By
Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Arizona to face SDSU in UA's final non-conference game
After disappointing offensive performances against their first two opponents, the Arizona football team will attempt to get back on track tomorrow night against San Diego State at Arizona Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
In the Aztecs, UA is facing a team coming off a 49-13 loss to Illinois this past weekend.
"We're just not playing the game well," SDSU head coach Ted Tollner said. "It's hard to win games when you're not playing the game the way it's meant to be played."
If history is any indication, the Wildcats shouldn't have any trouble with the Aztecs - San Diego State hasn't defeated UA since 1977.
The last time the two teams met was in 1998, when SDSU running back Larry Ned ran over the Wildcat defense, carrying the ball 36 times for 146 yards and a touchdown.
The Wildcats will need to contain Ned tomorrow night in order to increase their chances of a victory.
"We still haven't tackled Larry Ned and (senior defensive tackle) Jerome Haywood just dominated us up front," UA head coach Dick Tomey said. "San Diego State has a bunch of good players."
The Aztecs come into Saturday's non-conference game with a long injury list - in the past two weeks, SDSU has lost four players for the season.
Starting offensive linemen Chris Williams and Zach LaMonda will not return, as injuries have ended their Aztec careers.
All-Mountain West tight end Gray McNeill - who suffered a season ending knee injury - and defensive lineman Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, who tore his Achilles' tendon, are both lost for the season.
"Right now, we're just trying to figure out what kind of a team we are," Haywood said. "We don't have to change everybody else's minds - we just have to change our own."
Arizona also will enter into the game banged up.
Starting left guard Steven Grace missed the Sept. 2 game versus Utah with a left shoulder injury. After returning to play Ohio State last weekend, the guard aggravated the problem during the course of the game.
"Steven may not play again," Tomey said. "We're not sure. It's just recurring and we are going to take a couple weeks to make a decision. We're not going to use him in the interim. He's going to require surgery. The question is whether he would be full speed the rest of the year."
On offense, the Wildcats will need to show life - something they haven't done in the season's first two games.
"We hope that this game will create some opportunity to get some people to play and hopefully someone will emerge," Tomey said. "We need to create more depth. Some years you need it, some years you don't."
The Wildcats' running backs are averaging just 2.5 yards per carry in 2000 - it's clear that sophomore running backs Larry Croom and Leo Mills will need to get on track if UA hopes to defeat the Aztecs.
Should both sophomores be ineffective running the ball, Tomey indicated that he would play true freshman Clarence Farmer against the Aztecs.
"So far, we haven't been very good," Tomey said. "(But) we're better off this year than we were at the same point last year. It's hard to run the ball against a good defense."
The offensive line has taken and accepted most of the blame for the running game's slow start.
"We need to get more holes on the ball, open the holes a little wider," junior right guard Kevin Barry said.
Arizona is hoping to end their non-conference schedule on a high note and go into enter next week's bye with a victory.
Tomey is happy to see the bye week come so early in the season.
"I have a really good feeling I 'm going to like it," Tomey said.
