|
Articles
|
Pac-10 Preview 2004, UA and ASU A look at Arizona and ASU By Malamute, 14 May 2004
Not long ago, Huskies' beat writer Ted Miller forecasted a last place finish for Arizona and gave a fourth-place nod to ASU. Contrast this with our last (UA) and seventh place (ASU) projections. Not surprisingly, no national forecaster that I’m aware of has either of these teams listed in his top 25. Of the two, ASU has a chance of turning Roger Dangerfield into Cinderella, wearing glass slippers that mirror some respect. Either call QB Andrew Walter the "handsome prince" or "Lawrence of Arabia with sand in his eyes." His final season in the desert will cast him properly. -- Arizona (Returning Starters: 10 Offense; 6 Defense; 2 Specialists) Returning 18 starters, the most in the Pac-10, Arizona could well be a sleeper in conference play, that is, to do better than expected – which is the good news. But, certainly, the ‘Cats can’t be accorded dark-horse status, as a team that could win the conference championship. Frankly, with USC doing an imitation of those John McKay teams of the past, no team in the conference should be considered a dark horse. Project the others to place and show, on a track muddied by the P-word, parity. Arizona is the only team in either the Pacific 10 or Big Ten never to have played in the Rose Bowl. The Wildcats have a desultory 4-20 record over the last three years of conference play. New to the desert, incoming coach Mike Stoops wants to turn an arid record of winning fewer games into an oasis of winning more games next season. Stoops replaces John Macovic, who may have thought he was captaining the U.S.S Caine at times during his career at UA, when player revolts became hard to quell. In 2002, over 40 players stormed the President’s office with complaints about Macovic and, reportedly, the same players came close to skipping the plane ride for a game at Berkeley. Stoops has replaced discipline with even more discipline, being a disciple of hard work and effort, something he learned at Kansas State under Bill Snyder. The vomit buckets on the practice field make one wonder if Stoops didn't spend last summer with Bear Bryant at Junction, Texas – or maybe he's to talked to Jim Owens about his experience at Junction and early Montake. The players don’t mind working hard; they just want to be treated fairly. Stoops leaves his criticisms on the practice field and never questions a player’s manhood, just his heart, for he believes that football is 90% mental. The ‘Cats play four-straight games at home to start the season, with seven in all at Arizona Stadium. Ten returning players on offense, along with TB Mike Bell (920 total yards in 2003) and an improved quarterback, Kris Heavner, all say that the ‘Cats should be improved on offense from last season, when they finished eighth in the conference in total offense. Defensively, the Wildcats “tubed it” in 2003, being worst in the conference in four categories of defensive measure: Rushing Defense, Passing Efficiency Defense, Total Defense, and scoring Defense. The coach’s younger brother, defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, hopes to restore some of that old “Desert-Swarm” pride to Tucson once again. After the spring game, Stoops said he felt that 75% of the new offense and defensive schemes had been successfully installed. However, offensive linemen Tanner Bell, John Abramo, and Brand Phillips sat out spring practices, the loss of which could affect the continuity of the offense going into fall practices because of the new system. Stoops feels the offensive line needs to be more physical in their effort to push people off the ball. Not having two offensive lines for spring ball hurt the development of the team as a whole. All of the ‘Cats’ OOC opponents, Northern Arizona, Utah and Wisconsin, are at home. Players to watch: TB Mike Bell; OT Brandon Phillips; C Keoki Fraser; FS Darrell Brooks, and TE Steve Fleming. -- Arizona State (Returning Starters: 7 Offense, 7 Defense, 1 Specialist) ASU’s Dirk Koetter is one of four head coaches in the Pac-10 that needs to get off the proverbial hot seat, the others being Stanford’s Buddy Teevens, UCLA’s Karl Dorrell, and to a lesser extent the UWs Keith Gilbertson. Koetter needs to reverse his won/lost columns in the conference (2-6 last season to 6-2 next season) or he may living like a desert lizard next