Arizona vs. UCLA in Thursday Night PAC-12 Match-Up

Mike Stoops is out as the Arizona Wildcats head coach. His departure came on the heels of a loss to an Oregon St team that was winless. There’s no doubting that Stoops lost his team somewhere along the way, but schedule a trio of top-10 teams in their first 4 games definitely hurt this year’s Wildcats squad’s chances to be successful. The one glaring bright spot in an otherwise gloomy season has been the play of quarterback Nick Foles.

With teams like USC, Arizona St and Stanford in the PAC-12, college football experts made the expectations for Arizona very reasonable as they had them winning around 6 or 7 games this year. With 5 straight losses (4 in conference), the Wildcats will be lucky to get through the 2011 schedule with 5 wins. Foles will have a lot to do with how they finish up as he is the only legitimate playmaker on the entire offense. His numbers thus far are remarkable as he is averaging over 375 yards per game passing. He had started the season with 10 touchdowns to no interceptions, but has had back to back games with 2 picks. His completion percentage, yard per attempt and passer rating are all outstanding, but it’s the Wildcats inability to run the ball that has kept them from winning.

There offensive passing and rushing numbers are polar opposites as they sit 3rd in passing and 119th in running the ball. This team obviously has a pass first mentality, but there needs to be much more of a balance to in order to be successful against the big conference schools that they play each week. Arizona’s defensive numbers are horrific through the first 6 games as they’ve given up 37.5 points on average. These numbers will improve as the season wears on, but they still have a ton of work to do to get this “D” in a position in which they can make stops on a consistent basis.

The UCLA Bruins may be just the team that the Wildcats need to give themselves a boost of confidence. The Bruins stats are equally as bad as Arizona’s despite not playing nearly as tough of a schedule. Unless you’re Air Force or Georgia Tech you shouldn’t have a passing game that averages less than 200 yards per game. The reason for UCLA’s lack of competence throwing the ball boils down to the inconsistency of their starter Richard Brehaut, and the coaching staffs lack of confidence in him. Brehaut was expected to burst onto the scene and compete for the starting position as a freshman, but has yet to fulfill the coach’s expectations. Brehaut’s junior season came to a screeching halt last Saturday when he broke his leg in the second quarter of the Bruins game against Washington St. However, Kevin Prince was able to rally the team from an 8 point deficit to pull out the win for UCLA. It will be up to Prince to keep this under-achieving Bruins team alive in their hunt for a bowl game.

Apparently the oddmakers have a different take on each teams scenario leading up to their match-up Thursday night. NCAA football handicappers have listed the Wildcats as a 4 point home favorite over the Bruins despite having just 1 win, and their head coach being fired. This should be a compelling game as the Bruins talented defense tries to stop the aerial attack of Nick Foles and the Wildcats. Tune in Thursday night!

 

Related posts:

1. Pac-10 Thursday Night Battle: Oregon vs. UCLA
2. Pac-10 Title at Stake: UCLA vs. Arizona
3. Pac-10 vs. Big-10 Showdown: Iowa at Arizona
4. Oregon vs. UCLA: Can Oregon Duck a Bruin Upset Bid?
5. Eagle Bank Bowl Preview: UCLA vs. Temple

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