F.uckig tackling...how does it work?
If there was one positive thing I took away from last night's game (besides the win, of course) it's that the tackling situation has improved by leaps and bounds since the BC game. There sure didn't seem to be a whole lot of YAC for Arizona.
Also, the defensive setup was sort of reminiscent of Carroll's "bend don't break" defenses where it seemed like they allow the opponent almost free reign between the 20-yard lines, then throw in a wrinkle or wait for the other team to fuck up (which, in college, is more likely than not) which suddenly results in a 3rd-and-12 type of situation. Other than the one defensive lapse where the tailback was wide open for a TD pass, I thought the defense played really well.
Offensively - hot damn Buck Allen is a beast. The offensive line played very well, too. I thought it strange though, that Arizona chose to not put a lot of pressure on Kessler, since he's not that mobile (though he did show some nifty moves on the play that ultimately resulted in him throwing his first interception of the year). Kessler seemed like he could have brewed tea and baked cookies in the pocket on a lot of plays.
However, down the stretch, when we were only up by 8 points, Sarkisian again goes too-conservative, when it's clear that even if you run a lot of clock down (like they did), there's still plenty of time for the other team to get the ball back and score (which they did). The up-the-middle-up-the-middle approach works when there's less than a minute to go, not freakin 6 minutes or so. Of course, even though the running game had been working great most of the game, when the opponent knows you aren't going to throw, they're going to be able to stop it.
Thankful that the same crew that worked the UCLA-Utah game didn't work this game.
The Arizona kicker, while also acting like a little bitch, actually did get (slightly) tapped on the play, while the UCLA kicker got touched so lightly a fly landing on his leg would have had more impact.
Oh well, in both cases, justice prevailed and the good guys won.