Arizona's offense has 'a good chance to be successful' in high-scoring Pac-12

Gaining yards has been the least of Arizona’s worries through the first three games of the season, as the Wildcats prepare for the start of Pac-12 play at Stanford.

The Wildcats are averaging 484.3 yards per contest, which ranks 21st nationally — sixth in the Pac-12 behind Washington, Oregon, USC, Washington State and UCLA. However, the most important offensive statistic, points per game, the Wildcats are averaging 31 points, which ranks 61st nationally — eighth in the Pac-12.

USC (59.3), Oregon (58.0), Washington State (48.3), Washington (46.7), Colorado (41.3) and Oregon State (41.0) are the top-scoring teams in the Pac-12 entering the conference schedule. According to SportsSource analytics, the Wildcats lead the nation in first-down play efficiency with a 67% success rate.

As the kids would say, “the math ain’t mathing,” so what gives? More yards should always result in more points, right? The Wildcats are 13 for 15 in scoring touchdowns or field goals in the red zone this season. The two failed red-zone conversions were turnovers in the first two games — a fumble by quarterback Jayden de Laura against Northern Arizona and a fumble by wide receiver Jacob Cowing at Mississippi State.

In Arizona’s 31-10 win over UTEP on Saturday, the Wildcats were 5 for 5, with four touchdowns. Arizona’s 544 yards of total offense was a season-high and the most since the Wildcats’ win at Colorado last season.

Despite the 544 yards, the Wildcats “still didn’t have enough time or enough yardage to get as many points as we all would hope,” said Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch.

“I think probably most of the time you would have more than that,” Fisch said during his news conference on Monday. “The way the game was going, it was a situation where you’d get 10 more points, maybe, if you do a couple of things better, and then probably sit there at 41.”

The Wildcats have also committed eight turnovers in the first three games, including six — five interceptions — from de Laura. Field position matters, too. Through three games, here’s where Arizona averages the start of its offensive drives:

Northern Arizona: UA 34-yard line

Mississippi State: UA 27-yard line

UTEP: UA 28-yard line

In Arizona’s loss to Mississippi State, the Bulldogs’ average drive started on their own 43-yard line. The Wildcats have combined for eight offensive drives over 70 yards this season.

Fisch said, “Short fields are based on turnovers.”

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Arizona is one of two Pac-12 teams (Arizona State is the other) to not have an interception this season, albeit the Wildcats have three fumble recoveries this season, which is tied for fourth in the conference. Arizona’s shortest scoring possession against UTEP was a three-play, 26-yard drive subsequent to safety Gunner Maldonado’s fumble return. The Wildcats’ other touchdown possessions were 92-, 74- and 82-yard drives.

“A lot of times, if those happen earlier in games, you get a multitude of turnovers and then you get a lot of short fields and then you’ll be able to start piling up some points. We had to go the long way.”

Taking the longer route to the end zone can also mean more explosive plays. The Wildcats had eight plays for 15 or more yards, including a 59-yard run by running back Jonah Coleman and a highlight one-handed catch by Tetairoa McMillan for 55 yards. The Wildcats ran 64 total offensive plays on Saturday, which were evenly split — 32-32 — between running and passing. Arizona has 300 yards through the air while rushing for a season-high 244 yards.

“The game went a certain direction that we were able to stay really balanced,” Fisch said. “As I’ve said before, we really like our running backs and I think we have a really good set of running backs. Sometimes the game don’t allow you to stay with the run as much as you want. Sometimes the game allows you to run more than you’d expect to run it. ... You love to be able to have that balance to mix some runs in on third downs. That allows you to be 50-50.”

In the high-scoring Pac-12, Fisch is encouraged by his balanced offense to score more points as the season progresses.

“I think we’ll score more as we get to a situation where there’s probably a touchdown in each game that we left out there, and there’s probably going to be a touchdown that could show up in each game based on a takeaway or something to that effect,” Fisch said. “But our offense is clicking on a pretty good level right now, and we’re in a good place regarding yards per play, run game and pass game and the balance, and our red-zone offense.

“When that’s in a good spot, we have a good chance to be successful.”

Extra points

Arizona 2024 running back commit Adam Mohammed, a star at Glendale Apollo High School, rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns in a 48-0 win over Avondale West Point on Friday. Mohammed now has 78 touchdowns over his career, which is a Class 5A state record. Mohammed is one of three UA commits on Apollo’s roster, along with offensive linemen Matthew Lado and and Michael Watkins.

Fisch says Arizona has sold roughly 47,000 tickets for the Wildcats’ Pac-12 home opener against No. 8 Washington on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. Fisch said Arizona is “getting ready there for a sellout.”

Washington center and Tucson native Matteo Mele will miss the remainder of the season for an upper-body injury that will require surgery, UW coach Kalen DeBoer revealed on Monday. Mele, a former Salpointe Catholic standout who made his first-career start against the hometown Wildcats at Arizona Stadium in 2019, started the first two games at center for the Huskies this season.

The Arizona-Stanford broadcast on Pac-12 Networks on Saturday will feature play-by-play commentator Ted Robinson and Pac-12 savant Yogi Roth as the color commentator.