The Sky is NOT Falling

Greetings folks, thanks for reading again. It is nice to see that my following continues to grow. Please continue to provide any feedback that you feel is necessary, much of my content is written based on requests.

For those of you that bleed red and blue in any fashion similar to me, last night's game against mighty Oregon State was certainly frustrating. However, this doesn't mean Arizona 'sucks', our offense isn't 'awful', and there don't need to be any changes within the coaching staff or athletic organization. Last night we saw a young quarterback come into his own and make clutch plays to put his team in position to win. Arizona's defensive scheme kept the safeties stacked close to the line of scrimmage in an effort to stop 'Quizz Rodgers, which also took them out of the game to defend the pass. When the tiny Texan is held under 100 yards, the Beavs have traditionally struggled to win. While the 'Cats were successful in containing the younger Rodgers brother (you may have heard that he has an older brother on the team) this left Arizona cornerbacks in a precarious spot.

You may have noticed #2, Michael Turner, and #5 Shaquille Richardson, making stops and being around the ball a lot. You might also recognize that both Turner and baby Shaq are backups. This is because starters Rob Golden and Trevin Wade were injured early, and didn't return until late. While Richardson has a lot of potential, and Mikey has made several great plays on special teams during his 4 year career in Tucson, both of these guys are backups for a reason, and based on this were not capable of handling such an enormous responsibility within the scheme. Credit Mike Riley and Oregon State for exploiting a weakness that developed during the course of play and adjusting accordingly.

The fact of the matter is that Arizona wasn't going to go undefeated. We also may have been ranked a little too high for where we are as a team right now. I certainly won't be complaining, the top 10 is always fun, but the Pac 10 is going to be a dogfight this year and expecting our boys to make it through unscathed is probably a little unrealistic. We're going to be ok, and the rest of the season will be one to remember.

Juron Criner can ball. I've been a fan of his for a long time. Way back in 2007, Arizona had a commitment from Gerell Robinson, a highly decorated and nationally ranked athlete from Chandler, Arizona. Young G-Rob wasn't pleased with the apparent lack of progress in our football program, and opted to take his talents to that commuter school in Tempe. When Robinson jumped ship, the Wildcats looked to Las Vegas, digging up a 6'4 former basketball player, who in his second year of organized football had caught 28 touchdown passes. To put that in perspective, the leading receiver in the state of Arizona caught 13 in 2009. Needless to say, I was intrigued and the fact that he has panned out makes me pretty happy. Juron has had at least one play of 44 yards or longer every game this season, and simply cannot be covered by collegiate corners. By contrast, Robinson, who has developed a reputation for being soft, not running very enthusiastic routes, and dropping the ball, finally caught his first career touchdown pass last week. Sometimes what sounds the best at the time isn't the right answer in the long run. With 6'4, 230 pound former Texas starter Dan Buckner waiting in the wings, Arizona has put itself in a position to be almost completely unstoppable on offense next season. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that Juron and Nick Foles opt against the NFL next season.

Stay tuned, I'm working on a few projects (some of which have been in the works for well over a year) that you will all really enjoy. In a few weeks, if conditions permit, I am going to tackle the Jake Locker myth, and I am finalizing some other ideas that you should all really enjoy.