Arizona lost to Oregon State 37-27 in a game that featured another Arizona second-half rally. Believe it or not there was some good, but the good was like sprinkles on a big cupcake of bad.

Good News
Arizona did not give up 500 yards of offense to the Beavers. Just 403 yards. Arizona had given up over 500 yards of total offense in four straight games.

Bad News
Well, if you were playing The 1290 am Rob Lantz Crappy Special Teams Bingo at home, you had almost every category checked, save for a return for score. For those playing along, the Wildcats missed an extra point, missed a field goal, gave up a first down on a fake punt, had a punt blocked and returned for a score, muffed a kickoff, fumbled a kickoff and either called a fake punt that was snuffed out or had your cannon legged punter roll out for a rugby punt that went 30 yards.

Arizona failed to register a sack and only pressured Sean Mannion on a few occasions. One of those was an interception. HOWEVER, the Wildcats get the pick at the 28 yard line, and do not throw deep. When you have a chance to steal momentum, you have to take it. One thing Pete Carroll would do is go for the endzone to try and steal the momentum from a team that had yet to win. Instead Arizona runs the ball, throws short twice and settles for a missed field goal, no points, and gives the Beavers the momentum back. (more…)

The 2011 football season is already 1/3 of the way complete and it has not been the start the Arizona football team was looking for. We take a position-by-position look at the 1-3 Wildcats.

QUARTERBACK
Nick Foles has been excellent. The only knock on him may be the lack of overall scoring, but that is about it. Foles has thrown for over 1,400 yards, completing 70.5% of his passes. Most impressive is his 10 touchdown passes without throwing an interception. He could have even more touchdown tosses if it was not for three or four drops the past two games.

RUNNING BACK
The Arizona running backs have yet to have a breakout game. Local product Ka’Deem Carey has become a fan favorite and has shown flashes of being a breakaway runner, but has yet to supplant senior Keola Antolin. The duo averages 4.5 yards a carry but is combining to rush for just 82 yards a game.

WIDE RECEIVERS
The Wildcats have the deepest crop of receivers in school history and have the most talented group in the Pac-12. Juron Criner has played like an NFL player, but missed the Oklahoma State game due to an appendectomy. He returned to action a week later and put up big numbers, but did have a few uncharacteristic drops, including a few that appeared to be sure scores. Dan Buckner has shown flashes of being a big time complement to Criner, while freshman Austin Hill shows that the future is bright.

OFFENSIVE LINE
The preseason fears about the inexperienced line have come true. The Cats have yet to establish the run and dominate the line of scrimmage. They have also been inconsistent in pass blocking, allowing to many shots on Foles. Realistically, a lot of these players would be backing up junior and senior players, but holes in recruiting have led to three underclassmen being thrust into the starting line-up. The good news is the group has some real talent and are getting great experience that will make them better a year or two from now when their strength and experience catches up to their raw athleticism.

DEFENSIVE LINE
The defensive line has struggled this year. The Wildcats are rotating five underclassmen at defensive tackle and have gotten pushed around at times. Returning starter Justin Washington has not had the big tackles for loss that were his forte a year ago. The trio of redshirt freshmen are all talented, but not as strong of savvy as they need to be. The defensive ends have yet to put great pressure on opposing quarterbacks and have had mental lapses on their contain responsibilities against the run. Injuries have actually caused the coaches to slide Washington and fellow DT Sione Tuihalamaka out to DE.

LINEBACKER
Inconsistency has been the norm. The entire unit has struggled with responsibilities, especially in covering the tight end. Stanford exploited this throughout the second half of their win against the Cats. Paul Vassallo has been a tackle machine, but true freshmen Rob Hankins and Hank Hobson have been pressed into duty before they are physically ready.

DEFENSIVE BACKS
Injuries have really hurt this group. Losing Jonathan McKnight right before the start of the season really hurt. Shaq Richardson was better the past two games, but really struggled the first two games. The safeties have also missed some coverages and zone help, but Trevin Wade is having a terrific senior season.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Kyle Dugandzic has had a great start to the season as the team’s punter. His inconsistencies during fall camp seem to be behind him. The same cannot be said of the place kickers. Jaime Salazar beat out incumbent Alex Zendejas in fall camp, but gave the job right back by missing three of his four field goal attempts and an extra point. Zendejas returned to the spot for the Oregon game, but missed one of his first three extra point attempts.

