At least he’s honest.
“Watching film of last year, they flat-out embarrassed us,” Arizona sophomore quarterback Anu Solomon said after practice on Tuesday. “If we play like that again, they’re going to embarrass us on a national stage. We can’t come out the way we came out last year.”
It’s not just last year, though.
The UCLA Bruins have become the thorn in Rich Rodriguez’s side. You wonder why it’s called the Rose Bowl? Rodriguez gets all prickly talking about last year’s 17-7 loss in sunny Pasadena, and you understand why.
Anu Solomon: 18 of 48 passing. Nick Wilson, nine carries, 18 yards.
Arizona’s offense, 80 net rushing yards.
It was the third Arizona-UCLA matchup in Rodriguez’s tenure, and while not the most damning — try to forget the 66-10 drubbing at the Rose Bowl in 2012 — it was a low point last season.
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“He’s very hyped about this game,” Solomon said of Rodriguez. “We haven’t beaten UCLA, and we’re taking that to heart. We can’t come out and lose our minds; we have to stick to the game plan and make sure we play smart.”
That starts, predictably, with Solomon and Wilson.
Behind B.J. Denker and Ka’Deem Carey, the Wildcats were efficient against the Bruins in 2013. Denker had 186 passing yards and two touchdowns and another 82 rushing yards, and Carey rushed for 149 yards and a score.
If not for the myth-making debut of Myles Jack as an offensive force, the Wildcats very well may have won the game. They lost 31-26.
Fast forward a year, and all of the positive momentum from a year before — going from a 56-point defeat to a five-point loss is an improvement, no? — washed away.
Solomon appeared constantly flustered. His checkdowns failed to materialize. Arizona managed five rushing first downs and 2.6 yards per rush.
Solomon was sacked three times but faced heavy pressure throughout, which resulted in 10 pass breakups including an interception.
“It was probably pretty hard on him, but it was hard on all of us,” Rodriguez said. “He didn’t have a good game, I didn’t have a good game; none of us had a good game.”
Added Solomon: “We couldn’t win up front. I don’t want to say this, but last year, they were more of a physical team than us. … They had a pass rush and our wide receivers couldn’t get open. We’re putting more emphasis on pushing off the press and getting open. We’re making sure we’re running our routes well.”
Just how poor was Arizona’s offense against UCLA?
Consider:
- Last season against teams not named UCLA, the Wildcats averaged 22.1 first downs per game. Against UCLA, they had 15.
- Solomon averaged a paltry 3.6 yards per pass attempt; for the season, the team’s clip was 7.0.
- Solomon could not connect downfield at all in the contest — Arizona’s longest pass play went for 17 yards.
- Despite Arizona’s lightning-fast play-calling, the Wildcats averaged a respectable 27 minutes, 14 seconds in
- average time of possession last season. But against the Bruins they had the ball for just 21:51.
Just as Solomon summed it up so well at the beginning, so too does Will Parks. The Wildcats’ senior safety said he’s thought about last year’s loss every day.
“There’s no way else to put it: UCLA’s beat us three times in a row,” he said. “It’s about time we try to change it.”
