Story at FoxSportsArizona.com — Wildcats say ‘we’re here to stay’ is from me.

Will Mike Stoops be angry or happy at the end of Saturday night?/Rich Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

I have been going back and forth with the Arizona-Iowa game all week. So have the gamblers and oddsmakers.

The Hawkeyes started as 1-point favorite, then the line switched to the Wildcats as a tiny favorite. Basically, it’s a toss-up.

Iowa out-played Arizona last season in Iowa City, winning 27-17, but it wasn’t as if the Wildcats didn’t have their chances.

Maybe if they don’t let Adam Robinson run for 43 yards on third-and-23 … or maybe if they score a touchdown when they have first-and-goal from the 1 … or maybe if they convert a fake field goal …

Anyway, the talent gap last season wasn’t so great that UA can’t overcome it, especially with quarterback Nick Foles and receiver Juron Criner being pretty much fully developed players now, which wasn’t the case last season against Iowa.

Plus the Cats have some real advantages — some heat, a crazy home crowd, late-night game (starts at 9:30 p.m. on Iowa’s body clock). But what I keep coming back to is Iowa’s strengths on both lines. To me, that’s always the most important thing, especially with everything else being fairly equal.

The Wildcats still need to pass this particular test — beating a tough, physical non-conference opponent (see, Holiday Bowl, 2009). At this point, Iowa is a little more established, a little more trustworthy.

Still, I like what UA co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell said this week — and not just because he was channeling Dick Tomey with the “hair on fire” comment:

“We respect everybody, but we’re not going to fear anybody, either. We’re going to go out there and play with our hair on fire, and we’re going to have a lot of fun doing it.”

Should be a great game … but Iowa 28, Arizona 24.

More predictions: Brad Allis of WildcatSportsReport.com picks Arizona-Iowa and all the other Pac-10 games.

Arizona's NIc Grigsby is averaging 8.4 yards on 19 carries this season/Photo by Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

(NOTE: We bring you an Iowa view from our Gannett sister paper in Des Moines. For more, visit Hawk Central, a collaboration of Gannett’s Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen).

By Andrew Logue

IOWA CITY — Glimpses.

That’s all Christian Ballard and his Iowa defensive teammates saw of Arizona’s three-pronged offense.

The Wildcats were still in the tinkering stages last September when they lost 27-17 at Kinnick Stadium.

When the Hawkeyes travel west for Saturday’s rematch, they’ll encounter a unit that prides itself on precision.

Arizona’s multiple-spread attack centers around three primary playmakers: Nic Grigsby (tailback), Nick Foles (quarterback) and Juron Criner (receiver).

They form the nucleus for one of the nation’s most prolific offenses, averaging 503.5 yards and 46.5 points.

“We were young last year,” Foles told reporters this week. “I think we’ve grown together as a team, and that’s going to be key in this game.”

With two days remaining before a showdown between Iowa (No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, No. 10 in the USA Today coaches’ poll) and Arizona (24th AP, 18th coaches’) it’s time to take a closer look at the Wildcat trio:

• Grigsby, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior, ranked among the NCAA rushing leaders when Arizona arrived in Iowa City last year.

He ran for 325 yards in two previous games, but finished with 75 on 11 carries against the Hawkeyes.

“He’s got a little shake to him,” linebacker Tyler Nielsen said. “He can avoid tacklers because of his speed and quickness.

“We’re going to have to be flying around out there.”

A sore shoulder plagued Grigsby last fall, but he returned healthy this season and is averaging 8.4 yards per rush.

“I didn’t say it publicly last year; but I’ll say it now, I was hoping he would come out in the (NFL) draft (last spring),” Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Now, we get to see him again.”

• Foles was the Arizona backup, until he replaced struggling quarterback Matt Scott in the fourth quarter at Iowa.

He completed 6-of-11 passes for 55 yards, and was named the starter the next week.

“This guy likes to stand in the pocket,” Ballard said. “He has a great arm, so we’re going to have to get some pressure on him.

“Their offensive line is really big, so we’re going to have to come up with some pass-rushing schemes so we can get around these guys.”

Foles (6-5, 245 pounds) owns the nation’s second-highest completion rate (83.1 percent), behind Northwestern’s Dan Persa (86.4 percent).

