If Arizona wants to show its development as a football program, Saturday could be the perfect stage. The
Wildcats travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on No. 8 LSU.
Arizona can only hope it has a better showing than 2003. That year, Arizona faced an Tigers’ squad with national championship aspirations. LSU won 59-13 and went on to earn a share of the national title with USC.
The 2006 Arizona team visits with sophomore quarterback Willie Tuitama under center. He took over after midseason last season and led Arizona to a 2-3 finish. He complemented last season’s finish with his performance in Arizona’s 16-13 season-opening win against BYU.
Kicker Nick Folk may have kicked in the game winning 48-yard field goal, but it was Tuitama who drove the Wildcats into position. He led a 10-play, 70-yard drive in the second quarter that led to a Folk field goal.
Tuitama ground out the final 13-play, 44-yard drive to set up the winning field goal with a second left.
“He is very capable of making all of the throws,” LSU coach Les Miles said in his weekly press conference. “He can function their offense and does a really good job.”
Tuitama does it behind an offensive line that features three new starters in redshirt freshmen Blake Kerley, Daniel Borg and Eben Britton.
“Their offensive line is tall, lean and a very athletic group,” Miles said.
Tuitama and the rest of the Arizona offense will run into a stingy LSU defense.
LSU allowed only 63 passing yards and 176 total yards in its win last Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette.
“I thought the defense played well minus a turnover on a punt,” Miles said. “We gave up 176 yards total offense. It was a nice outing. Guys played hard. I loved their play as a group.”
As many players as LSU returns, and they return plenty, they also welcome new players to the lineup. Offensive tackle Peter Dyakowski, who started the game, played his first full game since December 2001.
For running back Alley Broussard, the first game marked his first opportunity to play since he suffered a knee injury during a scrimmage last August. He gained 46 yards on eight carries with one touchdown.
“I had a lot (of) adrenaline pumping and had goose bumps, so I wasn’t really worried about the knee,” Broussard said. “I was really fired up to finally get out there and perform.”
Broussard formed a three-back tandem with freshmen Charles Scott and Keiland Williams. Scott gained 39 yards on five carries and Williams ran for 13 yards on two carries.
“I was very impressed with how those two ran the ball,” Broussard said. “Keiland has only been here for a couple of weeks and you could tell he knew the playbook really well.”
With LSU hosting Arizona, which finished last season with a 3-8 record, is there a tendency to overlook the Wildcats and look ahead to Auburn on Sept. 16?
“We can’t look past Arizona, because they have a high-powered
offense and come from a good conference,” LSU linebacker Ali Highsmith said. “If we go out there and aren’t focused on the team we are playing it could cause some costly mistakes during the game.”