Canidate paces running attack

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore tailback, Trung Canidate, slides past Alabama's defensive line for a first down. Canidate ran for a career-high 192 yards in 23 carries in Saturday's 24-10 home opener against Alabama-Birmingham.

The Wildcats' running game, which netted 365 yards in 59 carries, had the most success when the ball was in the hands of sophomore running back Trung Canidate.

Canidate, despite playing only two and a half quarters, carried the ball 23 times, dancing over, around and through the UAB defense for 192 yards.

"I was kind of surprised with the yardage I gained," Canidate said. "I didn't really do all the things I wanted to do. It was all the linemen, I just reap the benefits of how these guys play."

Canidate's night was highlighted by a 66-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, arguably the turning point in the game, that put the Wildcats up 21-7.

"(Offensive tackle Ryan) Turley was pulling, and he smashed the D in, and (fullback Kelvin) Eafon hit the other (defensive tackle) and when I turned the corner there was this wide open hole," said Canidate of his touchdown run.

"It reminded me of high school, when I used to break long runs. There was a big crease when I turned the corner, and I was just thinking about hitting whoever was filling, but there wasn't anyone there, so I took it the distance."

"It (Canidate's touchdown run) was a big play," UA coach Dick Tomey said. "It was difficult for them (UAB) to recover after that."

Canidate was noticeably absent from the starting lineup, sitting out the entire first quarter because of disciplinary reasons.

"There was some miscommunication about a meeting," Canidate said. "I've got to be on time. The clock on my TV was wrong. I thought I was seven minutes early, but I was really seven minutes late. There's got to be a price; that's life."

Filling Canidate's spot at tailback for the first quarter was senior Kevin Schmidtke, who looked impressive as he gained 51 yards in 12 carries. Schmidtke finished the game with 15 rushes for 67 yards. Awaiting his turn on the Arizona sideline, all Canidate could do was be patient.

"It was a little bit frustrating, but I just cheered on Schmidtke and the other guys," Canidate said. "They took care of the job.

"I came in and I was like a relief pitcher."

Although the Wildcats were heavy favorites and the 14 point margin of victory may be a bit disappointing, Canidate did not feel the Wildcats underachieved with their victory.

"It's hard to win a Division 1 football game," he said. "If we win big, we win big, but we're just trying to go out and win a football game.

"This game was a good confidence builder. You need to feel like you're a winner."

Canidate now has Saturday's match-up with perennial powerhouse Ohio State, last year's Rose Bowl champions, whose defense should provide a larger front line than UAB.

"We've got to play much better," Canidate said. "Any team is beatable, we just need to work together. Most definitely we need to play harder. The bottom line is we didn't play as well as we could."