Every Monday throughout the season, we’ll take a look back at Arizona’s previous game after re-watching the TV broadcast and present five key takeaways. Here are the five from Arizona’s 18-16 season-opening loss to BYU on Saturday night in Glendale:
1. Assessing Anu
On second look, Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon played better than I originally thought. Which isn’t to say he played up to his standards. Or that you can see everything that’s happening downfield from the TV copy. There were definitely times that Solomon held the ball too long, as Fox Sports 1 analyst Brady Quinn pointed out. But as Quinn also noted, many of Arizona’s best passing plays resulted from Solomon improvising and making something out of nothing. Rich Rodriguez expressed faith in Solomon after the game, and you have to think he’s going to give him several series against Grambling State to get things straightened out. But it also wouldn’t be at all surprising, given Solomon’s performance and Grambling’s FCS pedigree, if Rodriguez gave Brandon Dawkins some meaningful playing time in that game. If nothing else, he can provide a change of pace with his running ability. I didn’t think Arizona’s unanswered quarterback question was a problem entering the season, and I still don’t. After Solomon’s zero-touchdown, two-interception, four-sack outing, it obviously bears watching now.
2. Laying it on the line
I was able to watch the offensive line a lot closer than usual, and “inconsistent” is the word that spring to mind. The line did a terrific job of opening holes for Nick Wilson during the second half, especially on his 15- and 49-yard touchdown runs. The blocking was nearly perfect on the latter, with every lineman getting a hat on a defender to clear a wide path up the middle. Arizona’s pass protection wasn’t nearly as clean, especially when BYU brought extra rushers. The Cougars appeared to use some type of zone blitz at times. Six rushers initially would engage with the line before two would drop off. That had to cause some confusion for Solomon and his blockers. It’s important to keep in mind that Gerhard de Beer, who struggled against the Cougars’ speed rushers, was making his first career start at right tackle. And that Nathan Eldridge, who allowed penetration on a handful of plays, was making his first collegiate appearance of any kind. They should get better.
3. Method to Marcel’s madness
So everyone finally got to see Arizona’s reconstructed defense. If you were paying close attention, you saw Marcel Yates throw a huge variety of looks at BYU. Arizona rushed between three and six defenders from multiple angles. The Wildcats played man coverage and zone. They moved right before the snap. They ended up allowing only two touchdowns – a tremendous accomplishment, all things considered. Unfortunately, the blitzes didn’t always get home. BYU did a good job of keeping extra blockers in. (That generally doesn’t seem like Arizona’s strategy; as such, Solomon has to get the ball out of his hand faster.) Additionally, veteran QB Taysom Hill played with great poise and made mostly sound decisions. He had a great feel for when to dump the ball off or take off running. Additionally, BYU tailback Jamaal Williams was a load, as expected. A lot of teams are going to have trouble tackling him this season. All in all, a positive start for the new defense.
4. Deeper dive on defense
Getting into some of the individual defenders a bit, middle linebacker Cody Ippolito looked rusty in the first half. He looked like a guy who hadn’t played in a game since in almost two years. In the second half, Ippolito did a much better job of fitting his run gaps. He also got pressure on Hill a handful of times. I wouldn’t mind seeing Ippolito and Michael Barton on the field at the same time. Barton didn’t play a ton, but he was disruptive when he did. DeAndre’ Miller showed great burst in running down Hill and Williams from the backside. However, Hill repeatedly fooled Miller on the read option, taking advantage of the linebacker’s aggressiveness. Miller needs to be more disciplined. Safety Tellas Jones was Arizona’s best defender in the first half, making plays all over the field, before getting hurt. Replacement Anthony Mariscal got out of position at times, and got outmuscled at times, but the redshirt freshman hustled on every snap and played fearlessly. He showed a lot of potential.
5. This time it’s personnel
Finally, some notes on the lineup and roster. As mentioned, Barton didn’t play that much, which was surprising. We’ll see if that changes moving forward. Arizona rotated defensive linemen pretty regularly, utilizing six in all. That group held up better than I expected given its size limitations. Sophomore Jace Whittaker was the third cornerback. He made a nice play on a pass to the tight end in the second quarter but gave a lot of cushion when in one-on-one coverage. (It’s unclear whether that was by design.) Defensive linemen Finton Connolly and Darrell Cloy Jr. did not dress for unknown reasons; I’ll ask RichRod about that later today. Freshman DL Justin Holt did dress, but he didn’t play. Arizona did not rotate running backs as much as I expected. Actually, the backs weren’t rotated at all. Orlando Bradford got one carry when Wilson was briefly injured. (Bradford didn’t seem happy about it after the game based on tweets he seems to have subsequently deleted.) J.J. Taylor also got just one carry. Was that a product of the Wildcats running only 56 plays, or were we led astray all offseason?
