[Quack Attack]

Arizona's mistakes, run defense halt expectations


JOHN MOREDICH
Tucson Citizen


ALBUQUERQUE -- The Arizona football program knows a few things about being desperate, but the Wildcats were taught another lesson.
New Mexico played with an even greater determination in a 36-28 victory over the Wildcats on Saturday at University Stadium.
The Lobos (1-2) had lost two straight to open the season. Arizona (2-1) had two blowout victories.

New Mexico players were determined. Arizona’s players seemed satisfied with what they had done by going 2-0. “We have 10 years of desperation. I don’t want to hear about desperation,” UA coach Mike Stoops said afterwards. “Who is more desperate than us. That is what I told our players. I am pretty desperate.”

Arizona better realize the opening victories mean little after a second straight defeat to New Mexico, and with the Pac-10 opener coming up against UCLA. The Bruins are going to be pretty desperate too, especially after their 59-0 loss to BYU.

“We have to respond better when we get punched in the mouth,” UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes said.
The Wildcats needed to do a lot better as quarterback Willie Tuitama threw a pair of interceptions, and fumbled twice.

The Arizona front seven – and sometimes eight – were manhandled in the trenches. New Mexico rushed for 221 yards. “We should have been able to defend the run better,” Stoops said. “We committed a lot of guys to the run in a lot of those plays.”

Tuitama’s second fumble resulted in a 42-yard field goal by James Aho to give the Lobos a 33-21 lead five seconds into the fourth quarter.
The Lobos’ James Aho hit a 46-yarder to go ahead 36-21 with 5:58 remaining. Arizona responded with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Juron Criner, but a drive in the final minute was stopped.

While there was confusion on the Wildcats’ part it was clear what the Lobos wanted, and did. New Mexico ran the ball.
Lobos quarterback Donovan Porterie attempted only three passes in the second quarter. There was no reason to drop back more with Rodney Ferguson taking it strong to the Wildcats’ for 158 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns.

It took only 24 seconds for the Lobos to really take control.
That is how long it might have taken for Arizona’s season to start to unravel. That is how long it took for the Wildcats’ David Douglas to trip over his own teammate on the opening kickoff at the 20, for tailback Nic Grigsby to fumble and for Ferguson to score on a 10-yard touchdown run.
Arizona’s season went from talking about going 6-0, to trailing 27-14.
The Wildcats came back with Grigsby scoring on a 4-yard run to close the gap to 27-21 with 9:54 remaining in the third. That wasn’t nearly enough.
Ferguson made the Wildcats pay for a 25-yard touchdown with 1:35 remaining before halftime to take a 20-14 edge.

New Mexico had the lead, was overpowering the Wildcats’ front seven and the Wildcat offense was out of sync. Tuitama figured it out for a while, connecting with Delashaun Dean for a 15-yard touchdown pass to give Arizona a 14-13 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.
Tuitama was 6 for 6 for 57 yards on the drive, but he didn’t have too many flawless possessions like that. “At times I was over thinking (the blitz),” Tuitama said. “I had too many turnovers. The fumbles really hurt too.”

The Lobos were keeping the Wildcats off guard.
Arizona was worried Porterie was going to find his passing rhythm after he had two sub par games. The Wildcats needed to be concerned about his catching ability instead as Ferguson connected with Porterie on a halfback pass for a 25-yard touchdown for a Lobos 10-7 lead. It was the first time the Wildcats trailed this season.

Tuitama had been nearly perfect in the first two games, but under threw a screen pass that was picked off by Brett Kennedy at the Wildcat 33.
The Lobos settled for a 22-yard field goal. Arizona receiver Mike Thomas turned a short pass into a 43-yard touchdown, but not after being turned around and the 7 and backing his way into the end zone for the final five yards for a 7-0 lead with 10:43 left in the first quarter.