No offense to Arizona, but Oregon couldn’t have handpicked a better opponent to begin the 2021 Pac-12 conference season.
The Ducks are 3-0 and are No. 3 in the nation according to the Associated Press poll as they enter what is sure to be a grueling nine games that consist of the Pac-12 portion of their schedule.
Arizona, on the other hand, is on the complete opposite of the football spectrum.
The Wildcats have lost 15 straight games and are coming off a very disappointing 21-20 loss to FCS Northern Arizona.
Although those numbers are ugly, Arizona may be closer to where it wants to be than the numbers indicate.
In the Wildcats’ last game of the 2020 season, they hit rock bottom with a 70-7 loss to rival Arizona State.
That prompted, and rightly so, a firing of Kevin Sumlin and his staff.
Sumlin out, Jedd Fisch in.
The former New England Patriots quarterback coach is still finding his way, but in his head coaching debut in Tucson, Arizona came close to upsetting BYU before falling 24-16.
Unfortunately for them, however, it’s one step forward and two steps back. Those two steps back were being manhandled by San Diego State and the loss to NAU.
According to Fisch, they knew 2021 wasn’t going to be easy.
“We knew this was going to be a great challenge for us. Our goal each week is to get better,” he said.
“I believe in that point in time results will start coming.”
In order for those results to show themselves, the first-year head coach will need to find a reliable quarterback and through the first three games, that hasn’t happened. Arizona has split time between not two, but three different signal-callers.
It seems that Arizona will play both Gunner Cruz and Jordan McCloud Saturday night against the Ducks.
The third quarterback, Will Plummer, was banged up some in the loss to the Lumberjacks last week, so he’s out of the mix for the moment.
On defense, the Wildcats have one basic play. Blitz and then blitz again.
But who is blitzing and from what direction is what the Ducks will have to figure out on the fly as the game progresses.
Arizona has 21 tackles for loss thus far.
While blitzing can create and cause chaos in the backfield, it’s also prone to giving up the big play, something that has burned the Wildcats in their first three games.
Oregon also has to deal with one of the best cornerbacks in the conference in Christian Roland-Wallace.
Roland-Wallace is a typical lockdown corner and is no doubt headed to the NFL when he chooses to test those waters. In the meantime, he’s as gifted a CB there is in the country, and opponents tend to throw the opposite direction when he’s on the field.
As for the Ducks, they enter the game seemingly as healthy as they’ve been since the season got underway.
While Kayvon Thibodeaux is still “day-to-day,” players such as linebackers Mase Funa and Keith Brown should be ready to go, as is quarterback Anthony Brown and offensive lineman Steven Jones.
Both offensive players were knocked out of the Stony Brook game, but according to Mario Cristobal, they will be on the field when the game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
MARIO CRISTOBAL DISCUSSES ARIZONA AND THE DUCKS INJURY STATUS