Get ready for some “white collar football.” I figured since everyone calls run-oriented teams “blue-collar” (yes, it is an annoying cliche) I would call pass-oriented teams “white collar.” And the Arizona Wildcats were first in the Pac-12 in passing last year, 9th overall. And with the most talented WRs group in school history, and a NFL prospect QB in Nick Foles, they will be fun to watch. If they can keep Foles upright that is.
Total career starts among all returning OL- 1!
2010 was: a sub .500 year in conference, and overall 7-6 They did make a bowl, but lost badly to Mike “I’M A MAN! I’M 40!” Gundy. The defense was pretty solid, but they lost 3 DEs to the NFL draft. Zona reached #10 in the AP poll lat year, but they ended the season on a five game losing streak. Ouch.
BMOCs: Foles, WRs Jaron Criner, David Douglas and Dan Buckner. On defense, keep an eye on CB Trevin Wade and DT Justin Washington.
2011 will be fruitful if: Paul Vassallo and Derek Earls help resolve their issues at LB. After those two experienced, solid upperclassmen, there’s 0 games of experience in the position group. That’s right 0 for the entire position group.
2011 will be awful if: they continue the losing that ended 2010. And if the O Line and LB issues flare up as severe as they could
Bottom Line: They’ll be fun to watch and they’ll out-shoot a few opponents- probably enough for a bowl bid. However, with that murderous week 2-4 schedule, it’ll be tough.
UA Rankings: #52 Athlon, #47 Lindy’s, #38 Phil Steele
CHECK OUT ALL THE 77 IN 77s
#40 Tennessee Volunteers
#49 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
#50 Southern Miss Golden Eagles
#55 Iowa State Cyclones
#71 Ole Miss Rebels
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports You can follow him on Twitter