With his offense stagnant and the season going downhill fast, Arizona coach Mike Stoops shook up his coaching staff this week, naming tight ends coach Dana Dimel as co-offensive coordinator along with Mike Canales.
Dimel will be in charge of the run game and Canales will be in charge of the passing game.
“I haven’t been very pleased with our ability to run the football and to not have positive yards in three straight games was disturbing,” Stoops said. “We’re having people gang up on us in certain areas. It’s about our program moving forward and I didn’t feel like we were moving forward in the run game. It was something we had to change for the betterment of our football program.”
Nationally, Arizona ranks 118th out of 119 NCAA Division I teams for rushing offense, averaging just 54.8 yards a game and 2.1 yards a carry. The lack of a running game also is allowing teams to attack sophomore quarterback Willie Tuitama, who suffered his second concussion of the season last week and will miss this week’s game at Stanford.
The last three weeks have been especially dismal for the Wildcats ground game. Arizona has a combined minus-36 yards rushing combined and have not had positive yardage in any of the games, losses to UCLA, Washington and USC. Arizona also has allowed 14 sacks in the last three contests.
“Our inability to run the football has led to people ganging up on our quarterback and that’s something you can’t have happen,” Stoops said. “That’s something I take very seriously, protecting our quarterback.”
Neither Arizona running back has been able to get anything going. Chris Jennings has 55 yards in 29 carries and Chris Henry has 26 yards on 21 carries over the last three games, and there hasn’t been a touchdown on the ground in that time.
The good news for Arizona is that on Saturday it goes against Stanford, one of the worst teams in the nation when it comes to defending the run. The Cardinal is allowing 269.7 yards a game on the ground and has given up 17 rushing touchdowns.
If Arizona can move the ball on the ground, it will take some pressure off of backup quarterback Adam Austin, who will start for Tuitama this week. Austin, a senior, has just 72 career passes, most of them coming in relief of Tuitama this season. He’s 34-for-67 for 342 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.
“Adam’s done a really great job coming in for Willie the two games he’s had to,” Stoops said. “We have a very mature and good leader in Adam Austin. It’s great to have the luxury of having two quality quarterbacks.”
Cowan in at UCLA: Arizona isn’t the only team replacing its starting quarterback this week. UCLA lost Ben Olson for 4-to-6 weeks with a knee injury and the offense is now in the hands of sophomore Patrick Cowan.
Bruins coach Karl Dorrell said that the change should not change the team’s offense, though.
“He’s a guy that has had half the reps in training camp because of the competition,” Dorrell said. “Whatever we were putting in in training camp, he was getting half of those opportunities. … He has a pretty good feel of what we’re doing offensively.”
Cowan, the son of former Washington quarterback Tim Cowan, was 20-for-29 with two touchdowns in relief of Olson in a win over Arizona on Saturday. He’s played in three games in his career.
Dorrell said the competition in the fall between Olson and Cowan was a close one, with Olson winning the job thanks to a strong final scrimmage.
“Both of those guys are big-armed quarterbacks,” Dorrell said. “Pat has more mobility, he moves better, but their arm strength is comparable.”
The question is how Cowan will handle making his first start in noise Autzen Stadium when UCLA plays at Oregon this weekend. But Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said he was impressed with what he saw from Cowan on film.
“He did a very good job last game taking over when he was thrust into that situation,” Bellotti said. “He ran the ball well, moved the offense well and threw some passes under duress to win the game. I don’t know how he’ll handle the noise. Autzen is a different place in that regard.”
Cougs getting after it: Behind the play of defensive end Mkristo Bruce, Washington State leads the nation with 27 sacks, including 22 in the past four games. It’s not really a surprise, as WSU led the Pac-10 with 34 sacks last season.
But coach Bill Doba said it’s a little misleading.
“We’re doing well, but we got eight sacks against Stanford and Stanford had an off-day,” Doba said.
Bruce leads the nation with 10 sacks and Lance Broadus and Scott Davis each have four. Doba said that Davis and Bruce would be his mid-season defensive MVPs and receiver Michael Bumpus is the offensive MVP.
Jarrett coming back: USC coach Pete Carroll said star receiver Dwayne Jarrett will play this week after being limited with his shoulder strain against Washington. But receiver Steve Smith (ankle) may miss the game.
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