Arizona football opens up its home slate with a cupcake game against struggling FCS Southern Utah. It’s a much needed “gimme” game for the Wildcats.
The Arizona Wildcats (0-2) head back home to take on FCS opponent Southern Utah. It has been an incredibly rough start to the season for the Wildcats, suffering a tough loss to BYU in the opener and getting pummeled by Houston in week two.
Dynamic quarterback Khalil Tate has struggled mightily through the first two games, completing just above 50 percent of his passes and throwing more interceptions (two) than touchdowns (one). He has only 15 rushing yards and was bludgeoned by Houston’s defense last week.
Expectations and optimism was high before the season, with new head coach Kevin Sumlin combining with Tate to try and build off a successful 2017. That hasn’t been the case and Arizona desperately needs a reset in week three to try and get righted before its Pac-12 schedule begins.
Southern Utah (0-2) has had a similarly rough start to the season, losing to FCS Independent North Alabama and Pac-12 foe Oregon State. The Thunderbirds are replacing All-Conference quarterback Patrick Tyler and junior Chris Helbig has played well in the early season action. The defense has not held up its end of the bargain, allowing over 600 yards per game.
Here’s three bold predictions for this match-up.
3. Khalil Tate gets back on track
Tate took the world by storm when he earned the starting job and started the final eight games of the 2017 season. Tate ran for 1411 yards 12 touchdowns, while throwing for an additional 1591 yards and 14 touchdowns. He garnered Heisman buzz and took the Wildcats to a bowl game after a shaky 2-2 start.
It was completely understandable that expectations were high for Tate entering the 2017 season, as he was placed on the Walter Camp, Davey O’Brien, Maxwell and Manning Award Watchlists. His combination of electric speed and returning playmakers made him a safe pick.
The results have been completely opposite of what was expected. Tate hasn’t been able to run or pass effectively through the first two games.
This is the game that Tate gets back on track. Southern Utah’s defense has given up over 1200 yards in its first two match-ups and has not been good at forcing turnovers. It’s a perfect match-up for Tate to recapture some of the magic he had last season.
2. Wildcats will attempt to get running game going
The Wildcats haven’t had much success running the ball this season, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry. Star running back J.J. Taylor has only 139 yards and one touchdown this year, while Tate is averaging just 1.5 yards per carry.
Against a Southern Utah defense that is allowing over 280 rushing yards per game and has allowed six rushing touchdowns, the Wildcats should use this game to get the running game going again.
Providing Tate with a powerful running game would be a big step towards having a successful Pac-12 season and salvaging a bowl game from this disappointing start to the season.
Taylor ran for 847 yards and five touchdowns last season as a freshman and the hope was that the short sophomore could improve upon that mark this season. There is no excuse for Arizona not to run all over Southern Utah this week.
1. Arizona ends the losing streak
Plain and simple, there is no reason that Arizona should lose this game. The Wildcats should easily overmatch a struggling FCS team at home. Tate should get back on track and the running game should have a field day. If Arizona struggles against the Thunderbirds then its officially time to panic in Tucson.
That won’t happen however and quickly fans will be able to turn their sights to the Wildcats Pac-12 opener against Oregon State. The Beavers defeated Southern Utah 47-25 in Week 2.
Tate and Taylor will find the end zone several times in a game that should end up being one of the worst blowouts of the weekend.
It will be a good indicator of how good the Arizona defense is after getting torched by Houston. Getting after the quarterback and forcing a turnover should be a priority since somehow Arizona has done neither this season.
Sit back and enjoy what could be one of the few wins for Arizona this season.