Keola Antolin scores on a 67-yard run at Arizona State in 2009, one of his 12 career rushes of at least 20 yards. Photo by Cheryl Evans/The Arizona Republic
RELATED LINK: Arizona football preview: Running game
Arizona Wildcats football coach Mike Stoops has talked in the offseason about being more “explosive” in the running game.
Well, let’s see just how the Cats have done in that area.
If we define explosive running plays as those of 20 yards or more, then we can do this research with a flurry of clicks on cfbstats.com, which has the breakdown of the past five seasons of statistics.
Arizona, in the past three years, has been in the middle of the Pac-10 in runs of 20-plus yards, ranking fifth with 47 such gains.
The UA is tied for seventh in the past five seasons, with 63 runs of at least 20 yards.
So, in terms of explosion, the Cat’s running game has been only occasionally ignitable.
Keeping in mind that not all offense schemes are built the same (hello, Oregon’s read-option offense), here are the Pac-10 leaders in big running plays over the past five seasons:
1. Oregon (153)
2. Cal (102)
3. USC (89)
4. Washington (80)
5. Stanford (76)
6. Oregon State (68)
7t. Arizona (63)
7t. UCLA (63)
9. Washington State (58)
10. Arizona State (53)
As for Arizona, the now-departed Nic Grigsby has been considered the team’s big-play back in recent seasons … and he did have 20 runs of at least 20 yards in the past three seasons. Senior Keola Antolin, the team’s presumptive starter in 2011, has 12 long runs over the same period of time.
Perhaps a pair of true freshmen can help this season, including Canyon del Oro graduate Ka’Deem Carey.
“With him and Jared Baker, we have to get more explosive plays out of our run game,” Stoops said on signing day.
Here’s a look at Pac-10 teams and their number of long runs in the past five seasons:
| Runs of 20-plus yards | |
|---|---|
| ARIZONA | |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2007 | 8 |
| 2008 | 16 |
| 2009 | 17 |
| 2010 | 14 |
| Total | 63 |
| ARIZONA STATE | |
| 2006 | 16 |
| 2007 | 12 |
| 2008 | 5 |
| 2009 | 8 |
| 2010 | 14 |
| Total | 55 |
| CAL | |
| 2006 | 19 |
| 2007 | 18 |
| 2008 | 30 |
| 2009 | 24 |
| 2010 | 11 |
| Total | 102 |
| OREGON | |
| 2006 | 16 |
| 2007 | 27 |
| 2008 | 37 |
| 2009 | 39 |
| 2010 | 39 |
| Total | 158 |
| OREGON STATE | |
| 2006 | 4 |
| 2007 | 20 |
| 2008 | 15 |
| 2009 | 17 |
| 2010 | 12 |
| Total | 68 |
| STANFORD | |
| 2006 | 3 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | 25 |
| 2009 | 21 |
| 2010 | 21 |
| Total | 76 |
| UCLA | |
| 2006 | 12 |
| 2007 | 16 |
| 2008 | 6 |
| 2009 | 9 |
| 2010 | 20 |
| Total | 63 |
| USC | |
| 2006 | 11 |
| 2007 | 20 |
| 2008 | 21 |
| 2009 | 21 |
| 2010 | 16 |
| Total | 89 |
| WASHINGTON | |
| 2006 | 14 |
| 2007 | 27 |
| 2008 | 6 |
| 2009 | 13 |
| 2010 | 20 |
| Total | 80 |
| WASHINGTON ST. | |
| 2006 | 14 |
| 2007 | 11 |
| 2008 | 13 |
| 2009 | 10 |
| 2010 | 10 |
| Total | 58 |