Can the Wildcats right the ship?

Going into Saturday’s game at BYU, the optimism surrounding the Arizona Wildcats’ new spread offense had reached a fever pitch.

But after Arizona’s offense sputtered during a 20-7 defeat to the Cougars, head coach Mike Stoops and his Wildcats headed back to the drawing board this week to try to recapture that preseason momentum.

“We’re disappointed we couldn’t move the ball consistently,” Stoops said. “BYU was very well prepared and they took a lot of stuff away, but we made some costly mistakes.”

First-year offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes brought his high-powered spread offense from Texas Tech to Arizona, hoping to alleviate the Wildcats’ scoring woes.

But in his first game as an offensive play-caller, Dykes’ short-yardage passing routes were ineffective.

Junior quarterback Willie Tuitama had a solid statistical day—23 for 36, 216 yards, one touchdown—but his numbers were misleading.

Tuitama’s completion percentage was strong, mainly because he threw almost exclusively to his check-down routes and safety valves.

During the first half, Tuitama managed only 22 yards on 8-12 passing.

His numbers increased during Arizona’s final drive—a nine-play, 80-yard drive which occurred when Arizona was down by 20 and BYU had inserted its second- and third-string defense.

“Willie was kind of antsy back there, but had we gotten him just a little more time to throw in the pocket, we were close to making some big plays,” Stoops said.

During Arizona’s first drive, Tuitama’s first long pass floated over the head of Deleshaun Dean, which prompted him to rely solely on underneath routes. These routes were swallowed up by BYU’s sure tacklers.

Adding to Arizona’s frustrating afternoon was the terrific field position the offense typically enjoyed.

All-American hopeful Antoine Cason drilled BYU quarterback Max Hall on a corner blitz, with senior linebacker Spenser Larsen there to recover the fumble on the BYU 47-yard line.

But after one first down, Arizona’s offense stalled after an unsuccessful fourth-down attempt. The Wildcats would not pick up another first down until the second half.

Arizona’s running game did little to help take the pressure off Tuitama. Jennings carried 14 times for 40 yards, and the team averaged a meager 1.7 yards per carry.

“There are two things an offense must do to be successful—run the ball, and protect the quarterback,” Stoops said. “We did a decent job protecting Willie, but we simply didn’t run effectively.”

On the other side of the ball, Hall managed to be much more successful with his first start in the spread offense.

In his first start since 2003, Hall bounced back from his early fumble to complete 26 of 39 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns.

BYU took a 13-0 lead into halftime and went on cruise control after it was clear that Arizona’s offense would not mount a comeback.

Arizona took over on their own 2-yard line at the start of the fourth quarter, still with a chance to claw back into the contest.

After establishing some rhythm with the spread offense and hitting Dean for a big 34-yard completion on a broken play.

However, a handful of procedure and facemasking penalties prevented the Wildcats from capitalizing.

“We made some crucial mistakes on third down that killed a lot of drives for us,” Stoops said.

Dean did, however, emerge as a bright spot in this offense.

The 6-foot 4-inch freshman wide receiver snagged four passes for 88 yards, including a pair of acrobatic 34-yard receptions.

But it will take more than a couple of flashy plays from a freshman wide receiver for Arizona to make an impact in the Pac-10 conference.

“You watch what Cal, UCLA, USC and Arizona State were able to do on Saturday and it’s clear that there will be a lot of points scored in the Pac-10 this season,” Stoops said. “We just hope we can get some of those points, too.”

Stoops hopes his squad will use the struggles in Provo, Utah as a learning experience as they continue to work with this spread offense the rest of the season.

“I think we’ll get better with our kids seeing exactly how things are going to unfold,” Stoops said. “A game like this is good for us in the long run.”

The Wildcats will look to rebound on Saturday with their home opener against Northern Arizona University—a Big Sky Conference squad who roughed up New Mexico 47-0 in Week 1.

The Wildcats are favored to win against the 1-AA Lumberjacks, but Stoops said his squad can’t take Northern Arizona lightly.

“After what happened between Appalachian State and Michigan, our kids realize that anything can happen at any time,” Stoops said. “They’re going to try to spread the field and let their athletes make plays, but we have to be sharp and ready to get after it.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Arizona Stadium.

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