Arizona Football: Everything you need to know about the BYU game
Arizona Football is favorited by only one point against BYU this Saturday; Coach Rodriguez hasn’t named a starting quarterback.
Will Coach Rodriquez rally the troops to pull off the Wildcats first win of the season?
Game Information: Cactus Arizona (0-0) vs BYU (0-0)
Location: Glendale, Arizona – University of Phoenix Stadium (63,400)
When: September 3, 2016
Game Time: 7:30 pm PST/MST
Television: Fox Sports 1, Joe Davis, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft will have the call.
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network (Try TuneIn Radio), Brian Jeffries and Lamont Lovett
Betting line: BYU +1.5
Historical Opening Game Stats: Arizona is 82-25-5 all-time in the first game of the season, winning eight consecutive and 14 of the last 16 according to Arizona Athletics.
Series Lead: BYU and Arizona have met 22 times previously with the Wildcats leading the series 12-9-1
Last Meeting: Las Vegas Bowl, December 20, 2008 – Arizona 31 – BYU 21
BYU Football Notes:
We hear BYU fans have bought a fair amount of tickets to the game. So even though Arizona is the home team and it is in their state, that won’t mean Wildcats fans will outnumber Cougar fans.
BYU is Big team up front, and 70% of their players are returning. Who is not returning? The Cougars coach staff. BYU hired a former Cougars fullback and Oregon State assistant coach Kalani Sitake as their new head coach. He is the first Tongan to become a NCAA football head coach. Sitake was hired on December 19, 2015, making him the BYU’s 14th head coach in Cougars history.
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Sitake hired a whole new coaching staff including former BYU quarterback Ty Detmer. This will be Sitake’s first game as a head coach. The pressure of winning his first game could be a factor on Saturday.
New coaches are something BYU and Arizona have in common, making planning for the upcoming game involved. Arizona’s coaching staff have the edge, though, because BYU is bringing back two-thirds of last season’s players, so they are experienced.
Kimberly Haner of BYU Athletics captured Coach Sitake’s thoughts from from Monday’s post-practice press briefing on the upcoming game. “We have to be a disciplined defense in order to defend them,” said the BYU head coach, “Defensively, they’re a good team too. They have a great coaching staff – I’ve known that coaching staff for a long time, and it’ll be fun.”
According to Sitake, and we agree, winning is going to come down to mid-game adjustments.
The fun of game one is you don’t know what’s going to happen. There will be a lot of adjustments made during the game from the first series to the next. This is why we have a great coaching staff and why we communicate with our players. We’ll see who can make the best adjustments during the game.
Rich Rod has a ton of practice adjusting from last season having to replace one player after another on the depth chart after each injury.
Senior QB Taysom Hill, often injury prone, was recently named the starter instead Tanner Mangum. Hill is ready to get on the field, “I don’t think about how long it’s been since I’ve completed a game or all that stuff,” said Hill, “I’m looking forward to being back out on the field with the team and being in a venue like we’ll be in in Arizona. I can’t wait.”
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— #Forever65 (@ArizonaFBall) August 31, 2016
Next: Arizona game notes and Game Prediction *VIDEO*
Nov 14, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Football Wildcats wide receiver Nate Phillips (6) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Utah Utes during the second overtime at Arizona Stadium. Arizona won 37-30 in double overtime. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Arizona Football Notes:
Rich Rodriguez‘s Wildcats are coming into the 2016 season with a record four consecutive winning seasons. Coach Rod would like to call his depth chart a position chart, he quipped about it in his pregame news conference this week. He’s happy with team bonding and energy he sees on both sides of the ball during practices this last month.
Arizona’s biggest weapon this season is the element of surprise, especially on defense. Senior leader Sani Fuamaono talked to Brian Jeffries on his show, Wildcat Weekly, and expressed his enthusiasm.
“I think it’s time to hit someone else than our own teammates — Everything this year that Arizona will see is definitely different from what we’ve had in the past four years, I think they’re going to like this new style and new swagger that we have, that we bring on the defense.”
On Fuimaono’s take on BUY?
“Ooo, I can’t wait to play them, my impression of them, I don’t like ’em and I’ve always wanted a game against them — I’m excited it’s going to be the kickoff of my season year.”
Speaking of surprises, it’s no wonder Coach Rich Rodriguez isn’t giving up his starting quarterback. He says both quarterbacks are about equal at this points and when he says ‘or’ that means ‘both’ will probably play.
Quarterback Anu Solomon, a 25-game starter, has been battling with Brandon Dawkins for the starting spot. Also listed on the position chart is freshman Khalil Tate and redshirt sophomore and new Wildcats sideline reporter Zach Werlinger.
It’s no mystery that the Wildcats have a brand new defensive coaching team headed up by first-year defensive coordinator Marcel Yates. What is a mystery is how improved the Arizona defense will be this season. One thing’s for sure; they aren’t going to play a 3-3-5 schema although Coach Rod didn’t think that was the reason for lapses last season. Rodriguez has said injuries and schedule were the causes. Yates has some experience going up against the BYU Cougars from his time coaching the Boise State Broncos.
The Wildcats are still mourning the passing of their starting fifth-year senior Zach Hemmila who would have been the probable starting center. The Hemmila family will be attending the game Saturday evening, and the team is planning on honoring Zach in several ways.
The team will be wearing a sticker on their helmets, and the coaches will wear patches on their hats to commemorate their lost compadre with Zach’s jersey number, 65. Arizona Football (@ArizonaFball) is using the hashtag #Forever65 to keep his memory alive, and will hold a pre-game ceremony before the BYU game kickoff.
Taking over at center is redshirt freshman Nathan Eldridge who earned the starting spot over redshirt sophomore Levi Walton. Supporting Eldridge, and flanked on either side of him are two of Zach’s close friends: redshirt junior Jacob Alsadek and redshirt senior Freddi Tagaloa. Rich Rod had some kind words for Eldrige in his press conference, “He’s a tough guy, and he’s going to keep getting better every practice.”
Game Prediction: Arizona 27 BYU 24
I spoke to MarkRodgersTV (@MarkRodgersTV) about some of my predictions and Mark’s analysis of what BYU brings to the table:
So buy tickets to see your Arizona Football team, the clock is ticking! After the Promo Video they put out last week, we are sure you will be entertained!