It's going to be difficult, and by no means am I saying that I think the Arizona Wildcats win this game.
But there are ways to beat the Oregon Ducks, even if they are probably not likely.
So, how in the world can the Cats pull this off? Let's take a look:
1. Control the ball
This is opposite of what the Arizona offense usually does. But who cares? You have to try to win, right? Stanford took down Oregon by rushing the ball 66 times for an average of 4.2 yards per carry. This is the way to win. Tyler Gaffney had 45 carries all by himself. Can you imagine the deadliness of a Ka'Deem Carey 45 carry game? He only needs 117 yards to break the school's rushing record, but he may get 417 with 45 touches. Control the ball RichRod. Swallow your pride and control the ball.
2. Contain Mariota
If there's one thing that Marcus Mariota and B.J. Denker have in common, it's that they both do fairly well throwing the ball on the run. Keeping Mariota in the pocket will be crucial to the D's success, and that starts with Reggie Gilbert and Sione Tuihalamaka. Gilbert had a pretty good game last weekend against WSU, so that needs to happen again. Also, the athletic ability of Scooby Wright and Jared Tevis will certainly help to keep Mariota at least somewhat contained.
3. No mistakes
This is pretty simple. Do not turn the ball over. At all. Each possession needs to either end with points, or a punt that puts Oregon inside their own 15.
On the other side of the ball, Mariota has not thrown a pick all year, so trying to become some sort of hero in the secondary is not a great choice. Just keep the play in front of you, and do not let the Oregon wideouts get behind the play, where they'll get a perfectly thrown pass and put several hundred points on the board.
It's going to be hard, especially after such a crushing loss last week, but there's still a sliver of hope, as long as Arizona executes perfectly. And I mean perfectly.