Three Keys to Success as Arizona Wildcats Opens Big 12 Play vs. Utah Utes
The familiarity of Arizona's first-ever Big 12 opponent won’t be lost on the Wildcats, as they travel to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Utes on Saturday.
While Utah (4-0, 1-0 in Big 12) has already dipped its toe into the Big 12 pool and beaten Oklahoma State, Arizona (2-1) has not faced a Big 12 opponent yet, at least not officially. Two weeks ago the Wildcats faced Kansas State in a non-conference showdown and they lost, 31-7.
After Arizona struggled to beat Northern Arizona at home the week before falling to K-State, it's safe to say Arizona has done a lot of soul searching since then. For that reason, the bye week probably came at the right time.
Arizona needed an opportunity to recalibrate and an extra week of scouting Utah probably doesn't hurt. The Utes look as advertised, a Big 12-ready conference championship game contender.
The Utes are a legitimate Big 12 Conference championship game contender. But there are areas where Arizona could potentially exploit Utah on Saturday.
Here are three keys to success for the Wildcats as they face Kansas State on Saturday.
Streamline the Defensive Prep
As of this writing it wasn't clear if Cam Rising or Isaac Wilson would start at quarterback for Utah. It puts Arizona in a bit of a pickle.
Rising hasn't played since he injured his finger in the first half of Utah’s second game of the season against Baylor. There's a chance Rising could have played last week, but Utah opted to go with Wilson.
All Wilson did was lead Utah to a win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater. No one is saying that rising is going to lose his job because Wilson's playing a solid quarterback right now. Rising is undoubtedly the right quarterback to lead the Utes if they want to win the conference.
But it does provide problems for Arizona in its preparation. There isn't much tape on Rising this season and he didn’t play last year due to injury, so the Wildcats can’t peek at last year’s win over the Utes.
It’s hard to prepare for two quarterbacks, even with a bye week. Defensive coordinator Duane Akina will have to manage it without overloading his personnel.
Go To The Air
Arizona certainly wants balance on offense. But if you look at where the Wildcats have been most effective this year it has been through the air.
So, for now, the Wildcats need to embrace it and put the ball in the hands of their quarterback, Noah Fifita, and their talented stable of wide receivers, led by Tetairoa McMillan, who has put up serious numbers in two of Arizona’s three games.
When he has the football in his hands, good things happen for this team. Arizona can spread the field and try to put the Utah defense in bad matchups.
You don't want to ignore running back Quali Conley. But going into conference play Arizona needs to do what it does best. After three games, what Arizona does best is clear.
Turn Them Over
Through four games Utah has committed six turnovers. Might not sound like a whole lot, but it's actually tied for 87th in the country. That means that Utah, strictly from a ball possession standpoint, is in the lower half of college football.
That could be promising for Arizona's defense. It might be a good week for Arizona’s defense to get aggressive, especially if Wilson is the pick at quarterback. While he looks comfortable, it's not hard to make a true freshman quarterback uncomfortable with the right defensive approach.
If Arizona can win this road game, it has to force at least two turnovers. Utah has shown a propensity for giving up the football, and that's something the Wildcats must exploit.
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