Arizona Wildcats Will Need Pass-Catchers To Step Up in Friday’s Huge Game
The Arizona Wildcats will be facing one of their toughest tests of the season on Friday night, as they will be on the road against the Kansas State Wildcats.
This will be a matchup of two Top 25 teams, and while they are both in the Big 12 now, this game actually won’t count toward their conference record because it was a previously agreed upon out of conference game at the time.
For the Wildcats of Arizona, they will be looking to bounce back from a lackluster win at home against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. Despite being a heavy favorite, Arizona only won by a score of 22-10.
In the narrow victory, the Wildcats saw their dynamic offense get contained by a very impressive defensive scheme from the Lumberjacks. After seeing what the Wildcats did in Week 1 to the New Mexico Lobos, Northern Arizona wasn’t going to let Tetairoa McMillan take over the game like that again.
The star wide receiver saw a ton of double teams in coverage, and Arizona didn’t adjust.
Recently, Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus previewed the battle of the Wildcats and spoke about Arizona needing other receivers to step up.
“So instead of trying to slow him down with single-coverage, Northern Arizona often bracketed him with a corner and safety this past weekend. The Lumberjacks found great success doing so, holding McMillan to just two catches for 11 yards ... If Kansas State follows a similar strategy, Arizona will need other pass-catchers like tight end Keyan Burnett and wide receiver Jeremiah Patterson to step up. The issue for K-State is that it’s currently 79th among FBS teams in coverage grade (69.7).”
On paper, Arizona is going to have the advantage in the passing game, however, Kansas State is likely to try and mimic what the Lumberjacks did to McMillan.
If that is the case, others will need to step up to avoid what happened last weekend.
After two games, McMillian is the only person on the Wildcats to have over 100 receiving yards, as he has totaled 315 so far this season. Arizona really hasn’t gotten any production out of their other pass-catchers, and that will have to change.
If the Wildcats are going to go on the road win, players like Jeremiah Patterson, Keyan Burnett, and Tyler Powell are going to need to step up.
NICK ZIEGLER