Arizona and Colorado are playing for advancing a game closer to bowl eligibility Saturday in the Buffaloes’ homecoming at Boulder, Colo., with both teams in the second division of the Big 12 standings heading into November.
The Wildcats (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) are coming off a bye week, trying to snap a two-game skid.
Colorado (3-5, 1-4) lost 53-7 at Utah last week after the Buffaloes had a week off.
“Probably the worst beating I’ve ever had,” Colorado coach Deion Sanders said in his weekly press conference Tuesday about the rout in Salt Lake City.
No “probably.” It was, covering six years (three years at Jackson State and the last three at Colorado).
Arizona has lost its two road games this season against Iowa State and Houston, while Colorado is 3-2 at home with near-upsets of No. 8 Georgia Tech (27-20 loss in the season opener) and No. 10 BYU (24-21 defeat Sept. 27).
The Buffaloes defeated then-No. 22 Iowa State 24-17 at home before their week off ahead of the game at Utah.
“When I look at Colorado, I think they are a team that is incredibly tough at home,” said Arizona coach Brent Brennan, who is 1-6 on the road in his two seasons with the Wildcats. “We know going into this that we’re going to have to play in an incredible atmosphere. It’s homecoming. It’s sold out.
“It’s going to be a really challenging atmosphere. Crowd noise, elevation, all that good stuff.”
Another concern for Brennan is the Wildcats’ rush defense, which yielded 490 yards on the ground in its losses in the last two games — 258 to BYU and 232 to Houston.
Arizona must also prepare for Colorado’s dual-threat quarterback Kaidon Salter, who defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said is “fast as hell.”
The Buffaloes may also try designed runs between the tackles by Salter or backup Ryan Staub (good size at 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds) after the success BYU and Houston had against the Wildcats with those plays.
Salter has completed 102 of 164 pass attempts for 1,193 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He has also rushed for 266 yards on 79 carries with five touchdowns.
He has also been sacked 14 times and he is Colorado’s second-leading rusher in a suspect running game. Micah Welsh leads the Buffaloes with 281 yards on 68 carries.
By contrast, Arizona’s top three rushers are running backs (Ismail Mahdi, Quincy Craig and Keedrick Reescano), who have combined for 831 yards on 143 carries.
Against Utah, Colorado had only 38 yards on 38 carries. Utah tallied seven sacks.
“These guys understand the assignment,” Sanders said. “They understand the mission. It was one of those days that it just didn’t work. You got your butt kicked. Don’t sugarcoat it. Don’t placate it. It is what it is. Now, guess what? Let’s flush the darn toilet and let’s move on.
“That’s what we’ve done, because going back from Iowa State and what we just did, that’s two different (Colorado) teams. We have to get back to that former team and then improve on that.”
Sanders offered respect to Brennan and quarterback Noah Fifita, calling Brennan a “great guy, one of the good guys,” and of Fifita, saying, “The kid to me, is a pro. He can play.”
Fifita is coming off one of his most efficient games in his career, completing 24 of 26 pass attempts for 269 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in the loss at Houston.
Colorado is rated No. 121 nationally in team defense, yielding 427.6 yards a game.
That’s largely because of a porous rushing defense that is No. 134 out of 136 FBS teams in the nation. The Buffaloes are the lowest-rated Power 4 team, allowing 217.3 rushing yards per game.
Stats are one thing. Reality is another. Brennan is not taking anything for granted in terms of Colorado’s defense.
“I think any given Saturday in the Big 12 is a challenge,” he said. “I think every team in this conference is really good and every time you line up, you got to be ready to play. Every game in this conference is a fricking battle, and we’ve lived that already.”
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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