Arizona Wildcats head to Pullman for revenge on Cougars

The last time these two faced off, Washington State came to Tucson and stunned the Wildcats by a final score of 24-17. Arizona seems to be a completely different team this season on both sides of the ball, finding themselves ranked in the top 25 for three consecutive weeks. And despite a 2-5 record, Washington is no longer the joke of the Pac-12.

In each of Washington State’s losses, they have been within 7 points at some point during the 4th quarter. They went step for step with Oregon, rallied from a 17 point halftime deficit at Utah for the win, lost a shootout to a surprise team in California and seemed to give Stanford plenty of trouble in their last game.

Washington State is quite possibly the most unbalanced offense in the country, passing on over 75% of their offensive plays this year. The Cougars lead the nation in passing yards per game, totaling just under 500. Meanwhile they are second to last in rushing yards per game (44 ypg). Running the Cougar offense is Connor Halliday, who is the nation’s leading passer by 650 yards over Texas A&M’s Kenny Hill. Halliday also leads the nation in pass attempts, averaging over 60 attempts a game. So they game pretty much relies on the arm of Connor Halliday.

Lucky for Wazzu, as Arizona’s pass defense is ranked 109th in the nation when it comes to yards allowed through the air (278 ypg). But the secondary has been excited for the challenge, giving Tevis, Parks, McCall and McKnight an opportunity to make plays all day long.

As far as Arizona’s offense is concerned, we can expect to see both Nick Wilson and Terris Jones-Grigsby in the backfield after nursing some injuries suffered against USC. Jared Baker is also expected to get some carries and Jon Haden might even make an appearance if necessary. Good news is that Washington State’s defense is statistically worse than Arizona’s. The Cougars are ranked 112th in passing yards allowed (280 ypg) and 70th in rushing yards allowed (163 ypg).

This game has the potential to be a shoot out, unless the weather takes effect. The 3:30 kickoff is projected to be around 59 degrees and rainy, irregular conditions for Arizona. The team has been using wet footballs all week in practice to help simulate the weather, allowing Anu Solomon and gang to feel a little more comfortable on the road.