**Editor’s Note: Each week during football season, we feature an essay from the opponent’s student newspaper on why Oregon will lose. This week’s edition is from Roberto Miguel Payne, a the sports editor at the The Daily Wildcat.**
I’m not quite sure what you guys in Eugene put in the water but something just doesn’t feel right.
The Arizona Wildcats have won in Eugene just twice over the past 30 years, with the most recent matchup resulting in a 42-16 shellacking. This isn’t the case for any other conference foe.
Again, what in the hell do you put in the water and where can we get some? I’m going to try my best to bottle some up once I get there on Thursday.
From Arizona’s perspective, that last matchup was highlighted by missed opportunities in the first half and a complete breakdown in the second half. The Wildcats failed to score a single point on five red-zone opportunities, including its first four drives of the game. Plain and simple, you can’t win that way.
This season, expect a much different Arizona team to come to town.
The 2014-2015 Wildcats are among the Pac-12 leaders in scoring offense (tied for third), total offense (first), rushing offense (second), passing offense (second) and field goal makes (first).
Leading a revitalized attack is the largely untested trio of redshirt freshman quarterback Anu Solomon, true freshman running back David Wilson and redshirt sophomore wide receiver Cayleb Jones.
These guys had never taken a snap as a Wildcat before the season opener against UNLV, but have grown significantly since then. They have adapted a never say die mentality and are well equipped to roll with the punches that are bound to come when an explosive offense like Oregon is across the field.
That ability to bounce-back gives me confidence that this Arizona team can be the third team in the last 30 years to win in Eugene.
Ideally Arizona won’t even need to comeback but with the speed in which the Ducks score, Arizona is bound to trail at some point. Having a calm and collected quarterback like Solomon helps in that regard.
Solomon has been described by his coaches and teammates as unflappable and an all-around cool customer. He’s certainly better than B.J. Denker ever was. And that’s no disrespect to B.J., who’s now a part of the Arizona coaching staff. With lackluster arm strength, he just wasn’t very good at standing in the pocket and delivering. B.J. based everything off of his ability to scramble and the UA offense was predominately run-based for a reason.
While the run is still the primary focus this season, the team doesn’t have to worry about not being able to convert via the pass. This is a huge key when facing Oregon.
Notice I haven’t even talked about how to stop Marcus Mariota. That was by design. There is no stopping Mariota and his wizard-esque ability to make the right play at the right time. Mariota is one of the very best players in the nation and is the heart and soul of the Ducks. You cannot stop him, you can only hope to contain him.
Which is why Arizona won’t stress out if Mariota goes off.
You let him get his and instead key in on his weapons like Devon Allen and Royce Freeman. Limiting those guys will go a long way to an Arizona win.
You heard it here first: Arizona will upset Oregon 38-35 on a late fourth quarter field goal from UA kicker Casey Skowron on Thursday night. It’ll be the kind of signature, national television win the Wildcats desperately need to make this season memorable.
This is going to be one hell of a Thursday night matchup.