“Last year, we were more concerned with the run from the quarterback position,” Ferentz said, referring to Scott. “Foles is not looking to run; he’s looking to throw the football.

“He does it very well.”

• The Wildcats boast eight pass catchers who have made at least four receptions, but Criner creates the most concern.

He is listed at 6-4, 210 pounds.

“He brings a lot of problems to the table,” safety Tyler Sash said. “He’s a big, physical guy, with good hands.”

Criner leads Arizona with 19.7 yards per catch and 118 yards a game.

“They like to get him the ball in the slot,” Sash said, “or out in the open and run screens with him.”

Criner caught just one pass against the Hawkeyes, a 10-yard touchdown from Foles, with 1:53 remaining.

Earlier this week, Criner told reporters that Foles “changed the whole game.”

“Things started going a little faster. Things started clicking a little more,” he said. “We just needed a little more time.”

The Wildcats will have time, and a retooled offense, on Saturday.

“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Sash said. “It’s going to be a challenge for us all across the board.”

Marquis Flowers hopes to be turning some heads if he sees extended time against Iowa/Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

Arizona Wildcats sophomore safety Adam Hall, recovering from a shoulder injury, seems probable to play against Iowa this weekend. Marquis Flowers will be ready, just in case.

As co-defensive coordinator Greg Brown said, “This is why we recruited Marquis Flowers.”

Flowers was the high school headliner in coach Mike Stoops’ class of 2010, and he has made good on that promise by playing right away as a reserve in the first two games.

“The first two games definitely taught me the game speed of college and how it is,” Flowers said. “It definitely taught me the physicality, what you need to do. It’s been a little rough, but I’m getting used to it and I like it.”

Stoops loves Flowers’ potential, but the coaches would be much more comfortable with Hall (6-foot4, 212 pounds) starting in the team’s nickel package Iowa. Stoops said that Hall’s playing status could be a game-time decision.

“The guy is big, rangy,” Brown, also the secondary coach, said of Hall.

“He’s gotten a lot of playing experience. In the first week against Toledo, he did a great job. He brings an element of physicalness to the table. He’s a tough guy. He is going to run through offensive players, and he does the same thing on special teams.

“That would be tough if he can’t go.”

On Monday, Flowers said he would be watching more game film than in the first two weeks.

“Preparation is the key,” he said. “I want the coaches to be able to trust in me.”

Flowers has five tackles in the first two games.

“He’s a young guy who also is big and can run and hit,” Brown said. “It would be his time. It’s just that he hasn’t had as much reps as Adam.”

More on the defensive backs

With Flowers, Shaquille Richardson and Jonathan McKnight, the Wildcats have played three true freshman defensive backs. Put them together with Hall (and starting corners Trevin Wade and Robert Golden are only juniors) and you have to think the secondary is going to be very good for the foreseeable future.

“These guys, they’re ready-made players,” Stoops said of the three true freshmen.

“I don’t know what their star-rating was, and I don’t really care. But I know great players when I see them. If they stay true to who they are now and continue to develop, they’re as good as any players I’ve seen anywhere, and I’ve been some great places.

“They have great maturity about them and a serious side about them that allows them to compete at a very high level at a very young age.”

He said it

Iowa isn’t used to playing night games and playing this far west — the Hawkeyes are 2-8 in their last 10 non-conference games west of Iowa — two factors that could work in Arizona’s favor Saturday.

No big deal, according to Iowa safety Tyler Sash.

“Everybody’s making this big deal of going west,” Sash told Hawk Central. “I feel like it’s just the opposite of going east.”

Baxter speaks

Arizona senior center Colin Baxter, who will be a key figure going against the super Iowa defensive line, met with the media, including Brad Allis of our TC.com Sports Network partner WildcatSportsReport.com, after Wednesday’s practice.

“They don’t do a whole lot of stuff,” Baxter said of Iowa’s defensive line, “but they stuff that they do, they do very well.”

Brad has the video:

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz had all nice things to say about Arizona, which he beat 27-17 last season/2009 photo by Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

Lucky for us, Iowa is one of those schools that provides a full, court-reporter-like transcript of its football coach’s weekly news conference. You can read more than 4,500 words of Q&A here.

