The Arizona football team Oregon meets Saturday is a vastly different team than earlier this season. Arizona is buoyed by confidence from consecutive wins against California and Washington State.
Quarterback Willie Tuitama has been a big part of the revival of Arizona’s offense. The sophomore created high expectations last season when he ended his redshirt year against No. 15 Oregon. Tuitama went 18-for-34 with two touchdowns and an interception in a near upset of the Ducks. After Oregon, Tuitama led Arizona to upsets of Oregon State and No. 7 UCLA.
Tuitama’s play this season has been uneven with 1,179 passing yards and four touchdowns. Twice, Tuitama has missed games due to concussions. Arizona’s backup quarterbacks Adam Austin and Kris Heavner filled in with mixed results.
Austin completed 52.6 percent of his passes, while throwing one touchdown pass versus four interceptions. Heavner made 21 of his 30 passes in recording a 70 percent completion rate.
Tuitama’s improved health is meshing with Arizona’s recent success. He completed 10-of-17 passes for 159 yards, a touchdown and an interception in the victory against Washington State. Tuitama complemented that performance against Cal as he went 17 for 34 for 202 yards.
“Arizona is probably the hottest team right now in the Pac-10 Conference right now,” Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said.
Contrasting offenses
The differences in Oregon and Arizona’s offenses can be illustrated in the punting game. Oregon punts 2.6 times per game compared to Arizona’s 6.4 times per contest. Arizona’s 64 punts on the season is nearly equal to the total number of punts by the Ducks and their opponents (73).
The Wildcats don’t need too much from their offense; Arizona is 4-0 when the offense eclipses the 20-point mark.
Defensive whiz
Junior cornerback Antoine Cason earned Pac-10 Defender of the Week honors for the second consecutive week. Cason intercepted a pass and broke a 17-17 tie as he returned the football for the go-ahead touchdown. The 39-yard return proved to be the deciding score in Arizona’s 24-20 win and sent Cal stumbling into its showdown with USC this Saturday.
Cason, a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist, has three interceptions on the season and 10 in his Arizona career.
His next challenge is Oregon’s fleet of receivers including Jaison Williams, Brian Paysinger and Jordan Kent.
“And those guys were talked about all at the beginning of the season, that they’re pretty good and they run pretty good routes and this and that, and it’s just a challenge,” Cason told the Arizona Daily Wildcat, the student newspaper at the University of Arizona.
Misleading statistic
For Arizona’s last win in Autzen Stadium, you have to go all the way back to 1986. The statistic hides the fact Arizona has visited Eugene just six times since then. Oregon boasts a 5-0 record at home and has won eight games in a row in Autzen stadium.
Cal game notes
Arizona’s win over then No. 8 Cal marked the first win against a Top-10 opponent since No. 7 UCLA in 2005.
Cason’s defensive touchdown was the first since Michael Johnson returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown last season at Oregon State.
Running back Chris Henry tied his career high with two rushing touchdowns.
On a more bizarre note, the 14 points in the fourth quarter were the first points Arizona’s scored in the last 15 minutes of a football game since Nick Folk made a field goal against USC on Sept. 23.
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