Go Joe Bruin
Fansided

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) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
TEMPE, AZ – NOVEMBER 25: Running back Kalen Ballage #7 of the Arizona State Sun Devils dives into the endzone to score on a one yard rushing touchdown against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half of the college football game at Sun Devil Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ – NOVEMBER 25: Running back Kalen Ballage #7 of the Arizona State Sun Devils dives into the endzone to score on a one yard rushing touchdown against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half of the college football game at Sun Devil Stadium on November 25, 2017 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

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

Related Story: UCLA Football: 50 things to look for in 2018 with 50 days until kickoff

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.