36 Hours Later: Arizona/Texas Tech reactions

Thirty-six hours later and I am still feeling pretty good about Arizona’s 28-14 win over Texas Tech. The win over the Red Raiders gives new life to the season.

The defense was…really, really good. The Wildcats’ decision to revert to a 3-3-5 was a great move. The defense, when run well, can really make it difficult for spread teams who go sideline to sideline. That was exactly the case for Texas Tech. The Wildcats forced Alan Bowman to throw downfield and he did not look comfortable on those longer passes, even before he appeared to injure his shoulder. Normally a 70+ percent passer, Bowman completed just 30 of 55 passes.

Arizona had one of their best tackling nights in what seems like decades. Even when the first man did not make the tackle, they slowed up the ball carriers enough that other defenders could come in an make plays.

Finally, the Arizona defensive backs did a great job in their coverages, especially man-to-man. There were a few broken coverages on the Red Raiders’ lone scoring drive of the second half, but other than that most of the big plays in the passing game were against solid coverage.

The offense was…balanced. Actually, it was not balanced, but for the second straight week it was skewed to the run. The Wildcats had a nearly 3-to-1 run to pass ratio, including a stretch in the fourth quarter where they ran on 21 of 22 plays, with the lone pass coming via a two-point conversion.

Special teams were…abysmal. Arizona missed an extra point, a field goal, and struggled in the punting game. Arizona failed to field punts and were twice pinned inside the five-yard line and even had a personal foul on a touchback kickoff return.

Khalil Tate was…opportunistic. It was not a great game for Tate, but he had a few really big plays. He scored on an 84-yard run and connected with Cedric Peterson on a 47-yard pass play to set up the Wildcats’ go-ahead score. Early on with the offense scuffling, he found some success sliding up in the pocket and delivering some really nice passes.

Third down was…Arizona’s. The Wildcats converted on 15-of-21 third downs. The Red Raiders were successful on just 7-of-17.

The next few games are…interesting. Arizona will be favored over a UCLA team who may realistically be 0-4 heading into the Sept. 28 showdown. The Bruins face a pretty good Washington State team while Arizona gets a bye. After two big wins Colorado came back to Earth with an overtime loss to Air Force and still have ASU before they get a bye heading into Arizona week. The Cats get the Buffs on the road, but if they can pull off the win and open 4-1 the rest of the schedule becomes interesting.

Washington looks mortal. They are more talented but have to come to Tucson. USC looks vulnerable, but winning in LA is daunting. Stanford is not what they have been and Oregon State just isn’t very good. Go 2-2 in that stretch and the Cats would already be bowl eligible.

The final three are very tough with games at Oregon, home against Utah, and at ASU.