UA-CU Preview: Will this Arizona team travel well?

Arizona showed improvement during a 3-game home stand. Will they continue to improve when they take to the road this weekend in Boulder?

There’s no denying Arizona has made positive strides during its current three-game winning streak, particularly in victories over Texas Tech and UCLA. However, when the Wildcats visit Colorado on Saturday in Boulder, it’ll mark the first time since August 24 the team will be playing away from home. So, the most common question I’ve received this week has been, “is this team good enough to win on the road?”

It’s a fair question. In fact, it’s really the only question that matters.

Regardless of whether veteran quarterback Khalil Tate plays or not (Tate sat out the UCLA game with a reported hamstring injury suffered in Arizona’s win against Texas Tech), the broader concern is can the Wildcats play at a high level and win on the road.

Despite obvious improvements on the defensive side of the ball, the team is still mistake prone. Are they playing well enough to overcome basic mistakes that are more easily masked at home compared to when those same mistakes are made in front of a hostile road crowd? The false start penalties that take the offense off schedule are definitely easier to overcome at home. Same can be said for personal fouls and pass interference calls. At home, 15 yards on a penalty is not great, but on the road the same penalty can awaken a stadium.

In Arizona’s four games this season, they have committed 10 or more penalties on three occasions. At Hawaii, Arizona’s only road game of the year thus far, the Wildcats committed 10 penalties for 88 yards. Some five weeks later at home against UCLA, Arizona committed 10 penalties for 74 yards. Long story short, this team is not improving in the penalties department. Although Arizona proved it can overcome these types of mistakes at home, doing so on the road against a Pac-12 opponent may prove more difficult.

A second concern is Arizona’s running game.

Little doubt Gary Brightwell and Darrius Smith are getting the job done at the right time for Arizona. However, if J.J. Taylor and Tate remain sidelined with injuries, will the Wildcats actually be able to rush the football against Colorado on the road? Heck, even if both end up playing, how dynamic will the dynamic duo be in the ground game? We witnessed a pass happy Tate last season following on-and-off injuries throughout the course of the year and even though the Wildcats still led the Pac-12 in rush yards per game, the whole thing looked and felt a little different. At home against UCLA, the Wildcats only managed 99 rush yards on 30 carries with Grant Gunnell at quarterback. I’m not sure that will be enough to get the job done in Boulder. If there’s good news, the strength of UCLA’s defense was is interior defensive linemen. Conversely, the Buffaloes are allowing opponents 175 rush yards per game. For Arizona to pull off the upset this weekend, they absolutely need to be able to run the football in obvious running downs.

Defensively, the Wildcats have been tackling better in their last two games. Even if the ball carrier manages to allude the initial tackle, the defender is doing enough to slow momentum and allow teammates to swarm to the football. Colin Schooler is living up to preseason hype as a tackling machine, while fellow linebacker Tony Fields is also showing a propensity to be in the right place at the right time. Importantly, Arizona is defending the A and B Gaps much better of late, either stuffing ball carriers inside or forcing runners to the perimeter where the Wildcats can use speed to their advantage and stretch out plays. Admittedly, it’s been fun to watch. If I’m being truly honest, it’s actually been a relief. Where things can get tricky in Colorado is the Buffaloes will not hesitate to expand the pocket and roll their QB left or right to not only buy time in the passing game, but set up an aggressive Arizona defense for any variety of counter plays.

Colorado (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) is coming off a bye week after posting an impressive 34-31 road win over Arizona rival Arizona State. The Wildcats (3-1, 1-0 Pac-12) have won three home games in a row and have held Power 5 opponents to fewer than 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time since 2010. In the wins over Texas Tech and UCLA, Arizona’s defense didn’t allow a single point scored on them in the fourth quarter.

For two schools that were predicted to fight for last place in the conference’s South Division, Saturday’s victor will find itself sitting on top of the divisional standings.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.