[Rocco Baldelli]

Arizona fan here. Yes, the cats are terrible. So bad we will likely need to fire our coach after 1 year.

[Rocco Baldelli]

Arizona fan and Tucson resident here. The local feeling toward UA football is complete apathy. Tucsonans literally dont care about Sumlin or his program. Nobody even mentions UA football in conversation.

I will be at the game tonight but plan to duck out early if it gets out of hand quick. I picked up a ticket for $3 on the 40 yard line. 

[Rocco Baldelli]

Arizona fan here. 

The Arizona Daily Star staff just issued their predicitions.

https://tucson.com/sports/arizonawildcats/football/the-wildcast-episode-pac–football-preview-winners-of-north/audio_10067d04-8bb1-11e8-b21f-479acb660338.html

Beat Writer Michael Lev picked Arizona to win the South. (5:04)

Sports editor Ryan Finley picked Utah. (14:45)

[Rocco Baldelli]

Yep. $3 ticket. I had 2 other people text me with free tickets. It is going to be in the 50’s tonight so between cold and bad football people have zero interest. 

[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.

[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. 

[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. 

[Rocco Baldelli]

Arizona fan here…

Of course as a fan of the cats I hope you are right. 

However, for many reasons I have my doubts: 

1. The Offensive line is young and not talented. 

2. Tate is hurt. 

3. The defense cannot stop the run (again)

4. The special teams stink.

It is clear after five games that Sumlin is not creative or innovative. Instead, he plans to recuit four star players from Texas then line those guys up and beat people nose to nose. It remains to be seen if he recuits well. 

At this point I see Arizona winning two more games the rest of the way. UCLA (dumpster fire) and one other surprise.

[Rocco Baldelli]

Tony, thanks for the greetings. I’ve been a lurker on this site for 1+ years and finally said what the heck Im signing up. 

Back to your question. Can Arizona win the Pac-12 South?

In my opinion, no, Arizona will not win the Pac-12 South. Why?

1. Arizona has depth problems on the O-Line which could result in some headaches for Kalil Tate. I dont care how fast he is. If he is running for his life he wont be effective. 

2. Arizona has severe talent deficiences at WR. Word here in Tucson is that Kevin Sumlin might actually be altering his playbook because our two tight ends (Nunley and Wolma) are our best recievers. 

3. Arizona’s defensive line still has depth and talent deficiences. 

 

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