In just three seasons, head coach Rich Rodriguez has turned the Arizona Wildcats into actual contenders once more. Last season marked the program’s first 10-win season since 1998 behind some stellar play from a couple of freshmen on offense.
RichRod and his crew even won the Pac-12’s South Division, but lost to Oregon in the conference title game and to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Still, things look to be on the up and up for the Wildcats this 2015. Let’s take a closer look and what went down during their offseason, as well as how the rest of the conference is shaping up with our in-depth preview of the Pac-12.
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2015-2016 Arizona College Football Preview
Overview
Most of the credit for Arizona’s success in 2014 can be attributed to its well-balanced offense. The Wildcats had the nation’s 30th-best scoring offense last season, thanks to phenomenal breakout performances from a pair of starting freshmen in Anu Solomon and Nick Wilson.
[sc:NCAA240banner ]As the team’s starting quarterback last season, Solomon broke the school’s freshman single-season records in passing yards (3,793) and touchdowns (28), completed 58 percent of his passes and gave up just nine interceptions. He also showed signs of mobility out of the pocket, running for 518 yards on the ground.
Solomon will be thrilled to have one of the NCAA’s deepest corps of wide receivers at his disposal. Five of Arizona’s top six wideouts from last year are returning this 2015, led by 1,000-yard, nine-touchdown game-breaker Caleb Jones. Joining Jones downfield are Samajie Grant – who had 718 receiving yards and six scores last year – and Trey Griffey, son of MLB Hall-of-Famer Ken Griffey Jr.
Wilson also had an outstanding debut for the Wildcats with his 1,375 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns. If Wilson can power-run his way past his 2014 output, and Solomon develops a more sound passing game, Arizona could very well have one of the nation’s most fearful offenses around.
As for the defense, Arizona is still predominantly solid with its front seven lineup. Linebacker Will Parks, who tallied 81 tackles with 13 of them for losses last season, is a nice complement to fellow phenom Scooby Wright (who we’ll get into greater detail shortly). Both Parks and Wright must turn around an Arizona defense that allowed about 170 rushing yards per game in 2014.
The secondary has issues as well, with three of their starters missing from last year. Even though the Wildcats don’t necessarily rely on their D to help them win games, there’s still a lingering concern that the team will not be able to reach the next level if they don’t fix their defense, which ranked 101st in the nation last season.
Key Player – Scooby Wright
Apart from having an awesome nickname, Scooby Wright turned a lot of heads when he became one of the best defensive players last year. Arizona picked up Wright as a two-star recruit, but he certainly put on a five-star performance in 2014.
The Lombardi Award, Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Year and Unanimous All-American selection are just some of the accolades that Scooby racked up last season. And yes, he deservedly won those awards, especially after leading the entire NCAA with 163 tackles and six forced fumbles last season. His 14 sacks were also good for third-best in the country.
If there’s a knock on Wright’s game, though, is that he tends to be over-aggressive when making a play on the ball. He also seems to be blockable in man-to-man pass rush situations. Nevertheless, Wright is still a force to be reckoned with as a junior year this season, and will only get better from here on out. He’ll also need to be even more of an anchor and a leader in Arizona’s peculiar defense if the team is to defy its slim +20,000 odds of winning the national title.
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Key Game – at Arizona State (November 21)
There will be little to no breathing room for the Wildcats on their 2015 slate. The team’s schedule is bye-less, for one, and three of their last four regular season games will be played on the road. Among those tough road trips, the Duel in the Desert finale against Arizona State will be an exhilarating way to cap off the regular season indeed.
That game against the Sun Devils could go either way, as both teams have split wins down the middle for the past eight meetings. Both schools are always in the thick of the Pac-12 hunt too, so this highly-competitive matchup has the makings of another inter-state classic.
Whoever wins the Territorial Cup not will not only have bragging rights in the Grand Canyon State, but could very well be the South Division’s representative at the Pac-12’s big dance as well. As of this writing, Arizona is priced at +1,800 at becoming the 2015 conference champion.
Best/Worst Case Scenario for the Season
Best Case Scenario
The offense fires on all cylinders with Solomon, Jones and Wilson all having spectacular seasons. Wright and the Arizona defense also draw enough mettle from within, as the Wildcats win their first conference title since 1993.
Worst Case Scenario
Wilson and Solomon both experience sophomore slumps in the worst possible ways, and the entire Wildcats offense gets tamed in the process. The lack of talent outside of Wright and Parks on defense doesn’t do the team any favors either. A losing record corrupts all of RichRod’s work from the past three seasons.
Complete Schedule
DATE
OPPONENT
TIME
Thursday, September 3
Texas-San Antonio
10:00 PM ET
Saturday, September 12
@ Nevada
7:00 PM ET
Saturday, September 19
Northern Arizona
11:00 PM ET
Saturday, September 26
UCLA
TBD
Saturday, October 3
@ Stanford
TBD
Saturday, October 10
Oregon St.
TBD
Saturday, October 17
@ Colorado
TBD
Saturday, October 24
Washington St.
TBD
Saturday, October 31
@ Washington
TBD
Saturday, November 7
@ USC
TBD
Saturday, November 14
Utah
TBD
Saturday, November 21
@ Arizona St.
TBD
Writer’s Prediction
The Wildcats tally more than just 7.5 wins this season, but fall short of winning the South Division and the Pac-12 title.
