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AG's Wildcat Report - Dispatches on the Wildcats, from Anthony Gimino

Arizona-The Citadel game blog: So far, so good

by on Sep. 11, 2010, under Sports

Arizona linebackers Jake Fischer and Paul Vassallo celebrate a second-quarter sack against The Citadel/Photo by Chris Morrision-US PRESSWIRE

Final score: 52-6. Arizona did what it needed to do, never really giving The Citadel the chance to think it was in the game. That’s two games, two wins for Arizona, by a combined 93-5.

That’s what a team that hopes to be great should do against Toledo and then a lower-division team.

“I don’t think anybody is getting carried away here,” coach Mike Stoops said after the game. “We understand we’ve done what we’re supposed to do and we need to continue to improve is we want to compete across the board.

Nobody should be getting carried away. Things have looked good so far, but the level of competition goes way up next Saturday. Iowa, which was ranked No. 9 before beating Iowa State 35-7, is coming to town for what will be one of college football’s marquee matchups of the weekend.

“The insanity will be great,” Stoops said.

As for injuries, receiver Juron Criner suffered a shoulder injury early in the second quarter and did not return. Stoops indicated that Criner was “fine,” so holding him out might have been more of a precaution.

Safety Adam Hall, a key part of Arizona’s nickel package, also suffered a shoulder injury, which appears more serious, although there was no definitive word on his status for the Iowa game. Hall had his left shoulder in a sling in the second half.

(My story for FoxSportsArizona.com: First home game a success for athletic director Greg Byrne)

(Javier Morales has a list of Arizona vs. Top 10 teams in Tucson.)

* * *

Attendance: 54,814. That’s a super turnout for a game against The Citadel.

Arizona leads 45-6 with 9:08 to play. I’ll be back with more updates after the game.

* * *

Sophomore safety Adam Hall is our with a shoulder injury. Juron Criner never returned after leaving early in the second; no word on either in the press box, though. We’ll find out more after the game.

* * *

Arizona leads 45-3 with 4:39 to go in the third quarter after Greg Nwoko’s 3-yard touchdown run. The margin should now satisfy any UA fan.

* * *

The Arizona defense goes 98 minutes and 5 seconds of game time without giving a point this season, a streak that ends with Sam Keeler’s 39-yard field goal with 6:55 to go in the third quarter. Arizona leads 38-3.

* * *

That didn’t take long. The Citadel botches a pitch, and UA linebacker falls on the loose ball at the Bulldogs 23. On the next play, third-string tailback Greg Nwoko races in for a touchdown, putting the Wildcats up 38-0 with 12:23 to go in the third quarter … and it should be time for a full dose of backups now.

* * *

Three plays into the second half, and the Wildcats score again. Nic Grigsby takes a handoff to the right side, makes one quick cut inside … and he’s gone. It’s a 62-yard touchdown run for a 31-0 lead with 13:56 left in the third quarter.

* * *

Nick Foles is 16 of 21 for 207 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, at halftime. His night might be done with the Wildcats up 24-0 over The Citadel. The Bulldogs didn’t cross midfield until late in the first half after they intercepted Foles at their 40 with 1:30 left. The Citadel got the UA 45 before being sacked on the last play of the half.

* * *

Another quick score for the Wildcats, and the rout in on. After linebacker Paul Vassallo recovered a fumble at The Citadel 22, Nick Foles hits Bug Wright over the middle for a 21-yard gain, and then Nic Grigsby cleans up by running it in, untouched, from 1 yard out. Arizona leads 24-0 with 5:13 left, and it has done what it had to do — take any hope away from The Citadel.

* * *

Alex Zendejas makes his first field goal attempt of the season — a 41-yarder. That puts the Cats up 17-0 with 5:53 to go in the second quarter. Juron Criner hasn’t been back since getting rattled early in the quarter.

* * *

Arizona goes up 14-0 with 12:58 to go before halftime on a 4-yard pass from Nick Foles to Bug Wright. The Wildcats put together a 12-play, 84-yard drive that took 4:32 off the clock.

* * *

Wide receiver Juron Criner looked a little shaken up and asked out of the game after throwing a block on David Douglas’ 13-yard reception with 14:31 to go in the second quarter.

* * *

End of the first quarter. Juron Criner has two catches for 60 yards. Arizona on the march, facing second-and-3 at The Citadel 27-yard line. The Bulldogs have a couple of first downs with their triple-option offense, but the Wildcats have stayed disciplined and cornerback Robert Golden had great position on the ball, knocking down a pass, when The Citadel tried to take a shot down the sideline.

* * *

The Wildcats score first. Starting at their 40 on their second possession, the Cats get a big play from the pass-catch combo of Nick Foles to Juron Criner (who else?).

