The Arizona athletic department is calling for a “Red Out” at Arizona Stadium this weekend, encouraging all fans to wear even more red than normal for the big game against Iowa.

The 10,000-strong student section is already a sea of red on the lower level of the east side of the stadium. But the athletic department is going for an even better visual for the ESPN cameras, saying in a press release:

“While red is the dominant color worn by Wildcat fans at all home contests, this week is not the one to choose an alternate color to wear on game day.”

Here’s the thing: Even if every single UA fan at the game wears red for what is expected to be a sold-out game, there is going to be a lot of black and gold inside 57,400-seat Arizona Stadium.

B.J. Katz, president of Phoenix I-Club, told Hawk Central that he is expecting more than 12,000 Iowa fans at Saturday’s game.

“I’ve probably been getting calls for six months … ticket requests, tailgating requests and everything,” Katz said. “Everyone is super excited.”

He said it

“Top to bottom, there are no weaknesses. They have the ability to run it. They have the ability to throw it. People aren’t going to score very many points on them.” — Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads, whose team lost to Iowa 35-7 last week.

A Washington insider

Last week I wrote about coach Mike Stoops’ eye for off-the-radar talent, and here’s another name to add to the list: Redshirt freshman Justin Washington.

Washington, from Cypress, Texas, is a fireplug of a defensive tackle who was only a two-star recruit in 2009 by Rivals.com. He should be making his second career start for the Wildcats this week. He has one sack in each of his first two games.

“Justin continues to play well,” Stoops said.

“He has a chance to be a great player. He’s just a redshirt freshman, and he’s going to get better and better and better. I just wasn’t happy with some of the other guys, and he’s earned that right.

“Like all our players, you have to keep working to play. It’s not going to be given to you. If somebody outplays you, then they’re going to get to start. That’s pretty simple. Competition breeds success.”

Redshirt freshman Sione Tuihalamaka started the first game at defensive tackle before losing his inside spot to Washington.

He said it, Part II

“I was telling the guys if you haven’t seen Coach Mike mad, you’re going to see it this week.” — Arizona free safety Joseph Perkins, predicting coach Mike Stoops intensity this week.

Injury update

Junior receiver Juron Criner, who left last Saturday’s game against The Citadel early in the second quarter with a shoulder injury, practiced Monday and is good to go for the Iowa game.

“If it was a huge game, I definitely would have been in there,” he said. “It was just a coaches’ decision to let me rest up a little bit.”

Not a bad idea, considering Criner could very well be Arizona’s most irreplaceable player, given his big-play capabilities in the passing game.

Sophomore Adam Hall‘s shoulder injury appears more serious, and it might not be until later in the week before Arizona determines (or announces) his status for this Saturday. If he can’t go, true freshman Marquis Flowers would replace Hall in UA’s nickel package.

He said it, Part III

“We try to prepare the same for each team, but we know this team is no joke.” — Arizona defensive end Brooks Reed, on Iowa

This entry was posted on Monday, September 13th, 2010 at 10:49 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Iowa, Justin Washington, Red Out. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.