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UCLA Football Early 2018 Schedule Preview: Arizona Wildcats

By Mike Regalado

BATON ROUGE, LA - NOVEMBER 25: Head coach Kevin Sumlin of the Texas A&M Aggies walks on the field prior to a game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
BATON ROUGE, LA - NOVEMBER 25: Head coach Kevin Sumlin of the Texas A&M Aggies walks on the field prior to a game against the LSU Tigers at Tiger Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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TUCSON, AZ – NOVEMBER 11: Wide receiver Shawn Poindexter #19 and quarterback Khalil Tate #14 of the Arizona Wildcats celerbrate after Tate scored on a 71 yard yard rushing touchdown against the Oregon State Beavers during the second half of the college football game at Arizona Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TUCSON, AZ – NOVEMBER 11: Wide receiver Shawn Poindexter #19 and quarterback Khalil Tate #14 of the Arizona Wildcats celerbrate after Tate scored on a 71 yard yard rushing touchdown against the Oregon State Beavers during the second half of the college football game at Arizona Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Arizona Offense

Khalil Tate is an amazing specimen. Last season against UCLA, he ran all over the horrid Bruin defense for 230 yards. One of his runs even went for a 71-yard touchdown. And believe it or not, he even has quite the decent arm, but it was not his strength. Tate had the 10th most yards per game in the Pac-12 with 144.6.

But Arizona was not known for their passing. it was the run game that fueled their fire. Arizona was 3rd IN THE NATION in rushing offense with 309.3 yards per game. But will that continue? Sumlin might pull back the run game and try to develop a better passing game, which is probably a good idea because there really isn’t a lot of help behind Tate after backup Brandon Dawkins transferred.

But none of this is going to matter if the Wildcats don’t have an offensive line to work with.

Arizona 2017 Offensive Stats

Total Offense Passing Offense Rushing Offense Scoring Offense
 489.5 (1st)  180.2 (12th) 309.3 (1st) 41.3 (1st)

( ) – denotes ranking in the TEAM CONFERENCE

Related Story: 10 Bold Predictions for UCLA Football in 2018

Arizona returns three linemen from last season, which will help Tate’s consistency. If Sumlin wants to run a more balanced offense with Noel Mazzone running things, the line will have to make some slight adjustments. But the adjustments might not be that bad, especially with some talent in the glamour positions.

At running back, Tate will have help running the ball from J.J. Taylor who was second in rushing yards behind the running QB with 862. But behind them, there is going to have to be new blood that steps up as Dawkins, Zach Green and Nick Wilson are no longer with the program.

Hopefully, that won’t be too big of a problem, especially if Sumlin wants to air things out. Last season, the Wildcats were last in passing yards with not a single receiver collecting over 600 yards. That does not mean they don’t have talent as Arizona returns five of their six top receivers from last season.

So what does this mean again UCLA? First things first, if UCLA does not improve their run defense, expect Sumlin and Tate to run all over the Bruins. UCLA will be more aggressive this season, so don’t expect Tate to get anywhere near 200 yards. Things might be different if the Wildcats try to pass. UCLA was very good whilst defending the skies and should be a lot more active under DC Jerry Azzinaro, but Sumlin and former UCLA OC Noel Mazzone have a way of getting a ton of yards with a simplistic spread offense.