Or you can have someone parse the parts really relevant to an Arizona fan. You’re welcome.

One note: Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said it was doubtful that defensive coordinator Norm Parker would make the trip to Tucson. Parker, 68, is a diabetic and has been hospitalized recently.

On to the quotes from Tuesday (interesting stuff, I thought, about Nic Grigsby below):

Ferentz’s opening remarks on Arizona:

“We’re playing a team that a year ago we felt was an excellent football team coming into our game. We felt even stronger about that afterwards. They just had a very good football team. Certainly, after our game, they went on and had an excellent season, made a change at quarterback, shifted their philosophy a little bit offensively. And he (Nick Foles) certainly responded and did very well last year.

“And they’re off just to a tremendous start this year. So they’ve got a team that’s got good size, got very athletic players. They’re very experienced, and they’re off to a very, very strong start. And, again, I think it’s all good for them still. So I’m guessing they’ll be a team that’s going to contend for the championship in the Pac-10.”

Q. What do you like about their defense? They’re really thriving, too?

COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, they graduated two very good defensive tackles last year. We thought they were excellent players. All three of their linebackers and a couple of DBs, you won’t even know those guys are gone.

I think they’re at the point — Mike’s been there for a long time. You can see this thing gradually being built. I said a year ago when we played them looked like all their efforts had finally paid off. They were becoming a very good football team the end of the ’08 season. Excellent team last year. Now like most teams they graduate some good players but they’ve got a lot of good guys that have stepped in and done a great job.

So we’re trying to find some weaknesses on that defense. I’m not sure — their linebackers are new. They’re inexperienced, but their older guys, JC guys, a couple of them at least. They’re not like they’re 18 years and just out of high school. It’s going to be a real challenge. They do a nice job keeping them protected.

Q. How about the receiver Criner, Juron Criner, they have a lot of guys that catch the ball, but looks like he’s maybe the most dangerous?

COACH FERENTZ: They do a nice job spreading him around. He’s a big, physical guy. 6’4″ guy. Strong. His size presents some problems. And Douglas is another guy that’s really a good football player. They do a good job getting the ball to their backs. They’ve got three backs the one guy is more of a runner. The other two guys are very good in the passing game. We saw last year firsthand how explosive Grigsby is. You let him loose, it will be bad quick. Good player.

Q. Was there a key to slowing Grigsby down last year?

COACH FERENTZ: It’s easier said than done. Everybody has to be in the right spot. Can’t let him get started. I didn’t say it publicly last year; wouldn’t have been appropriate. But I’ll say it now, I was hoping he would come out in the Draft after our game. Kind of made a mental note of that one. Didn’t happen. Now we get to see him again.

(Note: Grigsby had 11 carries for 75 yards against Iowa last season.)

Q. You mentioned Foles, does he remind you of anybody else you faced?

COACH FERENTZ: I don’t know. I’m not good in the comparison game. But he’s a very good thrower. He’s not looking to run, I’m not saying he can’t run. He doesn’t look to run. Whereas last year Scott, that was his game. Strongest part of his game. And he’s not hanging with the ball back there either. He’s getting it. He gets it out and spreads it around nicely. So they’ve got a lot of guys that can do something with the ball once they get it. They’ve got a good scheme. Looks like he’s really comfortable and confident in the scheme. So that’s the most important thing.

Arizona cheerleaders will be performing in front of a sea of red this week at Arizona Stadium/2009 photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

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

Arizona QB Nick Foles will have to do when quick-footed Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor couldn't do last year on this play -- escape the grasp of Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn/Photo by Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

The first thing you need to know about Phillip Garcia is that he’s a big dude. The Arizona Wildcats senior right tackle is 6 feet 7 inches tall. He’s 330 pounds. I’m guessing he has the largest hat size of anyone I’ve ever known.

A big dude.

He took a seat in front of a reporters Monday and starting talking about Iowa’s defensive line and how they compare to other defenders he’s seen. That’s when the big dude couldn’t stop saying “Big dude.”

Yes, Iowa’s defensive line — rated No. 1 in the nation in the preseason by Lindy’s College Football Annuals — has a lot of big (and, oh yeah, really, really good) dudes.

“They’re big, strong physical guys,” Garcia said.

