It was an atypical performance from a Rich Rodriguez offense in almost every regard.
Arizona managed just two late touchdowns in its 18-16 season-opening loss to BYU on Saturday night in Glendale. The 16 points represented the UAโs lowest total since last seasonโs miserable 49-3 defeat at Washington on Oct. 31. That was only one of two times last season that the Wildcats failed to score fewer than 30 points.
But even more unusual was Arizonaโs play count. The Wildcats ran only 56 plays, the first time theyโve been under 60 since the 2014 Arizona State game.
Simply put, the Cats struggled to establish and/or sustain a rhythm on offense. Before finally breaking through in the fourth quarter, Arizona seemed to follow every step forward with two in the opposite direction. Three examples, all from the scoreless first half:
โข After getting their initial first down on their second possession, the Wildcats took a false-start penalty. A 12-yard pass from Anu Solomon to Trey Griffey set up a manageable third-and-4, but Solomon suffered a 7-yard sack, forcing a punt.
โข On their first full possession of the second quarter, the Wildcats advanced to their 46-yard line. But another false-start penalty created second-and-14. After an incomplete pass, Solomon threw an interception.
โข At the end of the first half, Arizona advanced to the BYU 19-yard line. But on third-and-4, Solomon took a 16-yard sack. Josh Pollackโs 52-yard field-goal attempt missed wide left.
The goal of most up-tempo offenses, including Rodriguezโs prototype, is to keep running plays and gaining first downs. Eventually, the defense will wear down.
Although they did score those two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the Wildcats failed to put and keep the Cougars on their heels through the first three quarters. Instead, it was BYU that ran more plays โ 20 more, to be precise โ and scored the winning points in the final seconds against a weary Arizona defense.
โWe knew they were gonna come out and hurry up their offense and catch us off guard,โ said BYU linebacker Francis Bernard, who had the first-half interception of Solomon. โSo throughout the course of fall camp and the offseason, we just kind of practiced that. The offense helped us out a lot by slowing the game down.โ
The Cougarsโ relatively deliberate offense helped them to a sizable advantage in time of possession: 37:37 to 22:23. BYU also converted 7 of 15 third downs (compared to 5 of 13 for Arizona).
But possessing the ball for less time is not uncommon for up-tempo teams. During their 10-4 season in 2014, the Wildcats averaged 5ยฝ fewer minutes than their opponents. Itโs all about total plays run.
Arizona never ran fewer than 66 last season, when it averaged 76.4. That was the lowest figure in Rodriguezโs first four seasons.
The play count can be a misleading statistic. That 2015 season low came in the Utah game, which Arizona won. The UA also won the โ14 Territorial Cup, which featured a fumble return for a touchdown, a blocked punt that set up a 30-yard scoring drive and a one-play possession (Nick Wilsonโs 72-yard TD run).
Arizona had only two three-and-outs before its first touchdown drive in the fourth quarter Saturday night. But the results of the Wildcatsโ first seven possessions were suboptimal: punt, punt, punt, interception, missed field goal, field goal, punt.
The two touchdown drives sandwiched Solomonโs second interception. It was the third time in his career that he finished a game with zero touchdowns and two picks. The other two came against Washington each of the past two seasons.
Solomon, who won the job after a lengthy offseason battle with Brandon Dawkins, clearly wasnโt at his best, or even close. Rodriguez refused to pin all the blame on the redshirt junior after the game. Solomon appeared to hold the ball too long at times, but Arizonaโs receivers also struggled to get open. Additionally, the Cougars seldom made it easy for Solomon to vacate the pocket.
โThe biggest thing for us was just to make sure that our defensive linemen were sound and that we knew our assignments,โ said BYU linebacker Butch Pauโu, who had a team-high nine tackles, including 2.5 for losses. โWe know as โbackers that without our defensive lineman, we canโt really do much.
โAnd โฆ we saw throughout the game that our coverage from our defensive backs and safeties was on point, where they were in coverage for at least 5-6 seconds, and then our defensive linemen would get there for the sack.
โEveryone was playing well together.โ
The same couldnโt be said for Arizonaโs out-of-sorts offense, which gets another crack at it Saturday against Grambling State.
