Football team's to-do list stacked

Katherine K. Gardiner Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona senior defensive tackle Mike Mannelly (96) stretches for a sack during last week's first home game against University of Alabama-Birmingham. The Wildcat's will play their first nationally televised game of the season as they face the defending Rose Bowl Champion Ohio State Saturday. The game will be aired on ABC with kick-off at 3:30 p.m. EST.

They meet the ninth-ranked Buckeyes tomorrow in Ohio Stadium, a venue certain to be filled with 93,000 crazed fans that aid in creating havoc upon visiting teams.

The Wildcats are also playing in front their first national television audience watching UA's only look at Midwestern-style football on this year's schedule.

Arizona head coach Dick Tomey said the setting will be less of an issue than anticipated.

"I think that big stadiums with a lot of tradition like (Ohio Stadium) help the opposition as much as the home team," Tomey said. "The fans are away from the field. It is not a place like Oregon."

For the record, Oregon's Autzen Stadium held 41,000 fans, less than half the size of Ohio Stadium.

Aside from the crowd's influence, Tomey said Arizona is aware of the quality football they are up against.

"They are a good, solid football team," Tomey said. "They have veteran quarterbacks, talented running backs and a good defense."

The Buckeyes are led by the quarterback duo of senior Stanley Jackson and junior Joe Germaine, who have seen equal action in OSU's two previous games. Aside from being interception-free, Jackson and Germaine have completed a combined 31 of 46 passes for 402 yards and four touchdowns.

Ohio State also has an outstanding pair of running backs in Michael Wiley and Pepe Pearson - Wiley is averaging 9.3 yards per carry while Pearson adds 5.4. Wiley also returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown against Bowling Green.

The Buckeye defense has been stingy to say the least, yielding only 11.5 points and 246 yards of total offense.

Senior linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer and junior cornerback Antoine Winfield anchor a defense ranked 14th nationally in total defense.

The Arizona offense has struggled so far. The Wildcats average 402 yards of total offense per game, but only score 16.5 points.

"This group of guys is so talented," sophomore quarterback Keith Smith said. "If we can put it all together out on the field during the game like we do in practice, we feel we can be very successful."

Tomey said Arizona's offense needs to maintain longer series tomorrow.

"Offensively we have been very efficient," Tomey said. "I think that we are second in the league in first downs, but we haven't done anything with the first downs."

Another big concern for Arizona is the all-too-frequent failure of the kicking game.

Junior punter Ryan Springston is averaging 34.7 yards on his 14 points this year, and the duo of Tim Ferlan and Mark McDonald have not been as provided as much distance as many had hoped for in their kickoffs.

Place kicker T.J. Rodriquez has also struggled, connecting on two of three attempts, but with no try outside of 33 yards.

"The kicking game is going to take a lot of faith at this point," Tomey said. "I think Ryan will improve, I think T.J. will improve and we will solve the things that are problems."

Arizona's said its biggest task is to focus on playing the best possible game and letting the rest take care of itself.

"I think that this week the guys will play as emotional as the dickens," Tomey said. "It is a question of if we can make enough big plays to win."