Takes one to know one?

Iowa’s four returning starters from last season — ends Adrian Clayborn (6-4, 285) and Broderick Binns (6-2, 261), and tackles Karl Klug (6-4, 270) and Christian Ballard (6-5, 297) — combined for 27 sacks and 52 tackles for loss in 2009. They are all seniors.

Given that, the Hawkeyes don’t have to do anything fancy in defending the pass. Turn those four loose up front and then devote everybody else to choking off the passing lanes. And having a safety like Tyler Sash helps a little, too.

“Anytime you can pressure with four like they can, they can cover you up pretty good,” Arizona coach Mike Stoops said.

The biggest dude of the Iowa front, at least figuratively, is Clayborn, a monster at end, an NFL prototype. The Wildcats’ chances Saturday against visiting Iowa would have been a whole lot better if he had taken the money and become a first-round pick after his junior season.

Clayborn had 12 tackles, three for loss, against Ohio State last season. He blocked a punt against Penn State and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown. He was the MVP of the Orange Bowl after making nine tackles, with two sacks, in a victory over Georgia Tech.

He had a sack, three quarterback hurries and a forced fumble against Arizona last season.

Get the impression that he gets up for big games?

I asked Stoops how Clayborn compares to any of the defensive ends he’s seen in the Pac-10.

“He’s so big. Wow, I don’t know if we have anybody,” Stoops said.

“Maybe a couple of years ago with those linemen from USC. He’s just big and mobile. That’s the thing that really makes him the player that he is. It’s not the great size that he has. It’s just his mobility at that size which makes him an effective player.

“And I think the other guys make him effective, too. They’re good across the board. This is an extremely talented group. They remind you a lot of Nebraska in some ways.”

Gulp.

You remember how well that turned out. (Or maybe you’ve been trying to forget.)

“We didn’t handle that very well,” Stoops said of being the Cornhuskers’ chew toy in the 33-0 Holiday Bowl loss. “We’re going to have to be better than we were against a team that presents four guys like these guys.”

These big dudes.

More from me on Arizona-Iowa at FoxSportsArizona.com:
Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi a ‘nightmare’

A news release Wednesday from Iowa about its schedule said the game will be televised by a yet-to-be-determined network, but an Arizona official said that would be ESPN.

Iowa won last year’s meeting, 27-17, in Iowa City, which was the Wildcats’ seventh consecutive loss to a Big Ten opponent. Iowa is the alma mater of UA head coach Mike Stoops.

Arizona opens its season at Toledo on Sept. 3, in a Friday night game that will be televised by ESPN. It also has been announced that the season-ender at home against Arizona State on Thursday, Dec. 2, will be on ESPN.

Much of the rest of the TV schedule for Arizona football has yet to be determined.

Mike Stoops

The offensive line, praised by coach Mike Stoops last week as “one of the most consistent groups we have right now,” created little push for the running game. The defense forgot how to tackle on occasion and failed at critical times to make key stops (you know, like on third-and-23).

Think of it this way: Arizona gave up 27 points and got shoved around by an Iowa offense that didn’t have, for various reasons, its best offensive lineman (Bryan Bulaga), starting tight end Tony Moeaki (ankle) and most productive wide receiver (Derrell Johnson-Koulianos).

UA special teams failed to convert a fake field goal, the coaching staff appears to have little faith in kicker Alex Zendejas, and punter Keenyn Crier, who has an All-American leg, looked more like a rookie walk-on.

The Cats have no one who can approximate what tight end Rob Gronkowski, out for the season, would have done for the passing game.

“The great thing about the loss is that it was kind of a team debacle in some ways,” Stoops said in his postgame radio interview. “It was offense, defense and special teams.”

So, at least there won’t be any finger-pointing among the players.

That’s something.

OK, so I buried the lead here, because I’m just now mentioning the quarterback situation.

The three non-conference games were supposed to lay the track for the rest of the season at quarterback. Heading into this week’s league opener at Oregon State, the Cats are off the rails.

Arizona supposedly spent several months not knowing if it wanted to pick Matt Scott or Nick Foles, but once the season started coaches went all in with Scott, taking a sink-or-swim approach in the first three games.

Now that he needs a life-preserver, the timing is all wrong to make a change.

