Field Pass: Matchups, starters and stats to know for Arizona vs. UCLA

Game info

Who: Arizona Wildcats (3-4, 2-2) at UCLA Bruins (1-5, 1-2)

Where: Rose Bowl

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Watch: ESPN2

Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Head to head: Donovan Laie vs. Keisean Lucier-South

78 Donovan Laie, OL, Arizona

Laie has gone above and beyond anyone’s reasonable expectations. The freshman from Oceanside, California, has started every game and manned both tackle spots — sometimes in the same game. He’ll face another tough test this week.

11 Keisean Lucier-South, OLB, UCLA

Lucier-South is the reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. All he did against Cal was force a fumble, recover a fumble — which he returned for a touchdown — and intercept a pass. He also had 3.5 tackles for losses, including a sack. 

Head to head: Colin Schooler vs. Joshua Kelley

7 Colin Schooler, MLB, Arizona

Like the rest of the UA defense, Schooler was off his game last week at Utah; he had a season-low five tackles. Expect a rebound from Arizona’s steadiest, headiest player. He’ll be tasked with leading the UA against a surging UCLA ground game.

27 Joshua Kelley, RB, UCLA

The transfer from UC Davis has emerged as the Bruins’ leading man. Kelley has rushed for 100-plus yards in three straight games, including a career-high 157 yards and three touchdowns in last week’s win over Cal.

When Arizona has the ball...

The offense will have a different look and feel with Rhett Rodriguez replacing Khalil Tate (ankle) at quarterback. Look for Rodriguez to distribute the ball and get it out of his hands as quickly as possible. Will he receive support from the ground game? Arizona has averaged just 98 net rushing yards over the past three weeks. UCLA ranks 10th in the Pac-12 in run defense (176.7 ypg), allowing a league-high 19 TDs.

When UCLA has the ball...

The Bruins have found their form. They compiled a season-high 422 yards of offense against Washington and had a season-best 207 rushing yards against Cal. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson has completed 75.5 percent of his passes the past two weeks. Tight end Caleb Wilson, a 6-foot-4-inch NFL prospect, is a potential matchup problem for a UA defense that had major trouble tackling at Utah.

Lev's prediction

It would be quite a story if the son of fired UA coach Rich Rodriguez led the Wildcats to their first victory at the Rose Bowl since 2010. But is Arizona up to the task? The offense will rally around RhettRod, and the defense will be motivated after a substandard performance last week. But the Wildcats are still missing key players, and the more talented Bruins are starting to figure things out under Chip Kelly.

UCLA 30, Arizona 27

Wildcats projected starters

Offense

WR 18 Cedric Peterson 5-11 193 Jr.

SLOT 6 Shun Brown 5-10 188 Sr.

LT 58 Layth Friekh 6-5 297 Sr.

RT 76 Cody Creason 6-4 294 Jr.

C 50 Josh McCauley 6-3 292 So.

RG 54 Bryson Cain 6-4306So.

RT 78 Donovan Laie 6-4 318 Fr.

SLOT 9 Tony Ellison 5-11 189 Sr.

WR 19 Shawn Poindexter 6-5 218 Sr.

RB 21 J.J. Taylor 5-6 184 So

QB 4 Rhett Rodriguez 6-0 201 So.

Defense

DE 12 JB Brown 6-3 263 So.

NT 99 Dereck Boles 6-2 306 Sr.

DE 52 PJ Johnson 6-4 335 Jr.

STUD 14 Kylan Wilborn 6-2 248 So.

MLB 7 Colin Schooler 6-0 236 So.

WLB 1 Tony Fields II 6-1 230 So.

SPUR 19 Scottie Young Jr. 5-11 195 So.

BANDIT 3 Jarrius Wallace 6-1 180 So.

BC 2 Lorenzo Burns 5-10 181 So.

FC 8 Tim Hough 5-11 195 Sr.

FS 6 D. Flannigan-Fowles 6-2 209 Sr.

Bruins projected starters

Offense

WR 14 Theo Howard 6-0 182 Jr.

WR 10 Demetric Felton 5-9 184 So.

LT 77 Andre James 6-5 305 Jr.

LG 55 Michael Alves 6-4 322 So.

C 75 Boss Tagaloa 6-1 315 Jr.

