Not satisfied: Arizona 45, NAU 24
(FRANCISCO MEDINA/Tucson Citizen)
TUCSON, Sept. 8– It was far from a perfect home debut for the Arizona Wildcats, but a long-awaited offensive punch may have finally shown up.
Willie Tuitama completed 23 passes for 283 yards and 5 touchdowns as Arizona downed Northern Arizona 45-24 Saturday night in front of an announced 52,000 fans at Arizona Stadium.
It was a shaky start for Arizona–not for its offense, surprisingly, but for the defense, which was challenged early by the Lumberjacks. The very first play from scrimmage was a wide receiver option pass, as Alex Watson (10 catches on the night, but for only 47 yards and no scores) threw a 50-yard bomb just over the outstretched arms of Alex Henderson at the Arizona 30.
Meanwhile, the Wildcat offense marched downfield for its first touchdown on a 20-yard bullet over the middle from Tuitama to his favorite target, junior wideout Mike Thomas. Neither team would score again, however, until the second quarter.
But what a score it was. Senior cornerback Antoine Cason took a punt at his own 30, juked three tacklers, then reversed field. He had the speed to outrun the rest of the Lumberjacks’ special teams, and 60 more yards of nothing but open field in front of him.
It was the first real highlight-reel play of the year for Arizona, who will be looking to many more such gamebreakers from Cason this season. Unfortunately, the brilliance of Cason’s 70-yard punt return for touchdown did not rub off on the Wildcat spread offense–which really went dead for the rest of the first half after a brilliant first drive.
With 2:36 to play in the second quarter, Arizona had a golden opportunity to go into the locker room up 21-3. Its failure to do so against a 1-AA school highlighted a recurring concern Wildcat fans should have with the Arizona offense going into play against a dangerous, high-scoring Pac-10 conference.
The ‘Cats had third down and less than a yard to go from the NAU 4. Inexplicably, though–while Tuitama had just been starting to click in the spread, hitting several different targets on the drive, and even with bruising 265-pound running back Earl Mitchell lined up in power I formations–it was 210-pound Xavier Smith who got the handoff both times on misdirection plays, running into the left side of the NAU line behind no blocking.
End result: a goal-line stand for the Lumberjacks to end the half, down 14-3. This is not what will win seven more games for Arizona this season, and frankly if it were any other opponent on Arizona’s schedule, the game would have turned in their favor on that series.
But this was not BYU. It was a reprieve for Arizona, and in the second half the Wildcats came out firing. Sophomore Terrell Turner beautifully hauled in a 34-yard strike over his shoulder from Tuitama to put Arizona up 18. Willie gave it right back to NAU the next series, however, throwing his only interception of the night which was returned to the Arizona 5.
Lumberjack QB Lance Kriesien took it in the end zone himself on the next play to close the gap to 21-10. Then, Gronk happened.
Freshman tight end Rob Gronkowski, to be precise. The much-heralded Pennsylvania recruit caught his first collegiate touchdown on a Tuitama pass from 26 yards out, breaking one tackle and hurdling another two tacklers along the way.
A four-yard TD pass to Anthony Johnson and junior Jason Bondzio’s first collegiate field goal capped a run of 17 unanswered points for the Wildcats. More importantly, though, it showed just what kind of quick-strike capabilities that new offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes and his spread O can give to a long-dormant Wildcat offense.
By the end of the third quarter, Arizona led NAU 38-10, and the game was over.
Or so the Wildcats seemed to think. Lumberjack RB Lionel Scott–leading NAU rusher on the night with 44 yards on 8 carries–ran one in from 13 yards. And yet even while Head Coach Mike Stoops rushed first-teamers back on the field, NAU squibbed the kickoff between returners and got the ball right back.
You read that right. Thomas and several other Wildcat kickoff returners stood and watched a live kickoff bounce between and behind each other until it was too late to keep the “good hands people” on NAU’s special teams from scooping up the ball on the Arizona 26.
That is a mistake that is forgivable against NAU. No other team on Arizona’s schedule will fail to seize momentum on such a lapse. The Arizona defense did not help matters by letting Kriesen walk in the end zone again from two yards out, and suddenly the score read Arizona 38, NAU 24.
In a bizarre reversal of roles, it was now up to the Arizona offense to put the game away. And redshirt freshman wideout Delashaun Dean made sure it would happen. With just over 10 minutes to play, Tuitama laid it out for him from 27 yards out, and he made a spectacular diving grab just off the turf…and just inside the end zone.
Arizona made a brilliant splash in the spread offense Saturday night. The Cats racked up 30 first downs and 490 total yards of offense.
Tuitama won’t be confused with Dennis Dixon, Chris Leak or even Jake Locker. He shows zero mobility in the pocket and did not look or check off one receiver all night.
But once he got a rhythm going, Willie Tuitama picked the NAU defense apart with his passing–one completion short, in fact, of his career high as a Wildcat. It helps that he has several dangerous targets to throw to like Gronkowski, Dean, Turner, Anthony Johnson and of course Mike Thomas.
Another big splash came from freshman Nick Grigsby, who ran the ball for 56 yards on only 9 carries. Combined with sophomore Xavier Smith’s 77 yards on 17 rushes, Arizona looks to at least be beginning to establish a potent ground game.
Senior Chris Jennings got the start as the lone back in the backfield behind Tuitama last night, but only had one carry for four yards. He barely took the field at all after the first quarter, fueling speculation that he may have lost his job–and is in Stoops’ doghouse to boot.
A man who SHOULD be in Stoops’ doghouse is senior defensive end Louis Holmes, who for the second straight game failed to record a sack. Fellow seniors Yaniv Barnett and Johnathan Turner got through to Lance Kriesien three times.
The 2005 national junior college player of the year, Holmes had an acceptable first year in the Pac-10 which nevertheless failed to live up to the considerable hype surrounding him. He now has no sacks through two of his final twelve games before the NFL comes calling–and he is getting blocked out of plays.
Overall, like Holmes, Arizona performed well and was productive in a relatively easy win over a division 1-AA opponent Saturday. There were enough lapses in the loss, however, to leave more fans concerned than satisfied with the team’s overall progress.
One Northern Arizona note: the quarterback position is now Lance Kriesien’s job to lose. Corey Slater came in for one play in the third quarter only to leave with a knee injury, the extent of which is not known. He had suffered a similar injury previously.
It is a loss for NAU, but Kriesien, after a 22-48 evening throwing the ball for 187 yards, has a promising career ahead of him in Flagstaff.
NAU was penalized 15 times for 152 yards in the loss.
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Posted by Class of Champions
A lifelong fan of lost causes...and Arizona football. This fall Mike Stoops can finally make a statement that the two aren't the same.
http://azsportshub.com
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