spring, feeding on blossoms and bugs. In his three years as a Pacific 10 coach, Koetter has an 8-16 record. Job security begins with a senior quarterback, and Koetter has one solid ingredient for ensuring continued employment in record-setting quarterback Andrew Walter (6-foot-5, 235 pounds). In the spring game, Walter threw for 250 yards, going 12-for-22, with one pick and 2 touchdowns. His passing efficiency for that game was 170.9, which was well above his last season’s average of 127.3, the sixth best in the Pac-10. Walter is the only QB in school history to throw for more than 3000 yards in a single season. (3,044 yards in 2003). Walter could have been drafted as high as the second round in the NFL draft, but he opted for a senior season with the Devils. Walter is a classic, drop back passer, with accuracy plus the range of a howitzer, and as a senior should have the leadership skills of Ulysses S. Grant. So far nobody is calling him Mr. President. He needs a cabinet and a VP. The NFL prospect is backed up by Sam Keller, Mike Affleck, and Chad Christensen. Two incoming helmsmen, freshmen Rudy Carpenter and Max Hall, further bolter the corps behind center. In the spring game, Derek Hagen caught 11 passes for 179 yards and one touchdown. Seven other receivers caught 14 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown. The question of who remains the other wide out remains a mystery, with Rudy Burgess holding a slight lead according to those in the know at ASU. ASU’s rushing game needs to give Walter some help, averaging just 117.3 yards per game last season, the seventh best in the Pac-10. Look for some two tight-end sets to bolster the Devils running game, along with an H back. The Devils finished fourth in the conference in Total Offense last season. With good depth at running back, the Sun Devils will rely on sophomores Loren Wade and Randy Hill and Juniors Hakim Hill and Cornell Candidate. In 11 games last season, Wade averaged 5.7 yards on 136 carries for 773 yards and 5 touchdowns. Hill rushed for 452 yards and 3 touchdowns. Eighth in the conference in Total Defense, the Sun Devils need to improve on both their rush and pass defenses. High and low numbers in rush defense (150.8 yards per game) and rush offense (117.3) mean the Sun Devils are lacking quality wide bodies on both sides of the ball, sans a War Daddy or two. ASU rushed for 201 yards in its spring game, which is a meaningless statistic since it ran against itself. On defense, there will be three linebackers, including the new "Devil" backer (the equivalent of a rover) and two high safeties. The Devil backer (a smaller version of a WILL) is expected to be able to adjust to one-back sets and be able to create some mayhem as a blitzer. During the spring, injuries to several offensive linemen portend an iffy fall camp for the offense. Kicker Jesse Ainsworth and punter Chris McDonald were inconsistent during the first part of spring ball; however, they finished on notable notes with Ainsworth booting 11 of 16 through the uprights and McDonald averaging 44.1 yards for each of his ten punts. Road games against California, USC and Oregon will be hard to win. ASU does not play Washington and has a relatively easy OOC schedule, with one road game at Northwestern and home games against UTEP and Iowa. Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com, ranks Iowa number 13 in the nation, and ASU could gain some national respect with an upset win over the Hawkeyes, assuming other polls give the Hawks a top 25 ranking going into the game. "We have a team that is skilled enough, and we have a team that is fast enough," Koetter has been quoted as saying. "The question is are we tough enough, and are we competitive enough?" Doesn't every coach say that? Players to watch: QB Andrew Walter, OT Grayling Love, WR Derek Hagen, DE Jimmy Verdon, TE Zach Miller (incoming freshman rated number 1 at his position), S Riccardo Stewart. Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
|
|
This article continues our look at teams in the Pac-10 for
next fall, with Arizona and ASU under glass. Mike Stoops replaces John Macovic
as Arizona’s head coach, while Dirk Koetter of ASU enters his fourth year as a
coach in the Pac-10. Arizona boasts of an improved offense with 10 offensive
starters returning; ASU returns veteran signal caller Andrew Walter, who may be
the best in the Pac-10.