Less than a week into fall football camp it is hard to tell a lot about the team, but stories and themes are starting to emerge.

So far Nick Foles has been sharp and it is obvious that Matt Scott is attempting to redshirt this season, allowing him to battle for the starting job as a fifth year starter in 2012. Bryson Beirne has been getting the bulk of the snaps with the second team, while Scott, the back-up in 2010, works with the scout team.

Keola Antolin and Daniel Jenkins are holding down the top two spots at running back and the real competition seems to be for the third running back job. Sophomore Kylan Butler has the edge early in camp, but walk-on Terris Jones and true freshman Ka’Deem Carey are getting their opportunities.

Heading into fall camp we knew the Arizona receiving corps was deep, but this appears top be the deepest the unit has ever been. Juron Criner is back with the team after attending to some personal matters over the summer. He does not appear 100% in shape, but is still making plays. Once he improves his conditioning, watch out.

Newcomer Dan Buckner, the Texas transfer, appears as good as advertised, while Tyler Slavin has made play after play.

Terrence Miller has been a go-to guy during 2:00 drills and he gives the Cats yet another big target.

All eyes are on the offensive line and so far, so good. The starting five of Mickey Baucus, Fabbians Ebelle, Chris Putton, Trace Biskin and Kyle Quinn have been solid and early on have fended off challenges from second teamers.

The biggest news among the line is the addition of Jack Baucus, who moves from tight end to tackle.

Another position of interest has been the defensive ends who have to replace three players drafted by the NFL. So far Muhammed Usman and C.J. Parish have been very good and true freshmen Reggie Gilbert and Dame Ndiaye have shown that the future at the position seems very bright.

Junior college transfer David Lopez will start alongside Paul Vassallo and Derek Earls when the Cats go with their 4-3 base defense, but all indications are that the Wildcats will spend a lot of time in their nickel and dime packages.

So far the defensive backs have also played well. Shaq Richardson and Jonathan McKnight are in a real battle to start opposite of senior Trevin Wasde and Derrick Rainey is also showing well at corner.

There is less competition at safety where Rob Golden and Marquis Flowers have their jobs all but sewn up.

Alex Zendejas and Jaime Salazar are in a duel for the place kicking job. Many assumed that after last year’s disasterous finish that Zendejas would be out of a job, but he worked hard over the summer and the job probably won’t be decided early in camp.

So far the Wildcats have remained relatively injury free, which is especially good news after all of the injuries during spring ball. Two of those injured players, linebacker Jake Fischer and safety Adam Hall, appear to be ahead of schedule and may have a tough decision to make about whether to play this year or use a redshirt.

We are about two months away from the start of fall camp and three months until the start of the season. Over the next few weeks we’ll be taking a quick look at each position group. Up today is the running backs.

The Roster:
Running Back:
Keola Antolin 5-8, 195 SR 143-695 4.7 7TD/28 rec 204 yds)
Daniel Jenkins 5-9, 190 SO* (8-26 3.2)
Kylan Butler 5-8, 180, SO*
Ka’Deem Carey 5-10, 190 FR
Jared Baker 5-9, 180 FR
Terris Jones 5-9, 180 FR*

Full Back:
Taimi Tutogi 6-1, 250 JR (1-(-1) –1.0/5 rec 63 yds)
Ross Oltorik 6-2, 225 JR*
David Hill 5-9, 230 SR

OVERALL:
This is a group that no one is giving any credit to and some of it is warranted. Gone is Nick Grigsby, and for the year Greg Nwoko, the team’s second and third leading rushers. Keola Antolin is an overlooked player who gained nearly 700 yards last year and is a threat to break off a big run at any time. Antolin had 143 carries last year, the rest of the unit had nine and six runners have never had a D-I carry.

In addition to inexperience, the group will be running behind an inexperienced line and of the six halfbacks on the roster, five of them are under 5-10.

SAY GOODBYE TO:Nic Grigsby and Greg Nwoko. Grigsby graduated and Nwoko was lost for at least half of the season when he tore his ACL during spring practice. They were the second and third leading rushers on the squad.

