(Pac-12) The Wildcats play on a grass field at Arizona Stadium (seats 51,811)
- Rich Rodriguez is in his 1st year as head coach. This is a somewhat interesting hire considering that Arizona finished with the 110th ranked defense in the nation and Rich Rod is infamous for his complete and utter destruction of Michigan’s defense during his three seasons there. At this point Arizona’s defense can’t get much worse.
- Prior to coming to Arizona, Rodriguez spent three seasons at Michigan (2008-2010). He was fired after going 15-22 in three seasons. Prior to that he had been head coach at West Virginia (2001-2007), where he had a much better record (60-26), but he broke his contract there when he left and he and Michigan paid his his former school a combined $4 million.
Head Coach Rich Rodriguez (AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, Benjie Sanders)
- Mike Stoops was fired in the middle of his 8th season as head coach after starting the season with five straight losses to FBS opponents. In fact, the only win Stoops had in his last 11 games (including the last five games of 2010) was in week one against FCS school Northern Arizona. The Wildcats finished the season just 4-8, their worst record in years.
- Quarterback Nick Foles was a 3rd round NFL draft pick this year and it’s probably a good thing he is gone because as a pocket passer who lacked mobility, he certainly would not have fit into Rich Rod’s system. However, his backup Matt Scott, who competed with him for the past few years, is perfect for it. He is a senior, he is well-coached, he has a great arm and he is very mobile. The passing offense is certainly not going to improve or even remain steady after finishing 3rd in the nation last year. In fact, it may teeter-totter to the opposite side. The passing offense should decline, but the rushing offense should have a significant improvement from last year’s 114th ranking.
- Ka’Deem Carey seems to be this year’s starting running back. And with a quarterback who will likely finish 1st or 2nd on the team in rushing, this offense will be all about the ground game in 2012. And the last time we saw Rich Rodriguez as head coach, his version of the Spread Option Offense had a significant emphasis on running the ball.
- To further seal this offense’s fate as a rushing team, the offensive line returns all five starters. This could be the most improved rushing offense in the nation in 2012. And what a change from 2011 when the line returned zero starters. It was no surprise that they couldn’t run the ball, They were completely inexperienced and had the least about of returning starts of all 120 FBS teams.
- Arizona defense switches to a 3-3-5 this year (it worked at West Virginia for Rodriguez and he tried to implement it at Michigan). Defense took a serious dip in production last year and it would be difficult not to improve on those numbers. They only get back six starters this year, but with the new system, it may not matter how experienced they are. They will certainly improve, even though Rich Rodriguez is not a defensive-minded guy. But because he’ll be coaching someone else’s players/recruits for the first two years (it will take time for him to get his recruits in there), he may have better defensive players than he is capable of getting.
- The only top five tackler from Arizona’s defense last year is Marquis Flowers.
