Arizona kicks off its Pac-10 schedule Saturday at Oregon State (4:30 p.m.), so let’s get to it:

1. Oregon State is a bear to run against

Other than USC, no run defense in the Pac-10 has been better this decade than Oregon State’s. Coach Mike Riley’s team is 17th nationally against the run in the early season, allowing 78.3 yards per game. That’s typically in the neighborhood where Oregon State lives.

UA's Keola Antolin is stopped short of a first down late in last season's game against Oregon State. Taking over after a punt, the Beavers then drove for a field goal as time expired, winning 19-17/Tucson Citizen photo

Since Riley arrived in 2003, the Beavers have finished fourth, 22nd, 17th, 29th, first and 40 nationally in rushing defense. Oregon State had top 10 finishes in 2000 and 2002 under coach Dennis Erickson.

That all makes it sound like this was a good time for Arizona to give quarterback Nick Foles his first start. Unlike Matt Scott, he has a chance to make Oregon State respect the deep pass and pay for devoting extra personnel to clog the lanes for running backs Nic Grigsby and Keola Antolin.

“They have had a history of having a good defensive front, and it looks like another strength this year,” said Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes.

“They do a good job of getting their safeties down in the run game. Their scheme just makes it tough, and then they also have good personnel. When you put those two things together, it’s tough to run against.”

Arizona did OK last season, gaining 139 yards on the ground, including 114 from backup running back Keola Antolin. But over the entire decade, spanning nine games, Arizona has rushed for a grand total of 497 yards against the Beavers.

Arizona’s mileage might vary Saturday. If it doesn’t, the Wildcats are going to have a tough time winning.

Which brings us to …

2. What does Nick Foles have?

Is this a be-careful-what-you-wish-for moment? Arizona fans have favored a switch at quarterback from Matt Scott, but nobody really knows what Foles will do in a full-pressure situation on the road.

He had spring practice and all of fall camp to beat out Scott … and didn’t post enough evidence that he clearly was the better quarterback. In fact, the coaches were a bit disappointed in his performance in the spring.

What we do know is that he has a big arm. Accuracy? According to a 2006 story in the San Antonio Express-News (a feature worth reading, by the way) “his arm is so accurate that offensive lineman Andy Theodosis said when Foles is messing around in practice he’ll hit players who aren’t paying attention in the head —  from 50 yards away.”

And if he doesn’t show that kind of accuracy …

3. Watch for the backup quarterbacks

Arizona isn’t alone with a quarterback controversy … or competition … or whatever you want to call it. Oregon State fans have been grumbling about Sean Canfield, who has started the first three games while Lyle Moevao, last season’s starter, was recovering from shoulder surgery.

UA coach Mike Stoops said Scott likely will play in the first half against Oregon State, but who knows? The flow of the game can change the best of intentions — which happened when Arizona failed to put in Foles in the opener.

Meanwhile, Moevao should be available Saturday for the first time this season.

When — or if — the two head coaches decide to go to their backup QB could be a big factor.

Speaking of factors …

(more…)

So, Arizona lost at Iowa. There’s no shame in that. The problem was that the Wildcats came home with a bagful of questions bigger than the one they took to Iowa City.

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.

It’s nearly the day of reckoning for Arizona quarterback Matt Scott.

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