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Rich Rodriguez improved his record against non-conference teams on the road to 2-0 with last year’s win over UTSA in the Alamadome
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The true test of a team’s character comes on the road, especially in a game against a non-conference opponent with no conference race implications.
Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez hopes his team takes on the same mindset Saturday at Nevada that receiver Cayleb Jones talked about in Monday’s press conference.
“For us I think it’s less distraction because you’re not really worried about the home crowd,” Jones, a senior, said. “You come to just play football.”
Since Arizona joined the Pac-10 in 1978, the Wildcats have played 33 road games against non-conference opponents in the regular season. The Wildcats’ game in Reno will make it No. 34 in a 37-year span.
Arizona is 13-20 on the road against the non-conference teams. The Wildcats are 12-9 against unranked non-conference opponents on the road. Nevada is not ranked.
In the next eight seasons, Arizona has scheduled games at UTEP (2017), Houston (2018), Hawaii (2019), Texas Tech (2020), San Diego State (2022) and Mississippi State (2023). The Wildcats also play BYU twice in that span away from Tucson but not in Provo, Utah, with games scheduled at Glendale next season and Las Vegas in 2021.
This slideshow will take a look at some of the most notable facts involving Arizona’s non-conference road games since the program made the historic jump from the WAC to the Pac-12.
CLICK ON THE “NEXT” ARROW AT THE UPPER RIGHT OR LOWER RIGHT TO CONTINUE ON IN THE SLIDESHOW
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Site founder and award-winning sports journalist Javier Morales has published his first e-book, “The Highest Form of Living”, a fiction piece about a young man who overcomes a troubled upbringing without his lost father and wayward mother through basketball and hope. His hope is realized through the sport he loves. Basketball enables him to get past his fears. His experience on the court indirectly brings him closer to his parents in a unique, heartfelt way. Please order it at Amazon (for only $4.99) by clicking on the photo:
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