Zona beating Cal? What can you take away from this?

[EagleMountainUte]

Of course TDS beat up the new look Zona team week one. Cal also beat TDS. The round and round of it all. I did see a highlight of a Arizona interception that had a fumble Cal poke out and a recovery by Zona to score. I think Cal is a good team. I think losing to Zona was more overlooking them and thinking you are better.

This can absolutely happen to Utah as well. Utah has proven it obviously against Stanford. The almost identical game plan can work on Zona. Healthy dose of Moss and Shyne. Covey I think will have a better game to because Zona just isn’t a good tackling team. Tate can chuck the ball around so I think the defense can force some picks if he tries to hang in the pocket. If he extends plays Utah could be hurting a little. 

[jamarcus24]

Cal isn’t a great offensive team and Arizona scored two defensive touchdowns.  Utes should dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.  I’d hope to see us play just the way we did last week except this time Arizona doesn’t have a hundred 6’5+ TEs to throw the ball to to get them back in the game.

[Rocco Baldelli]

Zona Fan here. 

At halftime of the USC game coach Sumlin decided to make changes on defense in order to get the best players on the field. This included playing both PJ Johnson (330lbs) and Derek Boles (300lbs+) at the same time. This also included getting Jalen Harris in the game more.

The result has been a defense that is stuffing many run plays and most importantly getting pressure on the QB. The pressure on the QB has led to some interceptions. 

Now, sadly, the offense is completely inept. The offensive line is young and not talented, thus we cannot run on anybody not named Oregon State or Southern Utah. Tate cannot extend plays because he is hurt and he is not a pocket passer. 

My take on the Cal game is that they stink. Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star wrote: “In reality, Arizona has beating the Pac-12’s two bottom feeder, Cla and Oregon State, but nobody’s going to care about that whent eh standings are pritned this week.” https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/football/greg-hansen-khalil-tate-gets-it-done-on-an-off/article_68850c6b-d52a-59ad-9206-937b7f5b1a2a.html. Cal committed dumb penalty after dumb penalty that constantly stalled drives. 

Utah should win Friday for the sole reason that Arizona cannot score points this year. The only exception is if Utah self destructs with turnovers and/or dumb penalties. 

[jamarcus24]

Thanks for the insight.  I’ve seen Cal play three times this year and my opinion is their offense is very bad.  Arizona looked a lot more active defensively but I didn’t catch the USC game and I haven’t seen them play since Houston outran them, which I guess was about a month ago.

[EagleMountainUte]

That sounds like Utah’s offense sometimes. Thanks for the insight. 

[gothamute]

Thanks Rocco, appreciate the perspective. Regarding Tate, I’ve been mystified as to why Sumlin seems hellbent on turning him into a pocket passer (which he’s clearly not) and taking away your biggest offensive weapon (Tate’s legs). Admittedly I haven’t followed Zona super closely (saw only parts of the BYU, Houston and Cal games) but how much of that is tied to injury (ie did he come into the season hurt and if so I guess it was kept semi secret because I haven’t heard much/anything about him being hurt)?

[Rocco Baldelli]

Thanks Rocco, appreciate the perspective. Regarding Tate, I’ve been mystified as to why Sumlin seems hellbent on turning him into a pocket passer (which he’s clearly not) and taking away your biggest offensive weapon (Tate’s legs). Admittedly I haven’t followed Zona super closely (saw only parts of the BYU, Houston and Cal games) but how much of that is tied to injury (ie did he come into the season hurt and if so I guess it was kept semi secret because I haven’t heard much/anything about him being hurt)?

Gothamute. Thats the question Arizona fans asked the first 5 games of the year. The answer has finally come to light. Tate is hurt. His leg/ankle is not right and has not been right all year. As a result Tate does not have the breakaway speed that he had last year. In addition, he does not appear to want to initiate contact. Many Arizona fans think Sumlin should bench/rest Tate if he wont run. I’m one of those fans. However, the problem is that the backup options are not great. Arizona did play truse frosh Jamarye Joiner for one series last week. Arizona fans expect Joiner or Kevin Doyle may get reps versus Utah. However, its a lot to ask to put in a true frosh at Rice Eccles and expect success. 

[gothamute]

Well a lot of things suddenly make more sense. I have always thought highly of Sumlin as a coach but his seemingly stubborn approach with Tate really defied explanation (other than this one). Any insight into what the injury is? High ankle sprain might fit your commentary and also explain why it’s taking him so long to heal. As a fan of all things college football I’ve been disappointed not to be able to watch him play to his potential this year, so I can only imagine how bummed Zona fans must be (especially if the options behind him are as thin as you say). I wonder if Dawkins had stayed whether Tate might have ended up taking a redshirt year (given the new rules) but if there really aren’t any backups game-ready now then Tate slogging through the rest of the season may be your only option.

Btw, Friday’s outcome is far from certain for exactly the caveats you mentioned – we have already self-destructed twice this year… once with turnovers (Washington) and once with dumb penalties (Washington State). Absent the TOs the Washington game was a toss-up (still not sure we would have won that one, as there were several other things going wrong that night as well) and three separate times game-ending plays against Wazzu were nullified by penalties. I hope we turned a corner last week against Stanford, but with college athletes you can never be certain regression isn’t right around the corner…

[Rocco Baldelli]

1. Any insight into what the injury is? Sprained ankle. Maybe a lower leg bone bruise. Most of us beleive it happened during Fall camp. He then tweaked it against BYU and was tackled awardly on a play against Houston. Ever since then he has been hobbling every time he gets tackled or jogs off the field. 

2. As a fan of all things college football I’ve been disappointed not to be able to watch him play to his potential this year, so I can only imagine how bummed Zona fans must be (especially if the options behind him are as thin as you say). I wonder if Dawkins had stayed whether Tate might have ended up taking a redshirt year (given the new rules) but if there really aren’t any backups game-ready now then Tate slogging through the rest of the season may be your only option. Its beyond frustrating. Many of the local writers beleive Sumlin screwed up not redshirting him. However, there is a good chance that Grant Gunnel (4-star pro style QB from Texas who was commited to Sumlin at A&M) will start at QB on opening night 2019. Sumlin and Mazzone want a Josh Rosen and based on their comments Gunnell is their guy at Arizona. I couldnt imagine Tate redshirting just to serve as a backup in 2019. *Note: Yes I’m serious about Gunnel starting from day one. Look him up. 

2. Btw, Friday’s outcome is far from certain for exactly the caveats you mentioned – we have already self-destructed twice this year… once with turnovers (Washington) and once with dumb penalties (Washington State). Absent the TOs the Washington game was a toss-up (still not sure we would have won that one, as there were several other things going wrong that night as well) and three separate times game-ending plays against Wazzu were nullified by penalties. I hope we turned a corner last week against Stanford, but with college athletes you can never be certain regression isn’t right around the corner… Very true. Many Utah fans thought the sky was falling and felt you guys didnt have a chance last week at Furd. Look how that turned out. That said, I still beleive the only way Arizona wins Friday night is with some help from Utah. 

See my responses in red.

[gothamute]

Interesting… thanks for the perspective. Looking forward to seeing how it all plays out Friday night!

[Mano]

Takeaway is that you cannot overlook anyone in this league, and Utah has no gimmies left on their schedule ( other than last game of the year, which is OOC ).

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