UA facing key road game against USC

Key storylines heading into Saturday’s game between the UA and USC. The game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and will be broadcast on Pac-12 Arizona and 1290-AM:

Arizona DT Trevon Mason wishes late grandfather could see him now

Arizona defensive tackle Trevon Mason’s middle name is Darnell. It was the first name of his late grandfather, whom Trevon thinks about all the time while pursuing his football dreams. He imagines his grandpa would be proud of him.

“He got to see me in Little League, but he didn’t get to see none of this,” Mason said. “I wish he was here to this day.”

Mason has emerged as a prominent defender for the Wildcats after transferring this summer from Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas, about 75 miles southeast of his hometown of Arlington. He had a career-high seven tackles in last week’s game against Washington, bumping his season total to 21. He also has 2.5 tackles for losses.

After a pair of setbacks, OL Bryson Cain is glad he’s able to help team again

Unfortunately for Bryson had been there before.

Arizona’s offensive lineman missed the 2017 season because of a broken ankle. So when he found out he had torn his ACL late last season, he had that same sinking feeling.

“When the knee came along,” Cain said, “I was like, ‘Well, here we go again.’”

But the two bright side.

“It really helped me learn adversity and how to face it,” Cain said.

He attacked his latest rehab with vigor and was cleared for full contact at the start of training camp — about nine months after he hurt his left knee against Oregon on Oct. 27.

Cain worked his way into a platoon at left guard, and he could make his first start of the season when Arizona visits USC on Saturday.

With opponents blitzing more often, Arizona suddenly is feeling the pressure

It started against Texas Tech, only ending with a massive counterstrike. It continued against UCLA, but for a different reason.

It reached new levels against Washington. Cain, injuries came he with

aDefenses have been blitzing Arizona more lately than any time since Khalil Tate became the Wildcats’ quarterback. The pressure packages didn’t necessarily have the desired effect until last week’s game against the Huskies, who bewildered Tate from the get-go.

“They were really the first team that’s brought a lot of pressure against us,” UA tailback J.J. Taylor said. “You get blitzes on third down. They’re blitzing on first down, second down.”

Washington regularly sent inside linebackers into the backfield. Sometimes the Huskies would spring safety Myles Bryant on delayed blitzes. They sacked Tate four times and forced him to throw the ball away on several other occasions.

In the past, opponents were hesitant to blitz Tate for fear that he’d exploit an open lane and run for a huge gain.

That happened against the Red Raiders. Arizona alleviated the pressure by calling and executing a quarterback counter, which resulted in Tate rushing 84 yards for a touchdown.

Tate tweaked a hamstring late in that game and missed the following contest against UCLA. Freshman Grant Gunnell took his place, making his first career start. Naturally, the Bruins came after him.

“With an injury or with a young guy,” UA coach Kevin Sumlin said, “you’re gonna blitz them.”

Tate returned the following week against Colorado and mostly relied on his arm in a 35-30 win over the Buffaloes.

Washington seemed to have little concern about letting Tate get loose. The Huskies also executed their plan to near-perfection, maintaining gap discipline and rarely giving Tate an opening.

Is another close game on tap between Trojans, Wildcats?

Last year’s USC-Arizona game marked a return to form in a way: It was decided by single digits.

The previous two meetings ended a streak of nine straight featuring a margin of one score or less.

The Trojans won all those.

Every other time, the Wildcats managed to keep the score close against a rival that has dominated the all-time series (34-8). but two of