB to go underneath the zone, and you’ll rack up the passing yards. With the exception of the Oregon St. game, the ‘Cats have pulled through despite this handicap. But looming large are the final four games of the season: @ Stanford, USC, @ Oregon, and the Territorial Cup game vs. ASU.
The defense needs to figure out what adjustments need to be made, and make them before Arizona finds themselves at 2 conference losses and kissing the Rose Bowl goodbye.
Ok, enough doom and gloom. The Wildcats, for the most part, looked pretty good against UCLA. If anything, it seemed that the Bruins stepped up their level of play against the ‘Cats. But give the Arizona players credit for toughing it out, and playing all four quarters.
Don’t forget the coaches. While I continue to be sick to my stomach at the over-use of the zone defense by the defensive coaches, the coaching staff deserves a pat on the back here. Stoops especially. He never gave up on QB Matt Scott, and he certainly could have. Instead, he had faith in him, and left him in to finish the game. And QB Nick Foles has another week for his knee to heal before taking that first hit. Good call. Also, points for going for the fake punt. UCLA wants to run trick plays against us? Fine. Go chase one of our LBs on a fake punt. Great call.
Overall, it seems like this was a great tune-up for the Stanford game. A solid reminder that the ‘Cats will need to bring their ‘A’ game every single week. And heading into the meat-grinder that is the final stretch of games, that will certainly be the case.
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How was the "throw under the zone" defense the problem???
UCLA came back because of two extremely flukey deep passes, and some terrible throws by Matt Scott.
The first one, Anthony Wilcox got completely lost in coverage. He was the deep safety, and allowed the WR behind him. UCLA took a chance, and it turned out to be well-timed.
The second TD was another flukey deep bomb going the other way. I believe it was the flea-flicker? I’ll have to re-watch the game, but I’m almost positive it was.
And, why did UCLA have the chance to make those passes count and get back in the game? Because Arizona only scored 10 points in the second half, couldn’t move the ball, and repeatedly failed on 3rd downs. That is all on Matt Scott’s right arm. I couldn’t count how many passes were thrown WAY too high, or not even close to the receiver.
Matt Scott can run, but good god get healthy Foles. Scott tightened up, and all of his accuracy went with it.
UCLA wouldn’t have had the chance to come back if Arizona would have gotten into the endzone a couple more times. Or, even possessed the ball a little longer.
UCLA completed less than 50% of its passes
What more do you want of the defense? They held the running game in check completely; they handled the Pistol; and they made the quarterback complete tough throws all game long.
Two long passes kept UCLA in the game. There was absolutely zero “throwing under the zone to rack up the yards.” 130 of UCLA’s 228 passing yards were on two plays. UCLA “racked up” less than 100 yards by throwing under our zone. I say the defense overall had a great game. Two terrible plays will over-shadow their effort.
Can we please get QB1 back in the game?
I think that we could have scored more points this game if Nick Foles was on the field. Not the whole game but definitely in the second half when Scott wasn’t making accurate throws anymore.Towards the end it looked like Matt Scott let the pressure get to him.
I agree
Scott looked rattled, and his accuracy was ridiculously poor. That pick in the endzone was terrible. The high passes over the middle, and the inaccurate throw to Simmons on 3rd down are the immediate examples I can think of.
Foles (if healthy) needs to start against Stanford. Heal up Sunshine. You are needed.
Agreed.
I have been impressed by Matt Scott’s improvement; I really have. But you have to keep it in perspective.
He has been playing against some of the lesser teams the Wildcats will face for the rest of the year. And he hasn’t been in terribly high pressure situations. He hasn’t been asked to lead a drive late in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.
As things got a little tougher in the second half against UCLA, Scott became less and less effective. I have been happy for Scott and for the improvement he’s shown. It’s dramatic. Again, I have been thoroughly impressed. But I just don’t trust Scott to run the offense and keep the Cats in the game in a tough contest. When the going gets tough, I want Foles running the offense.
Stanford will be an Oregon Preview
Stanford has an excellent offense like Oregon does, and Arizona has an excellent defense, really excited to see this game.
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