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Where did Arizona struggle the most against Washington? What were the most disappointing aspects of the loss?
Kevin Zimmerman, Arizona Desert Swarm: The passing attack clearly left the run game and defense hanging. Ka'Deem Carey can play like an All-American, but if he's going to have a stacked box against him, he'll have to settle for a 4.5 or so yards-per-carry average and won't be able to break anything big. That's probably enough to have an offense that will help the defense stay off the field, but of course it's not enough to score many points. I'm not the optimist that believes B.J. Denker will figure it out, nor that he should be the guy in place to do so. But the coaching staff could put him in better situations to hit easy passes across the middle or on bubble screens -- though I fear throwing across the field on bubble screens might be too much to ask even. Anyway, it's a work in progress and the coaching staff will have to start getting gimmicky or find tricks game-by-game if the Wildcats are going to pull off some upsets.
Jason Bartel, Arizona Desert Swarm: Seems pretty obvious, but the passing game struggled the most, although special teams weren't too far behind. But that was not the most disappointing part of the loss for me. Not using Daniel Jenkins at all in a two-back set was the most disappointing for me. All we've seen so far is the ability to use both running backs to counteract the lack of a deep threat on offense, and that just flat out didn't happen against Washington. And it certainly doesn't seem like Jenkins was hurt since he came in when Javelle Allen came in to replace Denker, so I don't understand why he wasn't out there getting touches early and often. Ka'Deem Carey can't do this all on his own.
Adam Butler, Pac Hoops: I grew up hearing from my coaches a lot about the differences between aggressive mistakes and passive mistakes. My coaches could live with aggressive mistake (translated in football terms to perhaps a roughing the passer) but the passive ones, the times where someone would screw up because they backed away from the play, those drove my coaches batty. That was BJ Denker, unfortunately, on Saturday where he tried to be too cute often and backed away from his throws. Literally. Arizona's scheme is to protect him from having to be a major factor in the offense yet to beat good teams he must be. On Saturday Denker's play as a passer was passive.