UCLA Football Early 2018 Schedule Preview: Arizona Wildcats
Arizona Defense
Clearly, the defense was not Arizona’s strength last year (as you can see by the statistics below). They were young and they were a bit out of sorts but with the Wildcats returning nine players, they should be a bit more consistent.
Another plus for the Arizona defense is the fact that Sumlin kept defensive coordinator Marcel Yates, so there will be continuity, but will there be progress?
If anything, the front line will have a lot of experience as they will have four upperclassmen trying to improve on the 9th best rush defense in the Pac-12. The only problem is the four guys expected to start up front (Lee Anderson III, Finton Connolly, Dereck Boles and Justin Belknap) were not among the top five tacklers from last season.
Arizona 2017 Defensive Stats
Total Defense | Passing Defense | Rushing Defense | Scoring Defense |
---|---|---|---|
473.1 (10th) | 286.1 (12th) | 185.1 (9th) | 34.4 (10th) |
( ) – denotes ranking in the TEAM CONFERENCE
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Boles had a total of 42, the most among the foursome. The Wildcats are either going to have to make serious adjustments up front or the pressure of the defense is going to once again fall on the linebackers.
That might not be so bad as the three players returning not only had the first, second and ninth most tackles on the team, but they were all freshmen. Tony Fields, Colin Schooler, and Kylan Wilborn combined for 232 total tackles or 25.9% of the team total. Not only was this group very active for freshmen, but as the evolve, we could very well be seeing the best position group in 2019.
One thing that is definitely going to have to improve is the pass defense which was just the worst. Though the rest of the defense’s lack of production could be blamed on youth, the secondary had two juniors. Once again, if they do not have the means to improve the productivity of their position group, then it could be a long season.
So what does UCLA do against this work in progress? Everything. With basically the same unit intact from last season, one that put up 40 points and 409 yards on the Wildcats. But that was a pass-heavy Bruins team and yet UCLA still had a balanced attack with 219 passing yards and 190 rushing yards. With Chip Kelly scheming against the Arizona defense, the Bruins should be able to once again move the ball efficiently against Arizona.