2023 Season Thread

[UAEebs86]

Don't feed the troll.

[MrMeow]

If Noah starts, do we get Ari and Merkin back?

Absolutely, at least for me.

But the UA still is not getting any of my money. No more UA gear, and paying to stream the games.

This may shock you but nobody cares.

Speak for yourself, Grumpy. I care. Two daughters and three granddaughters here. I'm with Merk all the way. I won't watch another JDL lead game this year or in the future. No more money either. Fisch, Heeke, Robbins, and JDL can all suck it.

[MrMeow]

If Noah starts, do we get Ari and Merkin back?

Other fans too. We shouldn’t even be having this conversation if the right decisions were made at the start of the season.

Unfortunately JDL being out doesn’t mean those decision-makers are off the hook. It’s definitely a struggle for me to watch the team knowing what he’s accused of, and our coaching staff and admin’s response to the allegations in the offseason were so dismissive and simplistic that it’s left a sour taste in my mouth toward the whole infrastructure of the program.

I suspect it occurred to you that the reason for the admin's dismissive and simplistic response was that anything else would have left them with three choices: 1. admit an ugly truth, 2. provide some kind of b.s. explanation that would have left them open to questioning, or 3. lie. They took the easy way out: let the masses eat cake.

[tgrumpy2]

If Noah starts, do we get Ari and Merkin back?

Absolutely, at least for me.

But the UA still is not getting any of my money. No more UA gear, and paying to stream the games.

This may shock you but nobody cares.

Speak for yourself, Grumpy. I care. Two daughters and three granddaughters here. I'm with Merk all the way. I won't watch another JDL lead game this year or in the future. No more money either. Fisch, Heeke, Robbins, and JDL can all suck it.
[/quote

OH I care about my daughter and granddaughter. I would say most others care about theirs. No one cares you aren't giving any more money to the UofA. I would ask you stop the self righitous virtue signaling or change your name to Karen. The Delaura dilema will be what it will be and you giving or not giving money will not change it. I do believe everyone is tired of hearing about the vast fortune you are going to withhold.

[dmjcat]

Arizona PFF Grades vs. Washington

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/football/ ... ies-pac-12

The Arizona Wildcats played 74 offensive snaps and 71 defensive snaps in their 31-24 loss to Washington Saturday. Here is how much each player played along with their Pro Football Focus grades.

Offense
QB Noah Fifita, 74 (70.2)
RT Jonah Savaiinaea, 74 (60.8)
C Josh Baker, 74 (57.4)
LG Leif Magnuson, 74 (65.2)
LG Wendell Moe, 74 (62.9)
LT Jordan Morgan, 74 (68.3)
WR Tetairoa McMillan, 70 (62.3)
WR Jacob Cowing, 69 (62.1)
TE Tanner McLachlan, 67 (61.4)
WR Montana Lemonious-Craig, 55 (54.7)
RB Jonah Coleman, 53 (77.6)
RB D.J. Williams, 19 (75.1)
WR Malachi Riley, 15 (52.4)
RB Rayshon Luke, 8 (51.1)
TE Keyan Burnett, 6 (55.2)
WR AJ Jones, 4 (56.8)
TE Roberto Miranda, 4 (56.8)
WR Kevin Green Jr., 2 (77.5)
Defense
CB Treydan Stukes, 71 (56.7)
S Dalton Johnson, 71 (62.7)
S Gunner Maldonado, 71 (51.6)
CB Ephesians Prysock, 71 (59.9)
CB Tacario Davis, 67 (63.3)
LB Jacob Manu, 66 (57.4)
DL Taylor Upshaw, 44 (45.4)
NT Bill Norton, 44 (57.9)
DE Isaiah Ward, 43 (42.1)
DT Tyler Manoa, 43 (58.7)
LB Daniel Heimuli, 33 (51.1)
S Genesis Smith, 28 (59.8)
DT Tiaolii Savea, 28 (62.7)
S Isaiah Taylor, 26 (68.1)
DE Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei, 24 (66.2)
DT Jacob Kongaika, 17 (47.1)
DE Isaiah Johnson, 7 (59.5)
DL Russell Davis II, 7 (64.8)
CB Dylan Wyatt, 6 (66.0)
LB Justin Flowe, 5 (58.8)
LB Taye Brown, 3 (37.0)
LB Kamuela Ka’aihue, 2 (67.3)
LB Jeremy Mercier, 1 (62.6)

[AZCatGirl]

Fifita having success is the perfect chance for the program to wash their hands of JDL. Even if you don't care about the off the field stuff, Fifita is clearly the better QB this year. Maybe we'll get lucky and JDL can just transfer out after the season is over and that will be that.

