Opponent View: Purdue vs. Arizona
More: B-sides: Being an Omega Man | Special teams boosted by walk-ons ($)
Arizona's offense cooled a bit in the last couple games of the season.
But perhaps a month to rest then prepare for its bowl game vs. Purdue will reignite what can be an explosive Wildcat group.
To get more insights, we talked to GoAZCats.com senior editor Matt Moreno for Opponent View:
GoldandBlack.com: What have been the major themes of Arizona's bowl preparation?
Moreno: "Well, Arizona had its bye week early in the season and ended the year a bit banged up, so a lot of the down time between its regular-season finale and now has been about recovery and getting back to 100 percent. Khalil Tate took a hit to his shoulder in the rivalry game against Arizona State and after looking like it could be more serious for a bit he made it back to practice and should be fine. So, getting healthy has been one part of it and then getting some of the younger players extra work has been the other focus. Rich Rodriguez and his staff have been getting some of its redshirting players extra scrimmage time and attention through the bowl practices.
"When it comes to preparing for the actual game, Rodriguez isn’t one to give up too much about what he’s planning to do each week, so a lot of the talk has been Arizona focused and about his own team getting better rather than what it is doing to prepare for Purdue."
GoldandBlack.com: How did the offensive dynamic change for the Wildcats once Tate became the starting quarterback in October? After a great month, he tailed off a bit in November, particularly the last two games. Did opponents start to adjust? If so, how?
Moreno: "Well, Brandon Dawkins started out the season with a lot of the same type of work on the ground as Tate but it wasn’t leading to wins. His ability to pass the ball isn’t quite what it needs to be to keep teams honest and that showed early in the year. Tate is a better passer than he’ll get credit for and even though Arizona still passed the ball under 20 times during most of its wins, he did a good job of being efficient with a solid completion rate. Rodriguez’s offense is set up that if a quarterback can make big plays on the ground and eat up yards with his feet then the throws he has to make aren’t as difficult but he still has to make them. Dawkins wasn’t doing that and Tate showed that he can. Tate has the arm strength to go down the field and he has shown good touch as well and that was the biggest difference when he took the field as the starter. He isn’t going to blow anyone away with his passing ability, but he makes most of the throws he needs to make to have success and keep defenses guessing more than they would with a running quarterback.
"The game plan to stop Tate is an easy one and it’s not as though teams didn’t know what to do, but having the athletes to stop it is where the issues came. Teams like USC and Oregon had the athletes to get the job done and that is what played out in November. Tate loves perimeter runs and he does his most damage when he’s able to get outside and get moving up the sideline. Teams understand this and used a spy on him or just had the players to keep contain and keep him in the middle of the field. He’s much less effective running into the teeth of a defense. It’s one thing to say it and want to do it, but it’s another to get it done on the field and that was what changed from October, when Tate was setting records, to November when he came back down to earth a bit. Teams had the talent and players to get the job done."
GoldandBlack.com: Obviously, the offense has been successful, with the Wildcats averaging nearly 42 points and 500 yards of offense per game. Aside from the abilities of Tate, what does the offense try to do to create pressure on a defense? Conversely, in what ways can it be slowed?
Moreno: "As much as Tate isn’t at his best making runs up the middle that is where Arizona’s running backs make a living. Senior running back Nick Wilson and redshirt freshman JJ Taylor have differing styles but both love running right at defenses and they can be pretty darn good at picking up yards up the middle of the field. Arizona’s running game as a whole is what fuels the offense and those two players are almost as important as Tate is to the offense. The Wildcats also have a veteran offensive line with starters who have been there for multiple years. The group up front deserves a lot of credit for the offense’s performance this season because that running game wouldn’t be what it is without those players.
"Arizona has also used a lot more end-around and jet sweep plays to get the receivers involved in running plays as well. Shun Brown, Tyrell Johnson and Tony Ellison have all become bigger parts of the running game even though their primary job is to catch the ball. In addition to what it does on the ground, as I mentioned above, Tate gives the staff an ability to call plays down the field that can present some big opportunities in the passing game.
"To stop Arizona’s offense you have to make it pass more than it wants to. The recipe for wins this season has looked pretty much the same. Run the ball for over 250 yards and pass it for something like 150 and it has normally added up to a win for Arizona. If Arizona throws it less than 18-20 times that is playing right into its hand and that typically means something is going the way the Wildcats want on the ground. If a team can make Arizona pass it 25-30 times its chances of winning that game go way up."
GoldandBlack.com: Arizona's defense is extremely young. Where has it struggled this season? Who might be a player to watch in the bowl game?
Moreno: "It has been an interesting season for sure on that side of the ball. The group has looked better and more talented than a year ago, but the statistics don’t necessarily show it. There are several freshmen starting for defensive coordinator Marcel Yates and that has meant some growing pains. It has been an opportunistic defense with a Pac-12-leading 18 interceptions this season but it also had the worst pass defense in the conference. It’s rushing defense wasn’t much better sitting at ninth in the conference.
"The biggest issue has been getting off the field. Third down has continued to be a major problem for the Wildcats this season. There have been several drives that have continued despite third-and-long situations and it’s almost become expected that in those passing situations Arizona is going to give up a big play. There haven’t been a ton of short, three-and-out type of drives and that is something that bothers Rodriguez quite a bit.
"Linebackers Tony Fields II and Colin Schooler are the two players to keep an eye on. Both are important in Arizona’s scheme and both have become two of the team’s best defensive players. They are the top two on the tackles list heading into the bowl game and each of them will be key for the team to build around over the next couple years. Schooler in particular had a strong finish to the regular season and he already has people feeling like he could follow in the footsteps of All-American Scooby Wright over the course of his career."
GoldandBlack.com: An early storyline in this game is Arizona's offense vs. Purdue's defense, with the winner being whichever one can impose its will on the other. Is that the way you see it? What do you think the keys will be? And what's your early prediction?
Moreno: "I think so. That’s kind of the way it’s been for most of the season. It really comes down to how Tate performs in the end. If he gets going it will be hard to stop and that is the key. He is a special talent, but we haven’t seen what we saw in October for quite some time now, so it will be interesting to see if he can regain that form after having some time off. I think Arizona likes the challenge it will face with a Big Ten team and it has been motivated by being left off the all-conference awards. When this team has the right type of motivation it can be dangerous.
"Tate has looked better from a health perspective than what he did initially after the loss to Arizona State last month and if he’s in the game and close to 100 percent that isn’t a bad way to pick, so I think the Wildcats do enough of what they want to on the ground to get it done and win it something like 35-31."
Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook
More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2017. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.