Arizona Offense vs Stanford Defense
Chart reflect ranking percentile for Offense or Defense vs NCAA
0 is worst unit in NCAA 100 is best
0 is worst unit in NCAA 100 is best
The Arizona offense (#36) really needed the bye week. I have said it quite a few times, but the offense just isn't the same without Dawkins. Tate needs to play this year, much more than Solomon does at this point, so I hope Rodriguez and the offensive staff have some packages for him. There is little point in just blowing the red shirt year and putting him back on the shelf. I also hope Tate took some lessons from the USC game; like playing QB requires knowledge of the playbook and the ability to work through progressions. Look I know there are a surprising number of Solomon loyalists/Dawkins haters running around out there. There seems to be some weird take on Dawkins that he, and I can't believe people actually say this out loud, but they think he can't throw the football. That kind of thinking is pure emotional fandom talking. Arizona doesn't have a QB problem in the passing game, it has a receiver problem. All the QBs hold the ball too long waiting for the receivers to break open, all the QBs try to fit the ball into some windows that aren't there trying to make something happen, and all of them struggle against man coverage because Arizona's pass catchers aren't good enough to get open vs. man. The difference is that Dawkins can run like a deer and force the defense to run a zone and also put a spy on him. I know sample size and imperfect controls better than most anyone you will meet; I have been in charge of test design at a Fortune 100 company after all, but it is still illustrative to compare the full game Dawkins played against Washington vs. the game Solomon played against BYU. When I drop the Husky game from the model Arizona's offensive ranking drops to #48. When I drop the BYU game the offensive ranking stays put at #36, suggesting Solomon's performance is at an average level for Arizona for the year, which is saying something given how much variance Arizona has played with. Arizona's offense also looks worse when judged without the benefit of math because Arizona's porous defense and God awful special teams mean that the Wildcats always have a lot of field to cover.
Arizona is excellent at Play Efficiency and Negative Drives, and they are pretty good at Explosive Drives and D-plus Plays. They average quite a few yards per play when controlling for their opposition and they don't go 3 and out often when controlling for that either. They are an explosive team to a degree, but they rely on Dawkins being in the game for a lot of that; similar to what Jerrard Randle could do for them last year, but with the threat there the whole game instead of spot duty.
Arizona is incredibly bad at Drive Efficiency. They really are not a great running team right now if you just look at the RB's and that makes the read option less of a threat. They also are not great at 3rd down. This Arizona squad really relies on Dawkins, and will for the rest of the year if he can stay healthy and the coaches don't do something dumb like play Solomon when Dawkins is healthy.
Arizona is excellent at Play Efficiency and Negative Drives, and they are pretty good at Explosive Drives and D-plus Plays. They average quite a few yards per play when controlling for their opposition and they don't go 3 and out often when controlling for that either. They are an explosive team to a degree, but they rely on Dawkins being in the game for a lot of that; similar to what Jerrard Randle could do for them last year, but with the threat there the whole game instead of spot duty.
Arizona is incredibly bad at Drive Efficiency. They really are not a great running team right now if you just look at the RB's and that makes the read option less of a threat. They also are not great at 3rd down. This Arizona squad really relies on Dawkins, and will for the rest of the year if he can stay healthy and the coaches don't do something dumb like play Solomon when Dawkins is healthy.
Stanford's defense (#20) is putting it back together again after a bit of a mid-season swoon. They been really good the last two weeks against Notre Dame and Colorado. Their weakness is still out on the edge, but Arizona probably lacks the talent out there at receiver to exploit the Cardinal's injuries and issues at CB. Dawkins is going to present a challenge, but Stanford can overcome it by tackling well in space they way they used to against Oregon. If Dawkins is fully healthy he is going to make some plays that will seem like momentum changers, you just have to corral the rest of the Arizona offense the rest of the time to keep Arizona where you want them.
Stanford is excellent at Play Efficiency, extremely good at Explosive Drives, and very good at Negative Drives. They are good at Drive Efficiency, but not great at it. They are also good on 3rd down and at D-plus Plays. This defense does a lot of things pretty well and they don't make a lot of mistakes. They are less consistent than you would like, but I that has been improving as their season has come back together. They also benefit from having phenomenal special teams and Arizona can tell you how that usually goes for them.
Stanford is excellent at Play Efficiency, extremely good at Explosive Drives, and very good at Negative Drives. They are good at Drive Efficiency, but not great at it. They are also good on 3rd down and at D-plus Plays. This defense does a lot of things pretty well and they don't make a lot of mistakes. They are less consistent than you would like, but I that has been improving as their season has come back together. They also benefit from having phenomenal special teams and Arizona can tell you how that usually goes for them.
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