[ProfessorFate]

Did Flowe get hurt? He only played 5 snaps.

[azcat49]

He was injured Vs Furd and we ran the 3-1-7 where we use Manu primarily. Heimuli played more snaps due to his skill in dropping into coverage

[AzCatFan2]

With JDL, as the saying goes, there are 3 sides to every story. We know the victim's version. We don't and can't know the boy's side. And without that, we'll never know the truth. All we know is those who know the most and were charged with punishment were content with not charging as adults, and letting the boys off with nothing more than an apology letter.

If you want to play judge, jury, and executioner for JDL for an unknown juvie offense that resulted in only an apology letter, that's your prerogative. But don't blame the school. What could they do? Punish a kid over a sealed juvie record with the only punishment handed down by the law is an apology letter? Guarantee there are other athletes with worse juvie records that have played, age are likely on current rosters. And if they never face a civil suit, we'll never know.

Be angry at JDL. He did something wrong. But the b school? Bad precedent to punish kids for sealed juvenile offenses when you don't and can't know the v whole story.

[84Cat]

Who lines up at QB this week? I see a few of you have already responded in the comments

[Merkin]

I haven't been able to find any current stats since PFF charges for them, but thought this interesting:

https://tucson.com/sports/college/footb ... 21690.html

The second not-so-ideal stat for de Laura is a Pro Football Focus specialty: TWP (turnover-worthy plays), meaning passes that have a high chance of getting intercepted or runs with a high risk of fumbling. De Laura is tied with New Mexico State’s Diego Pavia for the most TWP plays (seven) this season, according to PFF.

Last season, de Laura was tied for fourth in FBS in TWP plays (24) — worst in the Pac-12 — and is on pace for 42 this season. In his last season at Washington State in 2021? Tops in the Pac-12 with 16. In the eyes of PFF, de Laura is a TWP-producing machine.

[azcat49]

Wow, that is some eye opening information. With a team that has a razor thin margin to beat the teams we have coming up, it points to JDL not being the guy to lead us.

[84Cat]

Fifita having success is the perfect chance for the program to wash their hands of JDL. Even if you don't care about the off the field stuff, Fifita is clearly the better QB this year. Maybe we'll get lucky and JDL can just transfer out after the season is over and that will be that.

This is the path I'm hoping for. We have Desmond coming in next year and I have loved Noah's loyalty to us since he was signed

[AzCatFan2]

JDL is a true gunslinger. High risk, but high reward. You never know what you are going to get play to play. Fifita just seems more poised and makes better decisions most of the time. The int was a bad throw, and there were a few others against UW that he likely completes in high school, but not against a team with the talent of UW. I'm confident that Fifita will learn from these mistakes and avoid these throws in the future. JDL? Not sure he'll ever stop being a gunslinger?

If JDL isn't 100% healthy, we should continue to play Fifita. Great experience playing in big games against top competition, and will be great experience. But if healthy, I say we play JDL. Even with his turnover tendencies, he's our best bet for winning. We're not going to beat a USC and Caleb Williams by playing it safe on O for 60 minutes. We're going to need some big plays and take some risks in my opinion. But if have to go with Fifita, I hope we open the playbook a bit and tell him to let a few fly. USC's D, especially pass D, isn't as solid as UW.

[RawleArenas]

I rarely weigh in on football (which is ironic because I used to work in collegiate football), but feel the need to speak on the qb situation this season. I'm gonna play Devil's Mediator here and defend Fisch for a second. I understand his reluctance to send JDL to the bench in favor of Fifita. When we signed JDL it was a huge coup for us; we had no track record of success for JDL to hang his hat on. He was the kind of talent that stable, more established programs got. I remember when he committed, pretty much everyone was enthused thinking that we finally got the needle mover we desperately needed. I'm sure Fisch's loyalty in light of the situation surrounding him coming here played a big part of him being (seemingly unreasonably) patient with JDL.

Now fast forward to season three under Fisch, and we can clearly see all of the flaws and warts. He's the epitome of high risk/high reward. My worry is the potential locker room issues that come with a switch, although I'm leaning towards Fifita like everyone else. Fifita has the intangibles but not the measurables you would want, while JDL has the measurables but not the intangibles (in terms of maturity and leadership). I think it's interesting that Keith Smith raves about Fifita, basically saying he's a gamer with the right kind of talent. I'm still 50/50 on the situation, although I don't think its a good idea to take a page out of Stanford's book and play two qb's.

The team feels better with Fifta under center. He brings an energy that's hard to put into words. JDL has more experience, but it seems like the team is ready to move on. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Carcassdragger]

In three years, I've never seen a Fisch team quit. This guy is a great coach.