Of course, the timing might be wrong to NOT make a change.

Scott hasn’t shown the passing chops to handle a good defense — like Iowa’s, like the kind he would see nearly every week in the Pac-10 . Maybe he will show it. Maybe Iowa was just a bad game. But his interception — when he tossed a rainbow up for grabs deep down the middle of the field … well, I’ll let the guy who picked it off, Iowa’s Tyler Sash, describe it:

“He hung it up there like a punt kind of,” Sash said.

Not good.

Scott was 4 of 14 for 50 yards.

Nick Foles played the fourth quarter and was 6 of 11 for 55 yards and a touchdown.

The coaches like Scott because of his running ability. I get that. Then let him run.

Meanwhile, Arizona is stuck in offense purgatory.

The Wildcats are clearly not pass-crazy like Texas Tech, which was the plan when coordinator Sonny Dykes was hired after the 2006 season. Arizona wants more balance.

On the other hand, the Wildcats aren’t willing to hang their hat on the quarterback run game and start running a lot of read-option plays. Arizona wants … uh, balance?

If the coaches aren’t going to have Scott run, then play Foles, who sure appears more capable of flinging the ball all over the field.

The coaches have to figure out which part of the playbook they want to use … and then they can pick a quarterback.

Right now, the Cats are who most of us thought they were: A solid team with a really big question at quarterback. It’s just that, by the fourth game, Arizona needed to be somewhere other than at square one at quarterback.

Quarterback play has been the Wildcats’ big issue for several months, and the first two games of the season haven’t solved anything. Scott hasn’t been bad. He hasn’t been great. As is often the case, the backup quarterback — that would be Nick Foles, the guy with a better arm — remains a popular man on campus.

Matt Scott runs against Washington last season/Tucson Citizen photo.

Now, comes Saturday’s game at Iowa.

If Scott, a sophomore, can handle the Hawkeyes defense, then there won’t be much of a quarterback controversy. If the physically imposing Hawkeyes choke off Arizona’s running game and make Scott throw the ball downfield — not his strength so far — might things get ugly?

UA coach Mike Stoops has offered a “no complaints” quote regarding Scott so far, and the coaches will go as far as they can with Scott until there is overwhelming evidence he can’t handle the job.

Foles might be the better passer, but Scott is, by a much wider margin, the superior runner. Stoops and offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes value how Scott’s feet change the defensive schemes.

“If you have a guy who can run around a little bit, it completely changes the way people can play you,” Dykes said.

“They will be less inclined to blitz you. They have one guy who has to assist with the possibility of the quarterback run, which is one less guy who is dropping out covering passes.”

Scott has completed 33 of 50 passes, a 66 percent accuracy rate that has been built behind a plethora of short passes.

It hasn’t helped that star tight end Rob Gronkowski has been out with a back injury. Leading wideout Delashaun Dean, who is trying to get back to full speed after a preseason leg injury, suffered a concussion last week against NAU. Mike Thomas, the Pac-10 career receptions leader, is now with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Arizona has been leading with the run game, averaging 305.5 yards. Some argue that Foles’ arm would loosen up the defense for the run game. Dykes says that is what Scott’s legs do — whether he uses them on designed runs or impromptu scrambles.

“One of the reasons we have run it so well is because of the mobility of our quarterback and the threat of him pulling it down,” Dykes said. “People have to respect him, which gives us extra numbers in the running game.”

Arizona hasn’t shown too much of the quarterback run game so far. It hasn’t shown much of anything. It hasn’t had to. The Wildcats jumped to early leads against Central Michigan and NAU, and were content to get out with a win.

Scott has rushed 16 times for 131 yards.

If Arizona has to play from behind against Iowa — or it is a close game, as expected — Scott’s misses on potential touchdown throws will become more glaring. This also will be Scott’s first start on the road, and it comes in a rowdy Big Ten stadium.

“What I like about him is he has a calmness about him,” Dykes said.

Foles might play a series or two against Iowa, Stoops said. At least that was the plan early in the week. Could be more or less depending on how Scott does in his biggest test, by far.

“We’ll know a lot more about our team Saturday,” Stoops said.

Also: Six questions with Sonny Dykes at wildaboutazcats.com