[Goose]

3. I was especially impressed by how much better the defense played, holding Arizona to their lowest yards per play of the season (nearly two yards less per play than the average). It was the fewest points allowed so far in the Bobby April era, the fewest points scored yet this year by Arizona, and just behind the Hawaii game for the lowest yards per play we've given up. Arizona has played really bad offenses and probably has more work to do to be good than I realized, but this is undoubtedly a step toward some semblance of competitiveness. The pass defense had definitively its best game of the year, holding Arizona's offense to their worst passing game in virtually every statistic and doing better than we've done so far too, against a team with credible and proven players at QB and WR. It was also an encouraging game for the run defense, with 3.92 yards per carry allowed better than our average and much better than Arizona's average (5.50).

I can't share your optimism here. IMO Arizona held Arizona to their lowest yards per play. Jayden de Laura was way, way off. There are off-field issues that may account for it, but he was indecisive and often held the ball too long. Had he not been injured and left the game, it is entirely possible Stanford would have won. It was pretty clear that Arizona was mailing it in to a large extent. They had lots of plays where somebody obviously was not on the same page as the rest of the team. These were mental mistakes. They are not a very good team, but they also didn't play anywhere near as well as they have previously this year.

[Goose]

3. I was especially impressed by how much better the defense played, holding Arizona to their lowest yards per play of the season (nearly two yards less per play than the average). It was the fewest points allowed so far in the Bobby April era, the fewest points scored yet this year by Arizona, and just behind the Hawaii game for the lowest yards per play we've given up. Arizona has played really bad offenses and probably has more work to do to be good than I realized, but this is undoubtedly a step toward some semblance of competitiveness. The pass defense had definitively its best game of the year, holding Arizona's offense to their worst passing game in virtually every statistic and doing better than we've done so far too, against a team with credible and proven players at QB and WR. It was also an encouraging game for the run defense, with 3.92 yards per carry allowed better than our average and much better than Arizona's average (5.50).

I can't share your optimism here. IMO Arizona held Arizona to their lowest yards per play. Jayden de Laura was way, way off. There are off-field issues that may account for it, but he was indecisive and often held the ball too long. Had he not been injured and left the game, it is entirely possible Stanford would have won. It was pretty clear that Arizona was mailing it in to a large extent. They had lots of plays where somebody obviously was not on the same page as the rest of the team. These were mental mistakes. They are not a very good team, but they also didn't play anywhere near as well as they have previously this year.