The good news for the Arizona football team is they don't have to face UCLA junior tight end Marcedes Lewis this week. Lewis had a career day against the Wildcats last week, with six catches for 99 yards and the three touchdowns.
The bad news: Arizona faces an equally impressive tight end Saturday when it travels to Oregon to play the Ducks at 12:30 p.m. in Autzen Stadium.
OU junior tight end Tim Day leads the Ducks in touchdowns, with four, and yards per catch, averaging 14.9 per reception this season.
"They utilize their tight end as well, if not better than UCLA, so we got a good dose of that last weekend so hopefully it will help us a little bit this week," said UA head coach Mike Stoops.
Stoops said both tight ends are comparable.
Oregon (2-3) |
Team Nickname: Ducks |
Lewis made for a huge target for Bruin quarterback Drew Olson at 6-foot-6, 250 pounds. Day is equally as imposing, registering at 6-foot-4, 267 pounds.
"Both of those tight ends are probably the premier tight ends in this conference with how they catch the ball," Stoops said. "It'll be a big challenge."
Day caught eight passes last week against Washington State for 152 yards and one touchdown.
"(Day's) pretty big, a good pass blocker and he'll probably one of the best tight ends we face this year," said junior linebacker Sean Jones.
Jones said even though Day is an ample threat, Arizona can't focus on just stopping him because anyone on the Ducks' offense can make big plays.
"You can't just focus on one man because anyone can be a threat. If you focus on that one (guy), then they are going to beat us with somebody else."
Somebody else could be junior quarterback Kellen Clemens, who had his best game of the year last week at Washington State.
Clemens played a role on all six touchdowns in the Ducks' 41-38 victory over the Cougars.
Clemens ran for three scores and threw for three more. He ended the day completing 35 of 55 passes for 437 yards, also adding 37 yards on the ground.
That's what makes Clemens so difficult for defenses to contain. He can beat teams with both his legs or his arm.
The junior quarterback leads the Pacific 10 Conference in total offense, is second in passing and is Oregon's third-leading rusher.
"He's pretty shifty and he can throw the ball," Jones said.
Jones added that the team hasn't really done anything extra this week to prepare for a possible running quarterback, but the defense is aware of Clemens' ability to run.
"It's going to be a tough situation, but we'll prepare and have a good plane," Stoops said.