Stoops Makes A Major Mistake On 1st Down

The Arizona Wildcats have an overall record of 3-2 and they are 1-1 in the Pac Ten Conference and tied for second place with five other 1-loss teams (Stanford, USC, Oregon State, Washington and Arizona State). The Wildcats were one play away from being undefeated in conference play. With 2:55 remaining in the game with a 33-28 lead Arizona had the ball and Washington only had two timeouts remaining. The very first play should have been a run, because it was important to get the clock running and force Steve Sarkisian to decide when he would use his timeouts. The absolute worse case scenario should have been Arizona running the ball three straight times and punting the football. The decision by Stoops to pass the ball resulted in QB Nick Foles throwing a ball low that bounced off WR Delashaun Dean’s foot and landed in the hands of Washington LB Mason Foster. Foster quickly returned the interception for a 37-yard TD. According to Bobby Stover of the Arizona Daily Wildcat Coach Stoops took full responsibility for that play call.

The Wildcats have to overcome the loss to the Huskies and focus on their next opponent the Stanford Cardinal. The Wildcats dominated the game against Washington. Arizona had 384 yards passing and 461 yards on offense. WR David Roberts was unstoppable with 12 catches for 138 yards and 1 TD. The Wildcats are ranked 4th in total defense in the Pac Ten. Arizona has enough talent on both sides of the ball to win a lot of games and qualify for a higher profile Bowl than the Las Vegas Bowl that they won 31-21 over BYU last season. If the Wildcats qualify for a Bowl game this season it will be the first time they would have qualified for back to back bowl games since the Insight.com Bowl in 1997 and the Holiday Bowl in 1998.

In the next four games Arizona gets Stanford, UCLA and Washington State at home before traveling to California. Arizona has the talent to win the next four games and improve to 7-2 if they can avoid turnovers and coaching mistakes, but it is very possible that they can be 7-2 before they host Oregon on November 21st.