By the numbers: Cats meet Cardinal tomorrow


By Ryan Casey
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, October 14, 2005

As the Arizona football team celebrates Family Weekend on campus, let's examine a series that resumes after a two-year break:

  • The Cats hold a 12-8 advantage in the teams' all-time series, winning seven of the past 10 games.

  • Sitting at 2-2, the Cardinal has a major gaffe on its schedule - a 20-17 home loss against UC-Davis, a Division I-AA school.

  • Stanford returns 10 of its 11 starters on offense from last season, but only five on defense.

  • While Arizona is settling into the easier portion of its schedule, coming off three straight matchups with national top-12 teams, Stanford is just beginning a tough stretch. It faces four teams in the top 20 that have a combined 19-2 record entering the weekend.

  • The Wildcats held the ball for an average of 1:26 on their three scoring drives against top-ranked Southern California last weekend and are averaging 3:05 per scoring drive this season.

  • Senior punter Danny Baugher continues to lead the nation in punting at 48.4 yards per kick, but here's a stat you may have overlooked: Of his 27 kicks, only six have been returned. Also, Baugher has pinned the Arizona opponents inside their 20-yard lines nine times.

  • Junior tight end Brad Wood has improved his touchdown efficiency from two weeks ago - he's grabbing a score every 3.8 catches. With five TDs in 2005 and another one last year, Wood needs two trips to the end zone to break the school record for touchdowns by a tight end (Ron Beyer, 1975-1978).

  • Both teams' starting quarterbacks - Arizona's Richard Kovalcheck and Stanford's Trent Edwards - have a career high of three touchdowns in a single game. Edwards accomplished the feat again last week in a 24-21 win over Washington State.

  • The Cardinal has scored four touchdowns this season on special teams and defense, two by each unit.