Arizona hopes defense peaks against ASU
The Arizona Wildcats are playing their best defensive football of the season at just the right time.
After allowing four consecutive opponents to score between 45 and 49 points, Arizona has allowed 28 and 31 the past two games. The latter is misleading in that 10 Washington State points were a direct result of turnovers, including an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
“I thought our defense probably had their best performance of the year,” UA coach Jedd Fisch said Monday amid preparations for Friday’s Territorial Cup matchup against Arizona State.
“Although I would argue that the performance against UCLA was pretty good as well. I think they’ve had 10 very good quarters of football in a row now.”
Fisch took it back to the second half of the Utah game on Nov. 5. The Wildcats yielded 17 points over the final 30 minutes. Counting only scores surrendered by the defense, Arizona has allowed 69 points over those 10 quarters. That translates to just under 28 per game. For the season, the Wildcats are allowing 36.6 points per contest, second most in the Pac-12.
Asked after the WSU game — a 31-20 loss — about the defense’s recent improvement, Fisch said:
“The growth has come from the amount of young players we’re playing. Early on in the season, I would say we were probably playing somewhere in the range of 13-14 players on defense. Now I think we’re playing up to about 1920 players, so they’re fresher. They’re coming in with more pass rush. That’s a huge part of a pass rush.
“Some of our pressures have begun to hit home as Jacob Manu has been able to really impact a lot of the pass rush by just adding himself into some of the pressures. We’ve been a little bit more aggressive with our safeties in the blitz scheme. Gunner Maldonado showed up today a lot in the backfield.
“I also believe that they’ve just gotten better. It’s a true progression of a team with a first-year coordinator (Johnny Nansen), first year that they’ve all been together, just continuing to get better.”
The defense’s growth is also evident in the yards per play it has allowed. Each of the past three opponents — Utah, UCLA and WSU — averaged 6.1 or fewer yards against Arizona. Four of the previous five opponents averaged 8.1 or more.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, their offense took a step backward against the Cougars. Arizona’s 20 points tied its second-lowest output of the season. The Wildcats’ four turnovers equaled their season high.
Several times, UA quarterback Jayden de Laura and his receivers weren’t in lockstep with one another. One such instance led to de Laura and receiver Dorian Singer shoving each other on the sideline. Another led to an interception. A missed protection resulted in the aforementioned pick-six.
“Two of our interceptions came from us making mistakes that we haven’t made all year,” Fisch said. “All in all, we weren’t good enough. We weren’t in sync, and we need to be better.”
D-linemen set to return?
Fisch said he was hopeful that at least two of three defensive linemen who were out vs. Washington State will be available Friday.
The Wildcats were missing veteran tackles Paris Shand and Dion Wilson Jr., as well as freshman end Sterling Lane II. Shand missed his second straight game. Fisch said all three were out because of “medical reasons.”
“We’re waiting to find out where we are exactly medically, if they’re cleared,” Fisch said. “There are certain protocols that we have to go through before they get full clearance. We’ll know better after we have a day of exertion, practice to get a feel for where that’s at. But assuming that everything goes according to plan, they would be certainly ready to roll.”
Shand has appeared in nine games, including seven starts. He has 23 tackles, 2.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
Wilson has appeared 10 games. He has 19 tackles, one sack and one pass breakup.
Lane has appeared in five games. He has eight tackles, with seven coming vs. Utah and UCLA.
Extra points
Fisch said Friday’s game will be a “Red Out” for UA fans. The team will wear blue or white jerseys.
The Wildcats have a different schedule this week. They are treating the first three days like they would a typical Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday. On Thanksgiving morning, players, coaches and their families will have breakfast together. The team will have its typical Friday practice on Thursday afternoon. The players will have the weekend off before reconvening for meetings Monday.
Fisch wasn’t sure Monday exactly how many players would participate in the Senior Day ceremony. Six Wildcats will be out of eligibility after the game: offensive linemen Josh Donovan and Paiton Fears; defensive linemen Jalen Harris and Hunter Echols; linebacker Jerry Roberts; and safety Christian Young. Fisch said Arizona has 14-15 “academic seniors” who also could participate. Those players are in either their fourth or fifth year of college.