Breaking down Arizona’s game vs. Colorado, other happenings in the Big 12 | Michael Lev

“Lev it on the Field” is back for Game 7. It’s the Star’s unique look at Arizona’s upcoming football matchup and other happenings around the Big 12 through the eyes of UA beat reporter-turned-columnist Michael Lev. Away we go ...

Arizona technically is favored to defeat Colorado on Saturday, but it sure feels like an uphill climb.

The Buffaloes are playing better. The Wildcats are banged up — especially in the secondary. This isn’t the week for that.

But a path to a UA homecoming victory does exist. It’s a literal path, on the ground, through the CU defense.

Run the damn ball.

Arizona has been searching for an offensive identity all season. This is the Wildcats’ chance to establish it.

Arizona has at least two capable running backs in Quali Conley and Kedrick Reescano. Both are averaging more than 4 yards per carry after contact.

Colorado allows 160.8 rushing yards per game. The Buffaloes’ last three opponents have rushed for 166, 177 and 185 yards.

What’s the best way to slow Shedeur Sanders and CU’s wide-open offense when you don’t have two-fifths of your starting secondary and maybe more? Keep them on the sideline.

Only one time this season has Arizona had more rushing attempts than passing attempts (NAU, 29-26). Over the past two weeks — when the Wildcats were playing from behind more often than not — they had 101 passing attempts and 62 rushing attempts.

Those numbers need to be closer to each other. I’d like to see Arizona run the ball 40-45 times against Colorado.

It’d help create an identity. It’d make things easier for Noah Fifita and a struggling offensive line. It’d create a path to a much-needed victory.

Take that for data!

Shedeur Sanders could be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. If so, Arizona will have faced the top selection three years in a row. (The Wildcats played against 2024’s 1/1, USC’s Caleb Williams, each of the past two seasons.)

Sanders has all the tools to be a franchise quarterback and plenty of numbers to back up that bid.

Entering Friday night, Sanders led the Big 12 in passing touchdowns (17), completion rate (72.6%), passing yards (2,018) and efficiency rating (164.4). He also leads the league in a stat Pro Football Focus calls “big-time throws,” which it defines as passes “with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window.”

Sanders has 16 of those. No one else in the conference has more than 10.

Another Sanders stat jumped out to UA coach Brent Brennan.

“Shedeur has played so much football,” Brennan said. “There’s a lot of benefit in that. You're talking about thousands (of reps). There's value in that experience.”

Sanders is a rare four-year starter. Between Jackson State and Colorado, he has played 2,919 snaps, per PFF. He has taken 1,883 dropbacks and has attempted nearly 1,600 passes.

If Sanders has a flaw, it’s that he holds onto the ball too long at times, resulting in unnecessary sacks. Sanders has been sacked 22 times. Only two quarterbacks, Cal’s Fernando Mendoza and Hawaii’s Brayden Schager, have gone down more.

(Rincon) Market report

Going up: Gamesmanship

In the third quarter of the CU-Kansas State game last week, KSU defenders were injured on three consecutive plays. Or so it seemed. The Folsom Field crowd didn’t believe what it was seeing and let its feelings be known with thunderous boos. After the game, KSU coach Chris Klieman denied that anyone was faking injuries. But it’s a hot topic again after similar accusations were hurled at Ole Miss. Meanwhile, Oregon coach Dan Lanning’s possibly intentional gambit of putting 12 defenders on the field in the final seconds vs. Ohio State resulted in the notoriously slow-moving NCAA issuing a revised rules interpretation within four days of the incident. Remember, folks: Coaches will go to any lengths to win a football game.

Going down: Mike Gundy

I had no idea until this week that Oklahoma State’s coach was a literal cowboy. Gundy conducted his weekly, in-person news conference over Zoom after apparently being head-butted by one of his cattle last weekend. “I've got a bad eye that I didn't think would be particularly enjoyable for people when they were looking at my pretty face in a live interview,” Gundy said. He was expected to coach vs. BYU on Friday night. It would have been awesome, though, if OSU had issued an injury report: “Mike Gundy, coach, probable (farm accident).”