SAY HELLO TO: Carey and Baker. Both are well-regarded true freshmen running backs who will get a chance to see the field right away. They are very similar to each other and similar to the rest of the running backs on the roster.

BIGGEST QUESTIONS
Can they establish the run? The Wildcats have not been able to get a consistent ground game going the past few years, especially late in games when they are trying to milk a lead and keep the ball out of the other team’s hands.
Will they even try to run? In the final spring scrimmage the Wildcats hardly ran the ball and a lot of evidence points to the Wildcats running less than 15 times a game, at least until the young offensive line gets used to run blocking and the rigors of D-I football.
Can Antolin carry the load? Antolin has battled injuries every year, and that is without being the featured back for an entire season. Truth be told, no one knows if Antolin can carry the load the whole season, but it is likely that he will not be asked to.
Will Carey qualify? The signs look good. Carey graduated with no issues and is already working out with the team. Word is that he has the necessary GPA to enroll on his transcripts and the only hurdle left will be getting through the NCAA Clearinghouse.
Will Nwoko be back? Right now Nwoko is set to come back in late October or early November, but the early prognosis is that he, and the rest of the players with knee injuries, are doing great in their rehab and are a little ahead of schedule

Signing Day was 24 hours ago, but the analysis is not done. Here are some thoughts on the 22 newest Wildcats.

LB Rob Hankins is one of the class' gems.

OVERALL

Mike Stoops called this class “typical” and in terms of the players the Cats brought in, that analysis is accurate. When the smoke cleared this class is a lot like the last few classes the Wildcats have brought in. It fills needs, has some intriguing players, but lacks overall star power.

What was not typical was how this class was put together. The 2011 recruiting class was very unique in many ways.

In the end I think this was a solid class, but I would not have thought that 10 days ago.

LATE PUSH

Arizona made a late push for a number of players and it is a good thing they did. Not only were the Wildcats seriously looking at signing a 17-man class, but they would have had a P.R. nightmare with all of the de-commits.

The Wildcats, boosted by the efforts of new coaches Joe Salave’a, Duane Akina and Robert Anae, got commitments from six players over the final weekend of recruiting.

“We were able to pull together and close with a flurry of players here in the last week and in the last 24 hours holding some players, gaining some players,” Mike Stoops said.

I’d argue of the late players, 3-4 are as good as anyone in the class and they all filled serious needs. Getting two offensive linemen and a junior college place kicker were huge, while guys like Domonique Petties and Cortez Johnson and Patrick Onwuasor are all very talented, key players in the class.

Holding onto running back Ka’Deem Carey was also huge.

DE-COMMITS

Arizona was plagued by de-commits, but for the most part surrived them. Although they lost three defensive back prospects, none of the three were slamdunk stars, and the Wildcat coaches believe that Johnson, was better than the other three players.

Losing Ezekiel Bishop to Arizona State hurts a bit, but mostly because he is headed to the in-state rival. Travis Feeney (Washington) had a lot of upside, but Kerry Swarn may have headed to North Texas because the Wildcats backed off a bit.

Jabral Johnson and Joseph Carter were losses, but the Cats were able to bring in Petties and Aowae DeRego to fill those holes. Carter is not a slam dunk to qualify and has a better chance of getting in now that he is at Nebraska.

IN-STATE

The Wildcats were 2-for-2 in Tucson, but only signed one Phoenix area player. While that is a concern, it is not crippling. The Wildcats had just one starter from the Valley of the Sun last year…place kicker Alex Zendejas.

BIGGEST GETS

It is hard to judge yet, but Rob Hankins is one of the top linebackers in the nation. Petties had offers from Oklahoma and most of the Big 12. Running backs Jared Baker, Carey and wide out Partrick Onwuasor are all well regarded and explosive. Faitele Faafoi is underrated due to past academic issues, while DeRego has NFL talent.

SLEEPERS

Stoops loves Johnson and a 6-2 cornerback is always an asset. Dame Ndiaye is a freak athlete, who has only played football for a year. Hank Hobson also has a ton of upside.

For more Wildcat football recruiting check out WILDCATSPORTSREPORT.com