Foles rifles a pass to Criner near the left sideline, and the receiver bounces off a tackle and weaves his way to The Citadel 3 for a 47-yard gain. One play later, Nic Grigsby goes off right tackle for the touchdown with 6:23 to go in the first quarter.

* * *

Arizona’s offense does nothing with its first possession, with The Citadel sacking Nick Foles on third-and-8. One personnel note on defense: Redshirt freshman Justin Washington, who had a sack last week, started at defensive tackle in place of Sione Tuihalamaka.

Nice crowd for the game, with the student section nearly full about 45 minutes before the game.

Some pregame stuff: Foles knows all the answers in Arizona’s offense



  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Anthony:  Watching the game from home, the commentating by John Fina is better than last year. He’s on point, informative, and entertaining (more talkative). He had a good line with the replay monitors out: “The conversation now on the sidelines: Stay away from controversial situations.”

  • Pingback: Gimino’s Citadel-Arizona game blog at TC.com | "Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Watching the Citadel’s offense takes me back to when Dick Tomey tried the run-and-shoot when he started at Arizona,  thinking he’d catch the Pac-10 off guard. Ah, the Desert Fox.

  • Carlos J. M.

    Now’s the time to put Scott in, not in the 4th quarter.  There still has to be something on the line, meaning, or it’s just mop-up,  It would be nice to see, for their development, if Scott and Beirne can move the offense, make it click with The Citadel’s 1st unit D in the game still.

  • Q

    It is absolutely NOT the time to put Scott in.  He is a backup, plain and simple.  We don’t need to share the position, and don’t need a change of pace.  Foles won the job.  They should have redshirted Scott this year so that he can have his shot once Foles is gone.  I love how Scott has stayed with us and put in the work to get rid of that horrible hitch in his throwing motion (a strip-sack waiting to happen), but this shuffling of the QBs is a bad idea.  I still haven’t forgiven Tomey for sharing the position in 1998 with Keith Smith and OJ.  OJ was awful in the second quarter against UCLA, which allowed the Bruins to pull away to the point that we couldn’t recover.  Yeah, we were 12-1, but I wanted a National Championship!

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Ronald Veal second on the UA charts in rushing TD’s with 27? That’s the graphic they used on TV (behind Art Luppino’s 44 of course). Fina incredulously: “I was here when Veal played. I don’t remember us scoring that many touchdowns. …” Nic Grigsby has 24 now in his career.

    • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

      Make it 25, tying Trung Canidate with his 62-yard TD run.

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Is that the same Nic Grigsby from years past? He looks like an NFL back with the burst of speed with that 62-yard sprint for a TD. Leader in the clubhouse for this game’s entry in the Pick THE PLAY! contest we have over at wildaboutazcats.com

  • fraser007

    Why would any team still use the triple option??!!…… ASU 17 NAU 10 its half-time!!!

  • Vegasallen®

    Scumdevils struggling with NAU. Love it!!

    Cats need to play the bench. If not now, when?

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Fina makes bold statement: Arizona is weak with its base run plays … they’ve done a lot with their runs but it hasn’t been the smash-mouth stuff they will need when they’re banging with guys.
    Sitton asked if UA is not exposing everything.
    Fina said that Arizona needs an emphasis on the basics with its running game.
    “Things you want to establish from the get-go. … After wathing the film last week with the pad level a little bit high,I thought  there would be an emphasis in this game to get good knee-bend and stay beneath the other guy’s pads and maintain those blocks…we’ve seen a little of it tonight but I was expecting to see a lot more of it a lot earlier.”

  • http://www.wildaboutazcats.com Javier Morales

    Anthony, I know you have  to play him to keep him sharp, but I feared something like this for Criner in terms of the injury in a winnable game.

  • fraser007

    Citadel has heart and guts. Their new QB is a lot better.

  • Carlos J. M.

    Yep, this would be an expensive win if the U of A were to lose Criner or Hall for even a game.  (Any word on their status?).  And what a big game that would be, with all that Black and Gold, maybe even a Corn-On-The-Cob Head, in the southwest corner of The Horseshoe next weekend.  It would certainly help the UA’s chances to go 3-and-oh if they were to have a full compliment of players for that 12-PAC vs. Big 11 tilt. 

    But man that Adam H. from Palo Verde High sure loves to lay the lumber on the opposition.  I recall him having a similar hit on a Toledo punt returner last weekend. 

    BTW, anyone know when ESPN makes up their mind 
    as to whose campus they’re going to adorn week to week?

    • UA_Alum_05

      Last year they made the call on Sunday…thanks to the wildaboutazcats.com archive.