SAN DIEGO โ The red zone โ Jedd Fisch calls it the โred areaโ โ was one of the biggest points of emphasis for the Wildcats during the offseason after an abysmal showing in 2021.
The Wildcats were last in the FBS in red-zone touchdowns (30.8%) last season and were one of two teams under a 40% rate.
After talking the talk all offseason, the Wildcats walked the walk on Saturday in their 38-20 season-opening win over San Diego State. They went 5 for 5 in the red zone โ and 4 for 4 in the first half, courtesy of a 25-yard field goal by Tyler Loop, 17-yard pass from quarterback Jayden de Laura to Jacob Cowing, a 6-yard dart from de Laura to star freshman wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and a goal-line pass to Cowing.
โItโs how you win football games,โ Fisch said after the game. โIf you go back in the test of time, the No. 1 stat is more points than the other team. The No. 2 stat is takeaways, so for us, the only way to score more points is to be better in the red area and to defend the red area better, which both things we did.โ
De Laura said the offseasonโs work โhelped us out a lot.โ
โJust knowing mismatches, what play calls are called and who weโre trying to go after, so it just helped getting repetition every day,โ he said.
Added Cowing: โI think we did pretty good. Going into spring ball, that was one of our main focuses, the red area. Coach always put an emphasis on making those plays count in the red zone and put points on the board, so that whole training, we did a pretty good job at it, and it showed.โ
Snapdragon Stadium opens doors for first time
Part of the buzz surrounding Arizona-San Diego State was the Aztecs rolling out their new stadium for the first time. The 35,000-seat, $310 million stadium had an official attendance of 34,046; over 42,000 tickets were sold, according to the Snapdragon Stadium PA announcer.
Snapdragon Stadium included a number of local food and beverage vendors, including Hodadโs, Resident Brewing Company, The Crack Shack and Sandbar Sports Grill; beer was served to fans in metal solo cups. The television screens on the main concourse didnโt show the CBS broadcast of Arizona-San Diego State, but UCLA-Bowling Green instead.
For the second season in a row, the Wildcats played their season opener in debut games for stadiums. Last season, Arizona faced BYU in the first-ever game opened to the public at Allegiant Stadium following the pandemic in 2021.
The last time โฆ
Arizonaโs win over San Diego State marked the first season-opening victory for the Wildcats since 2017, when the Wildcats beat Northern Arizona. Since then, the UA fell to BYU (2018, โ21), Hawaii and USC in season openers.
Big number 100
Kickoff temperature for Saturday was announced at 100 degrees, the hottest recorded game in SDSU history โ home or away.
โThe heat is our friend, and we embrace it,โ Fisch said.
This year also marks the 100th season for San Diego State as a program.
Suited and booted
Every Arizona player who made the trip to San Diego wore navy blue three-piece suits, with white dress shirts and ties of the playersโ choice. The Wildcats didnโt dress to the nines for every road trip last season, but itโs not uncommon for an Arizona team to have a dress code for travel.
Former Arizona coach John Mackovic required his players to wear suits on road trips, as did his successor Mike Stoops. Former Arizona safety Jared Tevis, who played for both Stoops and Rich Rodriguez, said the dress code was โmandatoryโ during the Stoops era.
โRichRod wanted us to look more uniform with issued gear on and not have us worrying too much about looking good on game day,โ Tevis tweeted. โI didnโt mind either approach.โ
State 48 high schools play in San Diego
The Wildcats werenโt the only Arizona team playing football in Americaโs Finest City this week.
Four Phoenix-area high schools trekked to Southern California for the 2022 Honor Bowl on Friday, and all of them left with a win.
Chandler routed Cathedral Catholic 63-7, while Phoenix Pinnacle, led by five-star tight end Duce Robinson, thumped El Camino 43-6 in Oceanside. Mesa Mountain View won in comeback fashion, holding off San Diego power Helix โ the alma mater of UA legends Chuck Cecil and Brandon Sanders โ 24-21. Mesa Red Mountain outlasted San Diegoโs Mater Dei Catholic 35-16.
He said it
โAt first, I was like, โWho is this guy?โ But heโs done everything right. The first thing he did was he got the community involved, got the alumni involved, got ex-players involved. โฆ Iโm all about it, obviously, because I flew in from Utah to San Diego to back the Cats, and I got season tickets, so Iโm gonna be going to 10 games this year. โฆ I hope we can get some wins this year. If we can be relevant this year, that would be awesome, but hopefully next year weโll be relevant competing with the Utahs and USCs of the world and people will be scared to play us.โ โ Arizona super fan Marvin Cassler, whoโs famously known for his Viking-style look at UA football and basketball games, on his initial perception of Fisch, and how itโs changed over the year
Firstsโฆ
There were a plethora of firsts on Saturday, so here are a few the Star tracked:
On the opening kickoff, freshman linebacker Jacob Manu recorded the first tackle of the new season โ and the new stadium. Arizona edge rusher and USC transfer Hunter Echols, whoโs playing the โCatโ position in Nansenโs defense, recorded a sack on the first play from scrimmage. McMillanโs first-ever reception as a college player was his touchdown. Punter Kyle Ostendorp, who was a preseason All-American and All-Pac-12 selection, lined up for his first punt with 7:52 left in the third quarter, before his kick ricocheted off lead blocker Josh Donovanโs arm and landed in the end zone, which was recovered by SDSU for a touchdown. Ostendorpโs next two punts went for 93 yards (46.5 average).
Another big number 308
Days between Arizonaโs last takeaway and its first takeaway on Saturday. Safety Jaxen Turnerโs interception, the first of his three-year career, was the first takeaway since the loss to USC on Oct. 30 last year. The Wildcats finished the afternoon with two takeaways, including a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter.
