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Wildcats prepare for Pac-12 opener

Posted at 3:48 PM, Sep 20, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-20 18:48:10-04

The Arizona Wildcats will open up Pac-12 play this Friday against Utah, who sneaks in to Tucson as the 23rd ranked team in the country.  The Wildcats are 2-1 so far this season with wins coming against NAU in the season opener, and at UTEP last Friday.

Freshman linebacker Colin Schooler, who forced a turnover last week against UTEP, says "It's conference play, everyone's going to be good."

In Arizona's lone loss this season, they faced a tough defense in Houston, with the top defensive player in the country, Ed Oliver.  But the Wildcats are expecting a much tougher Utes team to come to Arizona stadium this Friday night.  The team is also preparing for a mobile quarterback in Utah's Tyler Huntley.  A type of QB they Wildcats haven't seen yet this young season.  Head coach Rich Rodriguez says the team has been prepping for Huntley with QB's K'Hari Lane and Andrew Tovar in practice.  They're both fast, and athletic and can help them guage what to expect come game-time from Huntley on Friday.  Rodriguez said it also helped Arizona starting quarterback Brandon Dawkins in practice as well.

Keys to the game for Arizona per Rich Rod:

-no mental mistakes

-Turnovers: try to create them, as well as take care of the ball

-Tackle well, especially with a mobile QB

 

The Wildcats kickoff their game against #23 Utah on Friday at 7:30pm.  The game can be seen on Fox Sports 1.