[msqueri]

* With Shaw and his incorrigibly offensive-oriented mindset, I often noted how much of his comments on opponents focused on their defenses. That's where his mind went because it's what he coached against. Since Taylor is a similarly offense-focused coach I expect the same thing, but there was no hesitation whatsoever in beginning his comments on Arizona by talking about their "incredibly explosive" offense. It may be April's job to game plan against the Wildcat offense, but Taylor is keenly aware of the opponent's principal strength. The good news for us is that Arizona hasn't lit up scoreboards (31 points per game, which those who haven't updated their mental image of college football in 2023 may not realize is very mediocre, especially at this point of the season before conference play has begun in earnest). The bad news is that every other way you slice it this looks like Fisch may have a very good offense on his hands. Taylor was way off on his recollection of Arizona's yards per play (he said almost nine), but 7.69 is 11th in the nation. SP+ says the #25 offense in the country. FEI says #38. Points per drive is #40. Notably, when one dives into the yards per play it appears Arizona may be one of the very most consistent offenses in the nation, ranking #1 in drives that average at least four yards per play and #4 in drives that average at least seven yards per play. The main reason Arizona's points per game isn't reflective of their offense is that they've coughed the ball up a lot, both via fumbles and interceptions. We have to hope this is a chronic weakness and not an artifact of small sample sizes. Given the troubles of our defense so far and Arizona's highly consistent and efficient offense, we likely will need to win the turnover battle to have a chance Saturday.

* Taylor fulsomely praised pretty much all aspects of the Arizona offense except didn't mention the OL, and repeatedly highlighted QB play. Jayden de Laura is indeed the highest graded offensive player by PFF, the #22 passer rating in the country, the #24 QB in yards per attempt, and #7 in total offense (only #61 QB nationally in Total QBR though). Similar challenge to Kaiden Bennett last week but this time with Power Five teammates, most notably two of the top 50 yards from scrimmage monsters in America in WR Tetairoa McMillan and RB Michael Wiley. PFF doesn't think a single starter for Arizona's offense is sub-par. brobdingnagian challenge for our defense. Given the quality of Pac-12 offenses this year it's a pretty good barometer.

* Taylor talked about Arizona's defense playing eight or nine DL. This includes what PFF would call edge defenders. Semantics aside, there are nine Arizona DL/edge guys with 15+ snaps per game so far compared to seven for Stanford. By PFF's lights, the defense has a great many weak links compared to the offense, especially up the middle on all three levels. Taylor talked about how Arizona is a "one high team" (that means one high safety/Cover 1, right?) and defend the middle of the field, and I wonder if they scheme around personnel weaknesses to a degree. I haven't watched any Arizona this season nor do I remember anything from last year. Taylor called the big edge Taylor Upshaw "really exceptional," which is interesting because PFF views him as a weak link. Taylor also said "their linebacker is really good" but I can't be sure who he means (I'm guessing Jacob Manu). One thing that most stands out is that Taylor talked about the corners being super long (the two starting outside corners are both 6' 4") and that leading to very tight passing lanes and windows. I also watched Fisch's press conference and he had a long discussion of how this is very intentional and they've tried to build a defense consciously modeled off the legendary Seahawks defenses (and he specifically mentioned Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner as models.....by the way I had missed/forgotten that Browner is now in San Quentin for attempted murder, yikes). I wonder how we're going to game plan and play call against this. That size would seem to not be conducive for us to rely on as many contested catches. Arizona also has an excellent slot corner PFF thinks is the top defender. It seems to me that both Yurosek's quiet game/Taylor's desire to atone and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Arizona defense (poor linebackers and safeties) have this shaping up to be a big Yurosek day. Aside from the matchup, the DB matchups also have particular meaning for us because Akina is now there.

[msqueri]

* With Shaw and his incorrigibly offensive-oriented mindset, I often noted how much of his comments on opponents focused on their defenses. That's where his mind went because it's what he coached against. Since Taylor is a similarly offense-focused coach I expect the same thing, but there was no hesitation whatsoever in beginning his comments on Arizona by talking about their "incredibly explosive" offense. It may be April's job to game plan against the Wildcat offense, but Taylor is keenly aware of the opponent's principal strength. The good news for us is that Arizona hasn't lit up scoreboards (31 points per game, which those who haven't updated their mental image of college football in 2023 may not realize is very mediocre, especially at this point of the season before conference play has begun in earnest). The bad news is that every other way you slice it this looks like Fisch may have a very good offense on his hands. Taylor was way off on his recollection of Arizona's yards per play (he said almost nine), but 7.69 is 11th in the nation. SP+ says the #25 offense in the country. FEI says #38. Points per drive is #40. Notably, when one dives into the yards per play it appears Arizona may be one of the very most consistent offenses in the nation, ranking #1 in drives that average at least four yards per play and #4 in drives that average at least seven yards per play. The main reason Arizona's points per game isn't reflective of their offense is that they've coughed the ball up a lot, both via fumbles and interceptions. We have to hope this is a chronic weakness and not an artifact of small sample sizes. Given the troubles of our defense so far and Arizona's highly consistent and efficient offense, we likely will need to win the turnover battle to have a chance Saturday.

* Taylor fulsomely praised pretty much all aspects of the Arizona offense except didn't mention the OL, and repeatedly highlighted QB play. Jayden de Laura is indeed the highest graded offensive player by PFF, the #22 passer rating in the country, the #24 QB in yards per attempt, and #7 in total offense (only #61 QB nationally in Total QBR though). Similar challenge to Kaiden Bennett last week but this time with Power Five teammates, most notably two of the top 50 yards from scrimmage monsters in America in WR Tetairoa McMillan and RB Michael Wiley. PFF doesn't think a single starter for Arizona's offense is sub-par. brobdingnagian challenge for our defense. Given the quality of Pac-12 offenses this year it's a pretty good barometer.

* Taylor talked about Arizona's defense playing eight or nine DL. This includes what PFF would call edge defenders. Semantics aside, there are nine Arizona DL/edge guys with 15+ snaps per game so far compared to seven for Stanford. By PFF's lights, the defense has a great many weak links compared to the offense, especially up the middle on all three levels. Taylor talked about how Arizona is a "one high team" (that means one high safety/Cover 1, right?) and defend the middle of the field, and I wonder if they scheme around personnel weaknesses to a degree. I haven't watched any Arizona this season nor do I remember anything from last year. Taylor called the big edge Taylor Upshaw "really exceptional," which is interesting because PFF views him as a weak link. Taylor also said "their linebacker is really good" but I can't be sure who he means (I'm guessing Jacob Manu). One thing that most stands out is that Taylor talked about the corners being super long (the two starting outside corners are both 6' 4") and that leading to very tight passing lanes and windows. I also watched Fisch's press conference and he had a long discussion of how this is very intentional and they've tried to build a defense consciously modeled off the legendary Seahawks defenses (and he specifically mentioned Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner as models.....by the way I had missed/forgotten that Browner is now in San Quentin for attempted murder, yikes). I wonder how we're going to game plan and play call against this. That size would seem to not be conducive for us to rely on as many contested catches. Arizona also has an excellent slot corner PFF thinks is the top defender. It seems to me that both Yurosek's quiet game/Taylor's desire to atone and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Arizona defense (poor linebackers and safeties) have this shaping up to be a big Yurosek day. Aside from the matchup, the DB matchups also have particular meaning for us because Akina is now there.