I have high confidence in his decision making and believe he'll play whoever he thinks gives us the best chance to win.

[Merkin]

I think it's interesting that Keith Smith raves about Fifita, basically saying he's a gamer with the right kind of talent. I'm still 50/50 on the situation, although I don't think its a good idea to take a page out of Stanford's book and play two qb's.

The team feels better with Fifta under center. He brings an energy that's hard to put into words. JDL has more experience, but it seems like the team is ready to move on. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Funny you mentioned Keith Smith right before your comment regarding not playing 2 QBs.

Although most of us would agree with the old John Madden(?) axiom: If you have 2 QBs you don't have any.

Speaking of the team and JDL, I wonder if they resent him doing the fake spike resulting in a QB sneak for TD against MS State without telling them? If he failed, which probably would have happened 95% of the time, the clock would have run out ending the half. If he would have called that in an audible, they had a much better chance of success with the team run blocking and not pass blocking.

If I was Fisch, I would have pulled him aside after that play and tell him you pull that shit again your are being benched. Just a terrible decision that just happened to work.

[Jefe]

Photos courtesy of Dean Kelly(Skypod Images)

[Chicat]

We are so fucking close but we are killing ourselves with penalties.

Clean that shit up and we’ll put the fear of God in everyone left on our schedule.

[tgrumpy2]

Pretty darn good considering we gave them two touchdowns. We have three losses and probably should have won all three.

[Postmaster]

I just want to flame the Ft. Lowell Depot. They started karaoke at the beginning of the third OT.

[AZCatGirl]

So Fisch wants to lose next week?

[EastCoastCat]

So Fisch wants to lose next week?

Maybe Fisch should call his former boss Belichick and ask if he regrets not putting Bledsoe back as a starter?

[scumdevils86]

Yeesh 3 losses by a combined 16 points. Two top 10 teams and an SEC team on the road. So freaking close.

[KillerKlown]

Defense has been outstanding. Holding UW 20 points under their avg and USC needing triple OT to get 43. I loved how engaged the d line and LBs are on the line. Caused a lot of chaos and bad guessing from the trojan o line. That pack of trojans was a bad batch and let a lot get through. And then the DBs playing man coverage all night and only allowing one td. A lot to look forward to.

[cerec_cat]

I have always liked the all white uniforms for away games. I like the “underdog “ impression and mentality it might give opposing teams

[pc in NM]

Yeesh 3 losses by a combined 16 points. Two top 10 teams and an SEC team on the road. So freaking close.

One thing eludes the team: "Just Win, Baby!!" attitude

It's so close!!

[TheCatInTheHat]

It would be great to have a bye right now, but that doesn't happen until after this week's trip to Pullman. That'll be another tough assignment, but I still think we can find at least three more wins in these last six games and go bowling.

[dmjcat]

https://www.azdesertswarm.com/football/ ... 2-football

Tracking Arizona Wildcats’ snap counts and PFF grades at USC
By Ezra Amacher Oct 8, 2023

Arizona v USC

The Arizona Wildcats played 80 offensive snaps and 70 defensive snaps in their 43-41 triple overtime loss to USC Saturday. Here is how much each player played along with their Pro Football Focus grades.

At the bottom are also player snaps and grades for USC’s Christian Roland-Wallace, Kyon Barrs and Dorian Singer, who also transferred from Arizona after last season.

Offense
QB Noah Fifita, 80 (60.2)
RT Jonah Savaiinaea, 80 (73.3)
WR Tetairoa McMillan, 80 (76.6)
C Josh Baker, 80 (64.4)
LG Wendell Moe, 80 (67.4)
LT Jordan Morgan, 80 (73.4)
TE Tanner McLachlan, 77 (57.9)
WR Montana Lemonious-Craig, 67 (49.6)
WR Jacob Cowing, 61 (78.8)
RB Jonah Coleman, 57 (76.8)
LG Leif Magnuson, 52 (58.3)
RT Joseph Borjon, 28 (58.6)
RB D.J. Williams, 22 (68.2)
WR Kevin Green Jr., 15 (53.2)
TE Roberto Miranda, 10 (33.3)
TE Keyan Burnett, 6 (57.5)
WR Malachi Riley, 4 (56.3)
RB Rayshon Luke, 1 (59.0)
Defense
CB Treydan Stukes, 70 (62.2)
S Dalton Johnson, 70 (55.5)
S Gunner Maldonado, 70 (73.7)
CB Ephesians Prysock, 70 (62.1)
LB Jacob Manu, 70 (60.0)
CB Tacario Davis, 64 (60.6)
LB Justin Flowe, 44 (54.8)
DT Tiaolii Savea, 41 (50.3)
DL Taylor Upshaw, 39 (40.3)
NT Bill Norton, 37 (55.4)
DT Tyler Manoa, 36 (50.2)
DE Isaiah Ward, 28 (76.5)
DE Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei, 25 (66.8)
DL Russell Davis II, 24 (70.6)
Sio Nofogatoto’a, 23 (59.8)
S Genesis Smith, 22 (46.4)
CB Martell Irby, 22 (69.1)
DT Jacob Kongaika, 8 (67.3)
CB Dylan Wyatt, 6 (51.7)
LB Daniel Heimuli, 1 (60.0)
Arizona transfers
WR Dorian Singer, 44 (51.9)
CB Christian Roland-Wallace, 40 (62.1)
DL Kyon Barrs, 20 (63.9)

