Lev it on the Field: Breaking down Arizona’s game vs. UCLA, other happenings in Pac-12

“Lev it on the Field” is back for Game 9. It’s the Star’s unique look at Arizona’s upcoming football matchup and other happenings around the Pac-12 (and Big 12) through the eyes of UA beat reporter-turned-columnist Michael Lev. Away we go ...

Are we sure UCLA is good? Like Top 20 good?

The Bruins’ defense seems legit. They rank 10th nationally in total defense and are allowing a scant 4.24 yards per play. Only six teams have yielded less — and four play in the offensively challenged Big Ten.

UCLA’s offense is mostly middle-of-the-Pac. The Bruins are seventh in the league in yards per play (6.29). They lead the league in rushing (215.9 ypg). They’re ninth in passing (251.4) — and have thrown a conference-high 12 interceptions.

Five-star freshman Dante Moore has thrown seven of those picks. He has yielded the starting job to redshirt junior Ethan Garbers, who has brought stability to the position. Garbers has compiled 597 yards of total offense over the past two weeks with a 4-1 TD-INT ratio. Not bad.

Those performances came against Stanford and Colorado, who are a combined 2-9 in Pac-12 play. Stanford’s lone win came against Colorado; the Buffaloes beat ASU, which is 1-4.

What’s UCLA’s best win? Coastal Carolina? Washington State? The Cougars were ranked 13th when the Bruins beat them 25-17 on Oct. 7. WSU hasn’t won since.

UCLA’s strength of schedule ranks 85th nationally, according to ESPN. The Bruins are 1-2 against teams ranked in the AP Top 25.

Are we sure they’re good?

We’ll find out Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.

Take that for data!

Arizona coach Jedd Fisch was laser-focused on UCLA this week. He didn’t have much to say about the release of the Big 12 schedule matrix.

(You can reach the schedule matrix through the transfer portal. I believe that’s how Matthew McConaughey saved the planet in “Interstellar.”)

Now that we know Arizona’s future road destinations through 2027, we can calculate how many travel miles the Wildcats will have to log in the new world.

Their average round trip this year — including a nonconference game at Mississippi State — is 1,387. (I used air miles for every road city except Tempe.)

These are the averages for the next four seasons:

• 2024: 1,863
• 2025: 1,725
• 2026: 1,915
• 2027: 1,338

As expected, the trips are a bit longer in the Big 12, with the exception of 2027. That’s the only year Arizona doesn’t visit one of the three schools in the Eastern Time Zone (Cincinnati, UCF, West Virginia).

But hey, it could be worse: Washington’s average round trip in 2024, its first year in the Big Ten, is 3,315 miles.

(Rincon) Market report

Going up: Jacob Manu

Arizona’s relentless sophomore linebacker is starting to receive national recognition. His Pro Football Focus grades finally are reflecting his impact. He’s playing like an All-Pac-12 player. His stats are worthy of such recognition. Will he get it, though? There’s plenty of competition for the three LB spots — especially if edging-rushing OLBs are included in that group. (They weren’t last year, but you never know.) I think it’ll depend largely on how the Wildcats finish. If they can make a real run down the stretch, the individual accolades will come for Manu and others.

Going down: Locker-room security

As if things weren’t going badly enough for Colorado, whose flaws have been revealed after a 3-0 start, the Buffaloes apparently got robbed at the Rose Bowl. And not by the refs. Deion Sanders said jewelry, cash and other items were stolen from the visitors’ locker room during last week’s game vs. UCLA. Sanders demanded reimbursement as only he could. ”This is the Rose Bowl,” Coach Prime said. “They (call it) the ‘Granddaddy of ‘em all,’ right? I’m sure Granddaddy had some money. Grandpa should have some money to give these kids.”

A question from my X

“With the Big 12 schedule coming out, what happens to the home-and-home series with Kansas State? Look for a different opponent? Or keep it as a quasi-noncon?” — @caseyratlief, via X/Twitter

The schedule matrix tells us almost everything we need to know.

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Arizona faces every team in the Big 12 at least once within the first two seasons except ... Kansas State. That means those games are still on, for now, and won’t count toward the conference standings.

Arizona and KSU are set to face each other in Big 12 games in 2026 and ’27, meaning they’ll square off four years in a row.

Meanwhile, Arizona was scheduled to face BYU in nonconference games in 2026 and ’27. Those games and any other future nonconference games against Big 12 teams — except the KSU contests — are now off the table, I’m told. The UA administration is working on finding replacements — a task that’s easier said than done for a variety of reasons, including ongoing litigation between the Pac-12’s holdovers and the schools that are headed elsewhere.

Threads

Bitter rivals (and future Big 12 foes) Utah and BYU are wearing all black and all white, respectively, this week. Both looks work. The Utes’ unis are especially sharp with red, white and black shoulder stripes and red numbers outlined in white. The Cougars’ ensemble is more traditional. It invokes snowy mountaintops — and BYU smartly revealed the look with a winter wonderland backdrop.

What he said ...

“Noah (Fifita) has started the last four games. That’s the only change that’s occurred. Jayden (de Laura) was 3-1 the first four games of the season; Noah’s 2-2 in his games. Now we’re sitting here, and we’re going to continue to figure out each week who we want to play.” — Fisch

What he meant ...

“None of this is as simple as you guys make it out to be. You don’t have to deal with the actual human beings; I do. You think it’s easy to tell Jayden he’s no longer the guy? That he got Tom Brady’d? That’s a tough conversation. I’m trying to keep him engaged. He’s one snap away from running the offense again.”

The other side

Ben Bolch, via the Los Angeles Times:

Oh, brother. Another quarterback Ethan Garbers would have to contend with at the Rose Bowl.

This one happened to be his biggest supporter, not that having the same last name would keep Chase Garbers from sharing any critiques.

“He was just kind of saying when I run that I need to get down a little bit more,” Ethan said of the brotherly advice after the younger sibling guided UCLA to a convincing victory over Colorado last weekend.

So, in other words, slide?

“Yeah,” Ethan said two days after running a season-high nine times and absorbing several vicious hits. “It was funny, though. He said, ‘Are you trying to break my rushing records?’ and I was like, ‘Man, that’s crazy.’ ”

Chase Garbers holds school records for rushing yards and rushing touchdowns by a quarterback at Cal. His little brother, who liked to live in the pocket, never really reminded Chase of himself before these last few weeks, when Ethan sprinted downfield whenever the protection faltered or the receivers couldn’t get open.

All that maneuvering has symbolized Ethan’s midseason emergence. After several years of a career in standstill, he’s taking off and running with the Bruins’ starting quarterback job.

Pick to click (aka #fadelev)

ASU delivered another victory for us last week. So, naturally, I’m going against the Sun Devils this week. Utah is favored by only 10.5 points against ASU in Salt Lake City. That feels a little light. Utah seemed to run out of fuel last week vs. Oregon. But we’re talking about Kyle Whittingham’s Utes here. There’s no way they put up two stinkers in a row. The Sun Devils, meanwhile, are ripe for a letdown after finally breaking into the win column. (season record: 6-2)

One last thing

More than 200 football alumni are expected to be in the house for homecoming, including Rob Gronkowski, Scooby Wright and ... Khalil Tate.

I covered the entirety of Tate’s tenure in Tucson — the highest of highs (October 2017) and the lowest of lows (injuries, losing streak, benching). We didn’t always see eye to eye — literally. On a couple of occasions, Tate just turned away rather than answer pointed questions about his play.

Despite his career never fully blossoming here, Tate has remained an unabashed supporter of his alma mater. If he’s shown on the video board during the game, I would expect the crowd to respond in kind.