Five storylines for Arizona's "stripe out" showdown with 11th-ranked Oregon State in Tucson on Saturday night.
Beavers, Wildcats excelling in the 'red area'
Whenever Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch talks about the "red area," he's referring to the red zone, one of the Wildcats' strengths this season.
Arizona has scored either a touchdown or a field goal on 29 of its 31 trips inside the 20-yard line; the two failed trips were turnovers in the first two games. The Wildcats have scored 21 touchdowns and eight field goals inside the red zone and rank 15th nationally in red-zone scoring percentage (93.5) after ranking 84th in college football a year ago, per CFBStats.com
The Wildcats are not only facing an Oregon State team that is statistically better in the red zone; the Beavers have an unblemished 25-for-25 red-zone scoring rate with 21 touchdowns and four field goals.
Oregon State, which will play in Tucson for the first time in four years, is the only Power 5 team with a perfect scoring rate inside the red zone — they were 83rd in college football last season. In road games this season, the balanced Oregon State offense, behind the Beavers' stout offensive line littered with potential all-conference players, has 13 touchdowns and one field goal in the red zone.
"They're very smart with the football down there," Fisch said of Oregon State. "If you put yourself in position by running the ball, you give yourself the best chance to be able to score down there, get in the field goal range or get in the end zone.
"You gotta be able to run the ball inside the red zone and not turn it over."
Arizona's renovated and improved defense ranks 33rd in college football in red-zone defense and has allowed teams to score on 20 of 26 attempts.
Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita looks for a receiver during the second half of the Wildcats’ blowout win over Washington State on Oct. 14 in Pullman, Wash.
Who will start at quarterback for Arizona?
Arizona's starting quarterback will be known to the public moments before kickoff on Saturday. Will it be original starter Jayden de Laura, who missed the last three games with an ankle injury, or the red-hot Noah Fifita, who won Pac-12 Freshman of the Week in back-to-back weeks?
"I'm going to keep that until game time right now. I think they're both ready to play though. ... We're going to have to see how it's all going to end up," Fisch said. "Right now, they're both dressed and are both going to be participating in warmups and be prepared regardless of who goes in."
In de Laura's place at Stanford and the following three games against No. 7 Washington and back-to-back road games at No. 9 USC and No. 19 Washington State, Fifita completed 90 of 121 passes (74%) for 924 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions — and his passing yards have incrementally improved for three weeks.
"He's just a gamer," Arizona running back DJ Williams said of Fifita. "He's a big team player. He has a good relationship with everyone on the team. He's just a gamer."
Arizona offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll, channeling his inner Dennis Green, said Fifita "is who we thought he was," when the Wildcats recruited him in 2022.
"He's a stud, he knows how to play this sport, he knows how to play the game. Just a really talented player that puts the work in," Carroll said. "There's nothing really surprising with how he's performed and he'll just keep developing and keep getting better."
The transition to QB1, even if it's potentially temporary but unlikely this week, never phased Fifita.
"Nothing ever seems new to him," Carroll said. "Nothing is ever a surprise to him. He can always equate one instance to another or one concept to another. 'I'm going to read this like I read that, OK good, I got it.' His ability to retain information and regurgitate it on command ... he's able to handle the depth of this offense and what it requires and it shows constantly."
With a healthier de Laura, who is an improved runner this season, could the Wildcats turn back the clocks and use a two-quarterback system like the 1998 season with Ortege Jenkins and Keith Smith? Oregon State primarily plays star quarterback and Clemson transfer D.J. Uiagalelei, but will use former four-star quarterback and freshman Aidan Chiles for a drive in the first half.
"We've thought about that and we've talked about that," Fisch said with a grin and nearly continued but stopped and double-downed with, "We've thought about that and we've talked about that."
Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei drops back to pass against UC Davis during a 55-7 Beavers' victory on Sept. 9 in Corvallis, Oregon.
Uiagalelei Bowl
Both Oregon State and Arizona will have a representative from the Uiagalelei family on the field Saturday.
The Beavers' Uiagalelei is slightly more well-known.
OSU's DJ Uiagalelei was a five-star quarterback and baseball prospect who starred at nationally-ranked St. John Bosco High School in Los Angeles. The 6-4, 252-pound Uiagalelei signed with Clemson to sit behind Trevor Lawrence and eventually succeed the top NFL Draft pick, but transferred to Oregon State following the 2022 season after he was benched for Kade Clubnik. In July, Uiagalelei was drafted in the 20th round by the L.A. Dodgers as a two-way player, but opted to play quarterback for the Beavers and elevate their offense from averaging 396 yards per game to 444.3.
In four straight weeks, Arizona's defense will have battled Washington's Michael Penix Jr. (a serious Heisman Trophy candidate), USC's Caleb Williams (defending Heisman Trophy winner), Washington State's Cameron Ward and now the big-bodied Uiagalelei.
"All the quarterbacks in this league that we've played ... they're all elite quarterbacks. We've got a great league of quarterbacks," Fisch said. "DJ has come in and really gave a great spark to their passing game.
