Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins celebrates a fourth-quarter TD against Northern Arizona on Sept. 19. He could see action in Saturday’s game.
STANFORD, Calif. — The Arizona Wildcats will step inside Stanford Stadium on Saturday evening to find one of the strangest scenes in college football.
Stanford’s band will bang and spin and scramble through their pregame show, delighting and offending along the way. The Cardinal’s well-heeled fans will find their seats. Just after sunset, the teams will line up and play a game of …
Tennis?
The Wildcats must break Stanford’s serve to have a shot at upsetting the nation’s 18th-ranked team at home. No team in the country does a better job of setting the pace, imposing its will and controlling the tempo. Picture 11 Serena Williamses, acing and blasting their way to victory.
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Consider:
- Stanford had 10 offensive possessions in its 41-31 upset win over USC two weeks ago. The Cardinal scored on seven of them.
- The team possessed the ball 13 times in last week’s 42-24 thrashing of Oregon State, and scored six times.
By getting Stanford’s offense off the field Saturday, the Wildcats can flip the momentum — and the pace — in their favor. If the UA’s depleted defense can keep the Cardinal from controlling the clock and lighting up the scoreboard, perhaps its injury-riddled offense can make things interesting.
If Stanford holds serve, however, the Wildcats will get served.
The Cardinal “eat the clock up,” UA coach Rich Rodriguez said. “You have to do a great job of getting off blocks and tackling well. Defensively, this will be a huge challenge.”
And the Wildcats are already at a huge disadvantage.
All-America linebacker Scooby Wright (sprained foot) is out indefinitely, and pass-rusher Derrick Turituri (hip) is questionable to play. Linebacker Haden Gregory (knee) won’t return for another week or two.
The Wildcats’ lack of depth made preparing for Saturday’s game even more difficult. The only way to gear up for Stanford’s style on short notice is to practice at full-contact, “good on good.” But the UA isn’t deep — or, frankly, foolish — enough to risk further injury leading up to the game.
Stanford has “stronger and bigger guys,” safety Will Parks said.
“We’ll prepare just like any other week,” he said. “You got to do what you got to do. We’ve got to stop their offense, and that’s that.”
Stanford (3-1, 2-0 Pac-12) stumbled out of the gate, falling at Northwestern in its season opener after being unable to keep pace with the Wildcats’ spread passing attack. Coach David Shaw’s team has since pounded Central Florida, USC and Oregon State — and re-established itself as one of the Pac-12 North’s top teams.
As usual, Stanford will try to bully its foe with a downhill running game and pro-style passing attack. Senior quarterback Kevin Hogan doesn’t take many risks, but makes even fewer mistakes. Running back Christian McCaffrey leads the team in rushing yards and receiving yards, and is dangerous on special teams. The Cardinal’s veteran offensive line sets the pace, and the team’s stable of pass-catching tight ends keeps overzealous defenses honest.
The result: One of the nation’s most underrated attacks.
The Fremeau Efficiency Index measures offensive efficiency while rewarding teams for strength of schedule. The FEI doesn’t factor in drives that end in quarterback kneel-downs, or end of half and end-of-game drives that qualify as “garbage time.”
Stanford’s FEI is .203 this season, good for ninth nationally. Arizona’s is .062, 39th in the country — and that was with Anu Solomon healthy.
The Wildcats’ starting quarterback is questionable to play Saturday after suffering a concussion in the second quarter of last week’s loss to UCLA. Jerrard Randall or Brandon Dawkins could take his place, though it’s possible both could be on the field at the same time Saturday night. Randall has played some running back in practice, and appeared in the UA’s nonconference finale against NAU as a wide receiver.
Solomon’s injury gives the UA the element of surprise, if nothing else.
Rodriguez closed Tuesday’s practice, and put the quarterbacks off-limits to the media. Wednesday’s workout was held in the early morning — better, coaches said, to replicate to cool, humid conditions of the place Stanford fans call “The Farm.”
It’s perfect tennis weather.
“Our guys know we’re playing a well-coached, physical, ranked team on the road at 7:30 on a Saturday night,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve got to be ready to go.”