[Merkin]

Must have been all those sacks he took after his pick to make Fifita's score so low.

Khalil Tate had that problem too. Hard time throwing the ball away. Tate would rather run out of bounds losing 3-4 yards.

[dmjcat]

It would be great to have a bye right now, but that doesn't happen until after this week's trip to Pullman. That'll be another tough assignment, but I still think we can find at least three more wins in these last six games and go bowling.

Getting 3 mores wins is certainly possible but statistically challenging. Where do you see the three wins coming from??? At this point I only see one game (scum) where we are likely to be favored.

I would rank our chances of getting a win (best to worst) as follows:

asu
Colorado
Utah (assuming Cam Rising doesn't come back)
UCLA
Oregon State
Washington State

[TheCatInTheHat]

As far as reverse order power rankings, that's probably pretty close. But none of those teams seems anywhere near as daunting as the roadies at USC and Mississippi St and the home game with Washington seemed to be prior to the season. A lot of people thought we'd get blown out in all three of them, and we were right there in all of them. There always seem to be issues with key injuries, somebody tripping or a blown assignment for a big play, suspensions, or whatever multiple times in a college football season involving various teams that lead to unexpected outcomes. It can cut both ways, of course, but I'd like to think our three losses to date are more about our being snake-bit than that we got our full share of luck just to make them as close as they were. And I'd like to think we're due for a little more good luck than we've so far gotten after losing three close games and playing with our starting backfield out of commission. Some people harrumph and talk about making your own luck. That's great if you're named Nick Saban or you land the coaching gig in Columbus, Ohio or someplace similar. Otherwise, you have to work your ass off and be very good, just to have a chance to get a few good bounces, to not have your higher-ranked opponent get away with blatant holding and receive favorable spots, and to not get called for roughing the passer for some marginally late incidental nudges. Nobody said it would be easy, but at least now we seem to be a consistently competitive and reasonably respected tough out, if nothing else.

[ASUHATER!]

We have to beat CU and ASU to go bowling. And somehow find wins in WSU OSU Utah and UCLA

[azgreg]

[dmjcat]

[Abrahamarvel]

Seems like defense has improved a lot this year. Dline has a lot of transfer and is significantly bigger, on secondary though, maybe credit is due to Akina?

[TheCat]

Just look at the snaps the Dline has had to play this year versus last and you will see one of the reasons there is a big improvement. Starting to develop a little bit of depth and it shows.

[Chicat]

Might be the first time I’ve agreed with Wilner.

[EastCoastCat]

The offense looks a thousand times smoother with Fifita.

Tough break for Jayden but we should be in the business of winning football games. Period.

[Chicat]

The offense looks a thousand times smoother with Fifita.

It’s just way too noticeable. Instead of forcing balls into triple coverage there are checkdowns to open guys who pick up 6 yards and we live to play the next down.

[EastCoastCat]

The offense looks a thousand times smoother with Fifita.

It’s just way too noticeable. Instead of forcing balls into triple coverage there are checkdowns to open guys who pick up 6 yards and we live to play the next down.

Exactly. It’s way too obvious this offense is not designed to take the snap and run around the pocket. There are progressions that will gain yardage if you play within its parameters.

[Chicat]

4-3 going into the bye week.

3 out of our last 5 at home.

We could go 4-1. And I don’t feel like I’m being stupidly optimistic saying that.

[EastCoastCat]

Is it that far a reach to say we are playing the best ball in the conference?

[Chicat]

Is it that far a reach to say we are playing the best ball in the conference?

Washington fans might argue with you, but it’s super goddamn close.

[AZCatGirl]

[Chicat]

That went HARD.

[Carcassdragger]

Fuck..............yes.

[dmjcat]

Paging Captain Obvious, Paging Captain Obvious

Please report to the Crow Carving Station at the Wildcat Buffet.

[dmjcat]

Arizona Washington State Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4zPyjKSQT8

[Chicat]