Wildcat defense stomps UO's top-rated offense

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior cornerback Chris McAlister (11) attempts to strip the ball from Oregon's Damon Griffin (5) during Saturday's game. Going into the game, Arizona ranked first in the Pac-10 in total defense, allowing only 315.5 yards per game.

Arizona's front seven had him on the run and out of sync all night, with the No. 10 Wildcats (8-1 overall, 4-1 Pacific 10 Conference) suffo-cating the top-ranked Oregon offense in a dominating 38-3 victory.

"They blitzed us all night on defense. They have a great defense and proved it tonight," said Smith, who was sacked three times and threw two interceptions. "They proved that they're the best defense in the Pac-10 tonight."

Smith, the Pac-10's top passer, was held to under 200 yards passing and no touchdowns for the first time this season. And without their top gun carrying the load, the Ducks struggled on offense and managed just 272 total yards. That marks their worst total of the season, well below their league-leading average of 504.43 yards.

But if Oregon was going to stumble on offense, it made sense that it would come against this Wildcat defense. Going into Saturday night's game, Arizona ranked first in the Pac-10 in total defense, allowing only 315.5 yards per game.

"We knew (Smith) was a great, athletic player and our coaches put a great scheme together that helped us put a lot of pressure on him," UA junior linebacker Marcus Bell said. "Tonight our defense came out with a lot of pride and that showed up in the final score."

The key to Arizona's success on defense was stopping the Oregon ground game. The Ducks ran the ball 32 times for only 64 yards, with 11 of those runs resulting in either no gain or a loss. While the fact that the Ducks were without their top running back, Reuben Droughns, certainly hurt their attack, the Arizona coaches felt the Wildcats' dominance at the line of scrimmage was the reason for Oregon's trouble on the ground.

"The guys had a great deal of success running the ball against USC last weekend with the same set of running backs," UA head coach Dick Tomey said. "So, I think their offensive line play had more to do with their success than which running back was there. We just really gave a great effort defensively and really took away their running game."

Another reason for Arizona's success against the run was the tight coverage provided by the team's secondary, led by Jim Thorpe candidate Chris McAlister.

"We pretty much play (man-to-man defense) 100 percent of the time," said junior free safety Rafell Jones, who had a key interception in the second quarter. "One thing that does is allow our (strong safety) and (free safety) to step up sometimes and key on the run."

McAlister's presence has made an even bigger impact in the passing game.

He has consistently taken the opposing team's top receiver out of the game, thereby limiting the options of opposing quarterbacks. Saturday night was no different as Oregon's top receiver, Damon Griffin, caught only one pass. In fact, Smith chose to throw at McAlister only five times all game, with two of those passes resulting in Arizona interceptions by McAlister and Jones.

"I really feel that Chris is the best defensive back in the country," Tomey said. "You cannot underestimate the importance of having a guy with his ability in man-to-man coverage. He did an incredible job on Griffin tonight and continues to be sensational."

Arlie Rahn can be reached via e-mail at Arlie.Rahn@wildcat.arizona.edu.