UA ready to get offensive against Blazers

Arizona Daily Wildcat Defensive tackle Joe Salave'a (56), inside linebacker Chester Burnett (35), and outside linebacker Jimmy Sprotte (42) swarm Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf in last season's game. Arizona's defense plans to coral Alabama-Birmingham quarterback Lee Jolly in tomorrow night's game.

Arizona outgained the Ducks in total yards 312-183, and gained 18 first downs to Oregon's eight. Yet the Wildcats still lost the game 16-9.

After reviewing the film and statistics from the Wildcats' first game against Oregon, the Blazers, who are in only their second year of Division I football, are sure to see the tale of two teams.

UAB head coach Watson Brown expressed some concern about preparing his team for a game against an opponent like Arizona, especially when the two schools have never met.

"Arizona is a tough team to prepare for," Brown said. "They are a tough team defensively to play."

Arizona head coach Dick Tomey can relate to the Blazers situation.

"I see in UAB a lot of the same things that I experienced when I was in Hawaii," Tomey said. "When you are in that situation, I know that it is a big step."

The Wildcats have some big steps of their own to take to rebound from last week's lackluster performance.

"Our focus this week is more on Arizona than anything else," Tomey said. "We have to get ourselves straight and get our guys performing as they are capable of performing."

The Blazers are led by redshirt freshman quarterback Lee Jolly, who made his starting debut against Kansas, and wide receiver Kevin Drake, who was projected to be the starting quarterback before making the move to wide receiver.

On paper the game appears to be a possible blowout, but with the many questions that still remain for both teams, the outcome could be much closer.

The Blazer's average only 188 yards of total offense per game after their first two games, a 24-0 loss to Kansas and a 28-7 defeat at the hands of Memphis. Adding to the Blazer's offensive woes is the loss of starting tailback Carl Sanders to injury.

Despite the Blazer's problems on offense, Tomey thinks they make up for it on the defensive side of the ball.

"They have hardly had any production on offense because they are very young," Tomey said. "On defense, we won't have anybody come in here and look any better. Their defense is way ahead of their offense."

The stat sheet tells a different story.

The Blazers have given up an average of 335 yards per game and have been unable to consistently stop their opponents.

The other big question for Arizona remains to be the situation between quarterbacks Keith Smith and Brady Batten. Smith will be the starter and expects to receive the majority of the playing time throughout the game.

"They (the coaches) told me that I was going to be the starter," Smith said. "Beyond that, if I make a long run, like 50 yards, they might pull me for a play or two. That's all I know."

One player who will definitely remain in the starting lineup is junior punter Ryan Springston. Although he had a rough opener, Tomey said that he will use Springston to perform the punting duties on Saturday.

"Punting a football is tough to do in competition," Tomey said.

"The first half of the game should not be a total reflection of Springston's ability," said Tomey.

"The thing about Ryan Springston that we need to appreciate is he looked bad in the second quarter, but then in the second half, he came out and kicked well," Tomey said. "He was able to respond positively."