Know the Opponent: Arizona’s athletic defense is still a work in progress
Oregon has the kind of offense that the 2022 Arizona Wildcats dread. The Ducks are far from one-dimensional. The Ducks can run the ball just as well as they can throw it.
Arizona has shown the ability to limit the passing game, but the Wildcats haven’t been able to stop anyone’s run game, something Oregon will look to exploit on Saturday night.
As a team, Arizona is giving up 213 yards on the ground. One reason is that their front seven is a talented, but young group. The Ducks will need to look out for defensive end Hunter Echols, a fifth-year senior that leads the Wildcats with 3.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss.
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Know the Opponent: Arizona offense presents major challenge for Ducks
According to Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, the Ducks expect Arizona to mix up formations up front in order to cause confusion.
“Their front, that’s built a little bit off their front. I know their defensive coordinator (Johnny Nansen) has a front background as well,” he said. “But I think they’ll play a variety of fronts; they’ll be three down, they’ll be four down, they change their blitz packages a good amount. And obviously, they try to play to his (Echols) skill sets and use his talents. He’s a good player. He’s disruptive and it shows up.”
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Oregon's secondary to be tested against talented group of Arizona wideouts
The Wildcat secondary is pretty good and it’s led by safety Christian Young, a senior from Houston. He was second on the team last season with 68 tackles. So far this season, Young has 29 tackles through five games.
Junior Christian Roland-Wallace is Arizona’s most experienced and best corner and he’ll surely get himself acquainted with Duck receiver Troy Franklin. It’ll be a good test for Oregon’s receivers and tight ends. Arizona hasn’t allowed a receiver to go for over 100 yards as of yet.
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