That doesn’t mean Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer, who begins her 30th season Down on the Farm, is throwing in the towel before the season opener on Friday at UC Davis.
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The Wildcats may be out of the hunt for the Pac-12 championship with a 2-5 conference record, but at 5-5 overall they are battling to become bowl eligible and play the role of spoiler in the process. Baker has been filling in for injured Nick Wilson and would love to continue what’s been an effective tradition for Wildcats running backs against Utah. The Wildcats are undersized and less athletic than Utah in nearly every matchup on defense.
DN: The Utes creeped into the top 10 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings this week. Utah capitalized on four Washington turnovers and gained only 346 total yards.
Say what you will about Leonard Fournette, but Christian McCaffrey is the best player in college football. Devontae Booker is the leading rusher for Utah with 1116 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Last year, Stanford lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Florida State, now ranked No. 1 in the nation. He also rushed for a 4-yard touchdown. Only four rotation players return from last season’s 33-win Elite Eight team, yet the arrival of four promising freshmen and three impact transfers give Miller the deepest, most offensively gifted roster he’s had since coming to Tucson. So now the two aggrieved teams meet in Tempe. Both players are expected to contribute more on the offensive end this season if the Cardinal is to have a successful season. He has 10 career double-figure tackle games. Utah is stout in the front seven, uncorking the quickness of LB Gionni Paul and the D-line toughness to lead the league in run defense. The road team is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 meetings. “The weather sucked. Our play sucked”.
The Wildcats won easily in a three set sweep during their last meeting with Utah less than three weeks ago, but Arizona had its struggles against Colorado. And if they’re not playing catch up, the defense should have had no problem putting away the Utes. The 6-foot-3 Payton has good length for a guard, quick hands and feet and the ball-hawking instincts of a free safety, all of which contributed to him averaging 3.1 steals per game last season.
The Utes will have to deal with Kalei Mau, who is third in the Pac-12 in kills with 4.4 per set, and head coach Beth Launiere knows they’ll have to focus a lot of their efforts on her. You can bet your britches that the Wildcats will be very motivated to secure their much-needed sixth win against the Utes this weekend.
The mediocre play isn’t because of the Tigers’ lack of defense, as they rank fourth in the nation in allowing opponents just 14.6 point per game.
Scouting the passing game: Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said last week he prefers for Wilson to throw for at least 225 yards a game. Wilson has eclipsed 225 yards passing only three times this season. Opponents are gaining only 114.3 yards a game on the ground. Rosco Allen, a 6-9 redshirt junior, should increase his 7.3 points-per-game average from last season.
The win was Utah’s first win in Husky stadium, first win against Washington since joining the Pac-12, and in fact was the first win against the Huskies ever (having previously gone 0-8 dating back to 1931). The Utah defense is giving up 21.6 points per game with 365.5 yards per game. Nevertheless, Utah still took a 24-13 lead into the locker room.
8 California (5-4, 2-4; last week: 8) The Bears were once the Pac-12’s golden team. I could have been a run stopper and made just that one play to get the team over the top. All four misses were from 45 yards and longer. Quarterback Anu Solomon leads the Arizona offense with 2061 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.
Buckner won’t need to make all of the tackles.
9 Arizona State (4-5, 2-4; last week: 9) The Sun Devils fell apart in Pullman really quickly for a program that has experienced so much success. “They all weigh about 320 pounds”.
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The linebackers coaching position is Ena’s third different job in three seasons, after serving as defensive coordinator for Weber State (2014) and Southern Utah (2013).