"They're making explosive plays down the field. They're hitting on deep crossing routes and big plays down the field that have really enabled them to take their offense one step further. He's also making good decisions in the red zone," Fisch said. "So I would say he's another really good quarterback that we're going against."
Arizona defensive end Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei, D.J.'s cousin, has become an instrumental part of the Wildcats' defensive line rotation and is Arizona's top rushing defender, according to Pro Football Focus; he has an 81 overall grade. The second-year Uiagalelei and former Mater Dei High School star also blocked a field goal in Arizona's season-opening win over Northern Arizona.
"He's been a great asset for our program," Fisch said. "We kind of played him inside, then we had to play him outside, then moved him back to inside and kind of moved him around. He's sitting at the 270-pound mark, so we're able to kind of do what we want with him. But he's done a great job playing defensive end for us, holding the point and be on top of those tight ends. We need a huge game this week from our defensive line."
Offensive lineman Austin Hyatt (76) gets an earful from then-Arizona offensive line coach Jim Michalczik during drills on the UA campus on the first day of the Wildcat football team’s 2014 spring practice on March 3, 2014.
Michalczik returns to old stomping grounds
Oregon State offensive line coach Jim Michalczik will return to Arizona Stadium, a venue he coached at for five seasons under former UA head coach Rich Rodriguez from 2013-17. Michalczik is one of the most renowned offensive line coaches in the Pac-12 and helped Arizona's rushing offense consistently finish in the top half of the conference while having the same role at the UA.
OSU currently has one of the top offensive lines in college football under Michalczik's tutelage.
Former Arizona center and Mike Stoops-era offensive lineman Kyle Quinn played his last season with Rodriguez in 2012, so he didn't have a player-coach relationship with Michalczik, "but I had the very fortunate pleasure of being his graduate assistant coach, when he was here at the U of A for a couple years," he said on ESPN Tucson's "Spears and Ali."
"Truly just an incredible coach," Quinn said. "He really is one of the best offensive line coaches not just on the west coast, but in all of college football in my opinion."
Quinn said the 57-year-old Michalczik, who has also coached for the Oakland Raiders, "has the background, has the tools" to be a great offensive line coach.
"He's also a great communicator. Not just in football, but also in life," Quinn said. "He has really shaped these young guys. You got football players that are 18, 21, 22 or even 23 years old and he's getting them at the most pivotal moment of their lives, and he's not only making them the best versions of themselves on the football field, but also in the community, in the classroom and making sure they maintain high grades and are high-character individuals, so they can be successful, not just in their football careers, but also in life."
Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said Michalczik is a "very, very good" and "very sound" coach.
"You can tell the footwork of their O-line and how they work in sync, you can tell how well they're coached," Nansen said. "He's a really good coach."
Arizona running back DJ Williams (8) leaps over USC cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace during the first half of the Wildcats’ matchup in Los Angeles on Oct. 7.
Williams truck
Earlier this month, Arizona running back Jonah Coleman was asked about DJ Williams' truck. Coleman pondered, then rattled off the cars Arizona's running backs compare themselves to. Coleman — likened to a Ram TRX truck — said senior running back Michael Wiley (Ferrari) and redshirt freshman Rayshon Luke (Lamborghini) are sports cars, while Williams is a Jeep Trackhawk because "he's so big he'll run through you, but he'll literally run past you."
"We don't know how he does it," Coleman said of Williams. "I think DJ is the fastest on the team when he gets rolling."
The actual vehicle Williams drives is a lifted 2015 Chevy 2500 truck with 40-inch tires. For shorter-statured people, that's not an ideal climb to get into a car.
"I literally have to jump in his truck," Coleman said. "I don't know how he does it, but I have to jump in it every time."
Williams said his love for lifted trucks started "ever since I've been in college."
"I love trucks," he said. "I like sitting higher, so that's why I got it like that.
"I wish I could be higher, but I just like the feeling. It's just different than everybody else."
Williams, who has 55 carries for 246 yards and two touchdowns, said his play on the field doesn't reflect his truck, but "I definitely like the contact, so definitely a compact vehicle."
He's not alone on welcoming contact.
His running back cohort Jonah Coleman seems immune to contact; among players nationally with at least 50 carries this year, he leads in yards per carry after contact (5.08). Second-year running back Rayshon Luke broke out for a 10-carry, 71-yard game and broke out for a 40-yard touchdown untouched at Washington State.
"I think it's been pretty good. Everyone getting a chance to run the ball," Williams said. "We just bring different things, so it's been pretty good."
Against OSU, the Wildcats will likely return fifth-year veteran and captain Michael Wiley, who missed the last three games with an ankle injury.
"When Mike is healthy, he'll be back in the rotation, and we'll just find a balance," Carroll said. "It's not easy to do, but we've got a plan for it. All the guys have great roles — they've been great in their roles. DJ has been fantastic. Speedy has caught fire right there. Jonah has been doing what Jonah has been doing.
"Adding Mike to it is just one more thing we've gotta deal with," he added. "Everybody kind of knows what everybody is doing. Every guy has one play here, one play there. But for the most part, they all know what they're doing. They can exchange in and out no problem."
