Game Thread: Arizona vs. UCLA

[CatsTopPac]

Again, you are just picking shit out of the sky that works for your argument. Anyone who watched that Oregon game last year will tell you that the game was nowhere near as close as the lopsided score. They were beating you 43-7 in the 4th QTR. Oregon completely gave up. ASU fans have really hard time seeing that they got destroyed.

And yes, absolutely, ASU won the T-Cup. Obviously. But that would be like saying that if AZ won it this year that AZ is the better team. They're not, regardless of if they win. ASU has the better team. ASU had the better team in 2011 when AZ won the T-Cup, too. But AZ had the better team last year. And you can pick the UCLA game, or the Nevada game, but AZ beat USC when ASU couldn't, and had a much better showing against Oregon State.

Just because you win the T-Cup, doesn't mean you are the better team, especially when you have to get 24 points in the 4th QTR to do it. Otherwise, you have to say that AZ was better than ASU in 2011 when we won it. See how that works??

 

[CatsTopPac]

You realize that ASU was only beating us 13-0 at half, and 28-0 going into the 4th QTR, right? And they were beating you 43-7 at half, and 43-7 going into the 4th.

I mean, don't get me wrong, both of our teams got absolutely worked by Oregon. Problem is, only one of us knows that.

 

[WhoDatDevil]

Oregon spanked us. We were really hurt on the defensive side of the ball but regardless, Oregon spanked us. "Better" teams win head to head games more often than not. Not always.. But if you have the same record but won the head to head game.. You're better. Transitive property doesn't work in football. ASU beat UA in Tucson by rallying in the 4th quarter and showing character to come from behind. BTW, Navy had a winning record when we beat them in our bowl game.

I will say UA is close to being good but will never be great under RR. I've said that since the beginning. Great teams play defense. Another year, another great defense beats Oregon. Put Baylor up against Bama.. It'll be over by halftime. Use RR correctly and he may transition UA perfectly, but don't expect anything more than 8 win seasons. Michigan had the worst defense in the history of the program under RR. Think about that, it's Michigan. Looking forward to a great cup game in Tempe.

 

[CatsTopPac]

Oregon spanked us. We were really hurt on the defensive side of the ball but regardless, Oregon spanked us. "Better" teams win head to head games more often than not. Not always.. But if you have the same record but won the head to head game.. You're better. Transitive property doesn't work in football. ASU beat UA in Tucson by rallying in the 4th quarter and showing character to come from behind. BTW, Navy had a winning record when we beat them in our bowl game.

I will say UA is close to being good but will never be great under RR. I've said that since the beginning. Great teams play defense. Another year, another great defense beats Oregon. Put Baylor up against Bama.. It'll be over by halftime. Use RR correctly and he may transition UA perfectly, but don't expect anything more than 8 win seasons. Michigan had the worst defense in the history of the program under RR. Think about that, it's Michigan. Looking forward to a great cup game in Tempe.

Agree with all that, Whodat. But records can be deceiving when one team has an easier schedule. Again, if ASU and AZ had the same record, and AZ won, I still wouldn't believe that AZ is the better team this year. I think AZ has the better schedule, and they won the T-Cup game. Same as I felt about ASU last year. And by the way, I was referring to ASU's regular schedule when saying that AZ was the only team that ASU beat who had a winning season. And you're seriously going to even bring Navy up? They were fuckin horrible last year. You want to talk about an easy ride to a bowl game; that's it.

And ultimately, I think that right now, there is nothing that says you are not correct about RR. But before he was at Michigan, he did a pretty good job a UWV, and that's my point. I think he can get back to having success at a university that is in decent shape, but that he can make better. Again, all of it hitches on developing a good defense. He already has that offense. Who knows if it will happen, but he did a good job at UWV, and I think that's a better comparison than Michigan.

 

[GumbySquad]

Michigan had the worst defense in the history of the program under RR. Think about that, it's Michigan. Looking forward to a great cup game in Tempe.

Ummm... no. Michigan had the worst defense in this history of the program under Greg Robinson. It does not take much research to see that Robinson is one of the worst defensive coordinators in football history, having done the same with the Chiefs, and while he was head coach at Syracuse as well. He was not hired by Rodriguez, he was hired by Wolverine boosters and he was responsible for everything that happened defensively in 2009 and 2010, the worst years defensively in Wolverine's history.

With Jeff Casteel, the D-coordinator under Rodriguez at West Virginia, and now at the UofA, they have had 5 teams finish in the top-20 in total defense. They were always in the top-10 in takeaways and in Defensive touchdowns. Rodriguez's defenses at West Virginia with Casteel were some of the best in the nation, it was only the two years with Robinson as his D-coordinator when this ridiculous notion that "Rodriguez's teams can't play defense" was started. It is, of course, a total mis-truth, but you can go ahead and believe everything that you read on ESPN if you want to.

 

[CatsTopPac]

Ummm... no. Michigan had the worst defense in this history of the program under Greg Robinson. It does not take much research to see that Robinson is one of the worst defensive coordinators in football history, having done the same with the Chiefs, and while he was head coach at Syracuse as well. He was not hired by Rodriguez, he was hired by Wolverine boosters and he was responsible for everything that happened defensively in 2009 and 2010, the worst years defensively in Wolverine's history.

With Jeff Casteel, the D-coordinator under Rodriguez at West Virginia, and now at the UofA, they have had 5 teams finish in the top-20 in total defense. They were always in the top-10 in takeaways and in Defensive touchdowns. Rodriguez's defenses at West Virginia with Casteel were some of the best in the nation, it was only the two years with Robinson as his D-coordinator when this ridiculous notion that "Rodriguez's teams can't play defense" was started. It is, of course, a total mis-truth, but you can go ahead and believe everything that you read on ESPN if you want to.

Facts are fun!

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

FUCK THE FACTS!

 

[Arizona_Sting]

FUCK THE FACTS!

ASU's motto!

 

[CatsTopPac]

Go back to unicorns and leprechauns, jahii, nothing to see here!

 

[JahiiCarson_SqodGeneral]

Go back to unicorns and leprechauns, jahii, nothing to see here!

Yes Sir!

 

[WhoDatDevil]

Really? Turnovers are important, but Scoring Defense and Total Defense reign supreme. Take a look at RR's Defense.

Arizona:

2012

Scoring Defense: #104
Total Defense: #122 (3rd worst in the nation)

2013

Scoring Defense: #30
Total Defense: #53

*Padded by playing NAU, UNLV, and UTSA. You haven't played Oregon or ASU yet.. I expect these to drop significantly.

 

[CatsTopPac]

Here's the breakdown on AZ's defense last year. Thought this was pretty-much common knowledge, but I guess not.

Why are the Arizona Wildcats so thin on defense? Here?s what happened - AG's Wildcat Report

 

[520GGATO]

Really? Turnovers are important, but Scoring Defense and Total Defense reign supreme. Take a look at RR's Defense.

Arizona:

2012

Scoring Defense: #104
Total Defense: #122 (3rd worst in the nation)

2013

Scoring Defense: #30
Total Defense: #53

*Padded by playing NAU, UNLV, and UTSA. You haven't played Oregon or ASU yet.. I expect these to drop significantly.

NAU,UNLV and UTSA would have been able to score 20+ on last years defense though. Just check out UCLA. 60+ points last year 31 this year. They also played good D against UW.