Lev it on the Field: Breaking down Arizona’s game at Stanford, other happenings in Pac-12

“Lev it on the Field” is back for Week 4. 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 ...

This might sound peculiar given that it’s the fourth game in a 12-game season and the opponent just lost to an FCS program at home, but Saturday’s game at Stanford is a must-win for Arizona.

To give themselves their very best shot at a bowl berth, the Wildcats have to win the games that bookend The Ranked Seven. They open Pac-12 play against 1-2 Stanford. They close against 1-2 Arizona State. Every opponent in between is currently ranked in the AP Top 25.

Beat Stanford and ASU, and Arizona would need to win only two of those seven games to make a bowl for the first time since 2017. Not that going 2-5 should ever be the goal for any seven-game period, but it’s a realistic expectation.

Jedd Fisch understands what’s at stake. Asked how the Stanford game might set up for the Wildcats for what’s to come, Fisch said: “We have to win this week. That's the message to the guys. That we come back home 3-1. ... That's the only focus.”

Take that for data!

Last week’s win over UTEP marked the first time during the Fisch era that Arizona has had exactly the same number of rushing attempts as passing attempts (32 apiece).

In the preceding 26 games under Fisch, the Wildcats ran the ball more than they passed it nine times. Since the start of the 2022 season, when Jayden de Laura became the quarterback and led an offensive resurgence, Arizona has had more rushing attempts than passing attempts five times. The Wildcats are 5-0 in those games.

But don’t expect a run-oriented attack against the Cardinal, at least at the outset. Stanford has allowed the most passing yards in the Pac-12 by a wide margin (342.3 per game), the most yards per attempt (8.4) and the highest completion rate (66.4%).

(Rincon) Market report

Going up: The spread

Arizona opened as a 9.5-point favorite, per VegasInsider.com. The spread subsequently climbed to 12.5 — an indication that most of the early money came in on the Wildcats. That number gives me pause. Not because I don’t think Arizona is better; every metric suggests the Cats are the superior squad. It’s just a matter of trust. I’m just not ready to go there ... yet. This feels like a 10-point game, and a 10-point win on the road in conference play would be more than acceptable — especially for a program that hasn’t been favored in any road game since the opener in 2019 (a straight-up loss at Hawaii).

Going down: Control freaks

USC coach Lincoln Riley suspended a reporter, Luca Evans of the Southern California News Group, for two weeks for purported violations of the athletic program’s media policies. These violations included writing about an interaction between players just before they spoke to the media (which gave Evans a neat and endearing anecdote for his story about one of them), contacting players’ parents without seeking permission (uh, it’s a free country) and addressing USC president Carol Folt as “Carol” instead of “Dr. Folt” (oh, the horror). After the predictable and deserved backlash, and a conversation between Riley and Evans, the suspension was lifted. It never should have happened in the first place.

A question from my X/Threads

“What on God’s green earth is going on with our football uniforms? Striped pants that are in the wrong color sequence, tops with 2 red stripes that don’t match anything. Is Jedd aware and vocal about any of this 3rd-world nonsense?”

— @Joeymh223 via X/Twitter

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We’re combining two items this week for obvious reasons. I’m just as perplexed as you are, Joey. The first sneak peek at Arizona’s white road jerseys suggests they’ll feature red stripes, and only red stripes, on the sleeves. Not a hint of navy blue. Which is really strange considering that navy blue is one of the UA’s base colors, and its white pants feature red and blue stripes.

The Wildcats came close to perfection with their retro-looking uniforms last year. And now they’ve changed them ... for reasons unknown. As I understand it, the decision to alter uniforms is a collaborative one among the manufacturer (in this case Nike), the head coach and possibly others in the program. They should’ve tabled those meetings. Arizona’s uniforms weren’t broken, and they didn’t need to be fixed.

What he said ...

“We've got to create our own energy in this game. ... This is up to us. The 74 players that we bring, the 30 staff members that we bring, those are the responsible people to get us to play a much better game than we did the last time we were in Northern California, where we did not bring our own energy. We did not play to the standard that we want to play, and we've learned from that, I hope.” — Fisch

... what he meant

“We’re not in Starkville anymore. Or Tucson, for that matter. If we ever have attendance that’s less than 25,000 — it was 23,848 for Stanford’s home opener — I will resign on the spot. But I’m not too worried about that. We’ve nearly sold out the UW game. I expect the Zoo to be rocking. I expect the city to show up and show out. We need you on that wall, my fellow Tucsonans!”

The other side

Via Harold Gutmann, The Mercury News:

After becoming the only Power Five team to lose to an FCS opponent this season, Stanford looks to bounce back in its Pac-12 home opener Saturday against Arizona.

“We can’t dwell on the past,” linebacker Gaethan Bernadel said. “We have to look forward and see how we can learn from our mistakes because everyone knew on this team that we weren’t supposed to lose that game. We have to move forward and focus on the next opponent.”

Expectations aren’t high that the Cardinal will bounce back from last week’s 30-23 loss at Sacramento State, which was the program’s second-ever loss to an FCS team. Stanford (1-2) is a double-digit underdog against Arizona (2-1), one of only two unranked teams remaining on the Cardinal’s schedule.

Pick to click (aka #fadelev)

Oregon State and Washington State are the last two programs standing in what remains of the Pac-12, and they square off against each other as Top 25 teams. The Beavers are ranked higher (14th vs. 21st) and are favored by a field goal. But taking the Cougars as a home underdog worked before, so we’ll go down that road again (while avoiding the Colfax speed trap, of course).

Although they’ll be forever linked as the “Pac-2,” OSU and WSU play different styles. Jonathan Smith wants to ground and pound with Damien Martinez; Jake Dickert wants to let it fly with Cameron Ward. I like the way Ward is playing. I like the Cougs in this matchup.

(season record: 2-1)

One last thing

First-year Stanford coach Troy Taylor was the quarterback for Cal when the Golden Bears defeated the Wildcats 10-7 on Oct. 29, 1988, an outcome that likely kept Arizona out of a bowl game. (The Cats finished 7-4 that year; those were different times in so many ways.)

Cal hadn’t won a Pac-10 game at that point and wouldn’t win another.

Can you say revenge game?