A question from my X

“Is this a make-or-break game for both Brennan (in terms of silencing critics) as well as for this program to rebuild support from the fan base?” — @WilsonStaffStan via X/Twitter

I don’t think we’re quite there yet, but I understand the premise.

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Amid elevated expectations, Brennan’s honeymoon period ended quickly. Somewhere between scoring 22 points against NAU and seven against Kansas State, many fans turned on the first-year coach. How could the Wildcats be so inept on offense with so much talent?

Brennan earned some goodwill with the win at Utah, but that dissipated with back-to-back losses against Texas Tech and BYU.

I don’t see this game as make-or-break in terms of rebuilding fan support, but the second half of the season as a whole might be. At a minimum — a bare minimum — Arizona needs to make a bowl game. If that includes a win over ASU, all the better.

I always viewed Brennan as a long-term play because he wants to be here and he proved at San Jose State that he could create a culture and find and develop under-the-radar players. That formula should work in Tucson.

But the more Arizona struggles in Year One — with a bunch of high-end starters back — the harder it’ll be for Brennan to win over the fans.

Threads

Arizona finally did the thing. The UA will wear helmets featuring the iconic “cactus sunset” logo Saturday. I’ve yet to meet a Tucsonan or UA alum who doesn’t love that image. The athletic department could have taken it to the next level by also painting the logo on the field at Arizona Stadium — just as it once adorned the court at McKale Center. Unfortunately, that’s not possible, or at least not practical, with a turf field. Can you imagine, though?

What he said ...

“He’s taking too many hits. We need to protect him better. And when I say protect him better, I'm not just talking about the offensive line. I'm saying from me to the receivers winning their releases to the backs getting better IDs. Every single one of us.” — UA passing-game coordinator Matt Adkins on Fifita

What he meant ...

“We put too much on Noah’s plate. It was an easy mistake to make. He’s incredibly conscientious, studious and hard-working. He wants to have that responsibility. But at some point, it’s not in his or the team’s best interest. We’ve reached that point. We have to take pressure off QB1. We have to put him in better positions to succeed.”

The other side

Brian Howell, via BuffZone.com:

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders doesn’t like to compare a team from the past to his current team, but he certainly acknowledges there’s a difference.

“Once upon a time, it was just hope,” Sanders said. “Like, man, we hope we can stay in this game, we hope we can do this. Now it’s expectation. We really expect to win those games.”

During Sanders’ first season in Boulder, in 2023, there was a measure of satisfaction in taking ranked opponents such as USC, Oregon State and Arizona to the wire, even in a loss.

The mood around the Buffaloes (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) this week after a 31-28 loss to No. 18 Kansas State on Saturday at Folsom isn’t the same.

“That stuff hurts, man,” Sanders said. “It hurts because we expect to win. We don’t expect to compete, we expect to win.”

Pick to click (aka #fadelev)

Utah’s in a slump. We’re in a slump. Let’s get out of this thing together. The Utes, giving 3.5 points at home to TCU, aren’t going to lose three games in a row. They aren’t going to lose two straight at Rice-Eccles. QB Cam Rising is out for the season, but that might actually be a positive development. At least the Utes now have clarity. They know freshman Isaac Wilson is The Guy. They can build the offense around him. As bad as it looked vs. Arizona and ASU, Utah still outgained both. Most of the pieces that made the Utes the preseason favorites in the Big 12 are still in place. (season record: 4-2)

One last thing

Saturday will mark Deion Sanders’ first appearance as a head coach at Arizona Stadium.

It also could be his last.

Sanders hasn’t commented publicly about his future beyond this season. But that hasn’t stopped the rest of us from speculating about it.

Sanders genuinely seems to like Boulder. He loves coaching his sons, Shedeur and Shilo — plus a guy by the name of Travis Hunter, aka the best player in college football.

All will be gone next year. Coach Prime could be too.

The situation isn’t unlike Little League: You volunteer to coach while your kids are playing. Once they move on, so do you.

Florida coach Deion Sanders? Dallas Cowboys coach Deion Sanders? TV analyst Deion Sanders?

Any of the above is possible — and probably more likely than Colorado coach Deion Sanders come 2025.