I’m no @Ma-ake, but I thought AZ’s QB looked quite solid and the Wildcats put up an excellent game against SC. I was rooting for SC to get sent home, but that’s college football and the players on both sides put a lot of game on the field. Exciting, gutsy game.
Even at home, seems like this game is not as straight forward as the odds might suggest - especially with injuries as we head towards the end of season.
Any thoughts for securing the win at home?
Go UTES!!
Every game is a trap game. “On any given Saturday…”
I honestly haven’t seen any Arizona this year, but Jordan mentioned they have an all-PAC level wideout who’s a freshman, and USC won without Addison and Mario Williams (ie, their WR talent is commensurate with the real estate values in SoCal which we already knew).
Arizona jacked up at home in all blue and Arizona on the road in the cold are usually two different teams, but Fisch can coach, so I’d be pleasantly surprised if the game is a fairly comfortable win.
They had an insane number of transfers, like 50, so at this point in the season they’re an interesting blend of getting matured into a better FB team on scheme and execution, and the damage from whatever injuries they’ve had. The maturation into scheme factor means guys who started as 2s could be better than the original 1s by now.
Don’t be surprised if the Cats look more like how Oregon State played (without all the picks).
If we don’t play on point every game, we could be beat. Have to approach this one that way.
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‘Zona is a world beater at home. On the road…not so much. Jacob de Laura gave us all we could handle last season when he was playing for Wazzu. I am sure he will challenge us again. Kind of like Wazzu played us tight against our backups, ‘Zona did the same to U$C.
What worries me is defense travels, and the Wildcat D has been pretty good again this year. Probably the biggest key to winning this one will be controlling the clock and wearing out that defense. It won’t surprise me if we grind out another ugly win; but a win is a win, and it keeps us in the chase for the CCG.
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Forecast calls for rain. I remember a rather dismal drubbing against the Wildcats in a downpour a while back. Wonder if Arizona is practicing at night with the sprinklers on like they did that year to prepare.
This is what I was thinking - we’ve seen him before and he’s pretty good and has some great WR. But, they don’t really have a run game.
not really. they are pretty bad
We have to win out….and that’s it. Accordingly, I don’t believe we’ll have any trap games. Plus, with the missing starters we’ve had recently, there is probably going to be a little more desperation in our playing.
It seems Arizona has a pretty good passing game but not so great defense. Normally, that would be ok, but our offense has taken most of the hits with the missing starters so should be an interesting game. Thank goodness it’s in SLC.
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The U of Pay is exactly that right now. According to my sources the Cats are the 3rd highest NIL paying team in the PAC12, (and the Utes are 4th amazingly). I view them a bit like “USC Lite”. A bunch of NIL mercenaries mixed in with some very legit 4 star recruits that are starting to gel, plus a great head coach that just needs a bit more time.
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Remember UNLV. Anything could happen. Let’s hope the team is amply prepared to take care of business.
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That was RichRod, if I remember correctly. I remember on this board most felt that the weather would do them in, but they practiced for it, and kicked our butt.
I’ll be that guy, we didn’t play de Laura last year, he was hurt. The Wazzu backup (guantanamo or something like that) was the one who gave us all we could handle. de Laura got 200 in the air against us during the Covid season until he got hurt and Cam Cooper finished that game. Maybe he’s looking for some revenge.
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That game where the fans and teams were drenched was a lot tougher to sit through (I was one of the few who stuck it out until the end) than a very wet game in similar conditions against UNLV in 2004.
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That game was cold, wet, and miserable. It took me three days to quit feeling chilled.
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Utes - 24 Mildcats - 13, in a cold, rainy game
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Utah 28
Mildcats 13
Oh and it will be bitter cold and wet…and it will take three days to thaw out.
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I hope they are practicing with wet balls.
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Let me clarify that, wet footballs !
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Utes - 11
Cats - 3
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Any word on Rising, Thomas or Kincaid.
Tavion, Bernard and Rising are dressed and warming up.
Kincaid is not in uniform.
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