RG 76 Christaphany Murray 6-2 298 Fr.

RT 73 Jake Burton 6-4 302 So.

TE 81 Caleb Wilson 6-4 235 Jr.

WR 21 Michael Ezeike 6-5 215 Fr.

QB 7 D. Thompson-Robinson 6-1 205 Fr.

RB 27 Joshua Kelley 5-11 204 Jr.

Defense

DE 90 Rick Wade 6-6 275 Jr.

NT 44 Martin Andrus Jr. 6-1 298 So.

DE 92 Osa Odighizuwa 6-2 280 So.

OLB 97 Odua Isibor 6-3 250 Fr.

ILB 25 Tyree Thompson 6-2 235 Jr.

ILB 14 Krys Barnes 6-1 235 Jr.

OLB 11 Keisean Lucier-South 6-4 235 Jr.

LCB 1 Darnay Holmes 5-10 198 So.

SS 6 Adarius Pickett 5-11 198 Sr.

FS 37 Quentin Lake 6-1 185 So.

RCB 22 Nate Meadors 5-11 196 Sr.

Arizona statistics

Passing

Tate 95-178-4 Cmp-Att-Int, 1,415 Yds, 11 TDs, 75 Lg

Rodriguez 26-45-0 Cmp-Att-Int, 275 Yds, 1 TD, 42 Lg

Rushing

Taylor 7 Games, 118 Car., 663 Yds, 3 TDs, 5.8 Avg

Brightwell 7 Games, 62 Car., 322 Yds, 2 TDs, 5.2 Avg

Tate 7 Games, 46 Car., 112 Yds, 2 TDs, 2.4 Avg

Marsical 7 Games, 11 Car., 68 Yds, 1 TD, 6.2 Avg

Smith 2 Games, 15 Car., 62 Yds, 1 TD, 4.1 Avg

Brown 7 Games, 2 Car., 40 Yds, 0 TDs, 20 Avg.

Receiving

Poindexter 7 Games, 24 Rec., 446 Yds, 2 TDs, 18.5 Avg

Brown 7 Games, 35 Rec., 385 Yds, 3 TDs, 11 Avg

Ellison 7 Games, 17 Rec., 311 Yds, 3 TDs, 18.2 Avg

Defense

Schooler 71 Tk, 1 Sk, 2 Int, 1 Fr

Fields 48 Tk, 0 Sk, 0 Int, 0 Fr

Wallace 47 Tk, 0 Sk, 1 Int, 0 Fr

Flannigan-Fowles 31 Tk, 0 Sk, 0 Int, 0 Fr

Burns 30 Tk, 1 Sk, 0 Int, 0 Fr

UCLA statistics

Passing

T.-Robinson 98-163-3 Cmp-Att-Int, 1,073 Yds, 5 TDs, 65 Lg

Speight 8-12-1 Cmp-Att-Int, 45 Yds, 0 TDs, 12 Lg

Rushing

Kelley 5 Games, 73 Car., 433 Yds, 4 TDs, 5.9 Avg

Allen 6 Games, 28 Car., 183 Yds, 1 TD, 6.5 Avg

Irby 6 Games, 29 Car., 93 Yds, 0 TDs, 3.2 Avg

Olorunfunmi 6 Games, 31 Car., 85 Yds, 4 TDs, 2.7 Avg

T.-Robinson 6 Games, 39 Car., 63 Yds, 0 TDs, 1.6 Avg

Kinder 1 Game, 6 Car., 19 Yds, 0 TDs, 3.2 Avg

Receiving

Howard 6 Games, 25 Rec., 287 Yds, 2 TDs, 11.5 Avg

Wilson 6 Games, 23 Rec., 335 Yds, 1 TD, 14.6 Avg

Kelley 5 Games, 11 Rec., 76 Yds, 0 TDs, 6.9 Avg

Defense

Pickett 70 Tk, 0 Sk, 1 Int, 1 Fr

Barnes 45 Tk, 1 Sk, 1 Int, 0 Fr

Lake 40 Tk, 0 Sk, 0 Int, 0 Fr

Lucier-South 29 Tk, 3 Sk, 1 Int, 2 Fr

Meadors 26 Tk, 1 Sk, 1 Int, 0 Fr