**Editor’s Note: Each week during football season we will feature an essay from the opponent’s student newspaper on how Oregon will lose. This week’s edition is from Zack Rosenblatt, the sports editor at Arizona’s Daily Wildcat.**
In 2009, I was a freshman at Arizona. I was in Arizona Stadium when … well, you know the game.
The Wildcats had the lead with the fourth quarter nearly over. This was the chance. The Wildcats were going to make it to the Rose Bowl for the first time in Arizona history.
Let’s storm the field!
Oops.
The rest is history. Everybody in — and out of — Tucson, Ariz., knows how embarassing it was for the UA. Oregon won, and Arizona has been mired in mediocrity ever since. Sure, the Wildcats made a bowl that season and in 2010, but they were destroyed in both games by a combined total of 59 points. Arizona was at the bottom of the Pac-12 barrel in 2011, losing to the likes of Colorado in a 4-8 season.
No one shed a tear when Mike Stoops was let go. He wasn’t necessarily a bad coach, per se, but the team wasn’t getting any better, and he was never a great fit in a college town like Tucson anyway.
When Matt asked me to write something about why Arizona will beat Oregon on Saturday, my first reaction was … well, they won’t.
Oregon’s offense is just too good. De’Anthony Thomas is the most unique, athletic weapon out of the backfield I have seen in my 21 years of existence. Kenjon Barner is no schlub either. I don’t know much about quarterback Marcus Mariota, but UA head coach Rich Rodriguez has raved about him, and LaMichael James tweeted he’ll be the best quarterback in the history of the UO.
Arizona’s defense is small, young and thin. Its linebacker corps is made up of an undersized middle linebacker, a walk-on whose first name is Sir Thomas (yes, you read that right) and a converted safety.
Despite all of that, upon further review I think Arizona can win this game. I don’t know that they will, but they can.
Against Oklahoma State, an admittedly inferior opponent to the Ducks, the Wildcats gave up 600 yards of offense — and won.
Rodriguez has been preaching, at least to the media, all week about how much more talented Oregon is than Arizona. He even joked that he wished De’Anthony Thomas would leave for the NFL before Saturday. He said that Arizona needs to play a perfect game, and Oregon needs to make mistakes.
I say, why not? Crazier things have happened.
Stanford almost lost to San Jose State, then defeated the superior USC team with an offense even more talented than Oregon’s. Arizona’s offense is better than Stanford’s.
This isn’t your same Wildcats the people of Eugene have witnessed the last few years. Rodriguez has instilled a new attitude, a new swagger into this team, this town.
Ka’Deem Carey isn’t as well-known outside of Tucson just yet, but by the end of the year he will be thrown in the discussion for the nation’s best running backs. Austin Hill is eighth in the nation in receiving yards, and Dan Buckner is a talented wideout too.
Then there’s Matt Scott. Rodriguez has coached Denard Robinson and Pat White. Rodriguez has called Scott one of (if not the) best competitior he’s ever coached. Not only is he fast (he’s gained 190 yards and two touchdowns on the ground thus far), but he’s a damn good thrower too. His 995 yards are 5th best in the nation.
Will Arizona stop Thomas? No. Oregon will probably gain 200 plus yards on the ground. The Ducks might even score 50 points. But Arizona can score 51 points.
And that’s all it takes.