The Arizona football team lost to the University of Oregon last Saturday. Here are the key stats that made a difference.
Three turnovers led to two Oregon touchdowns
The University of Arizona defense had a tough time stopping the University of Oregon run game. The Ducks ran for just over 300 yards, including 70 yards and three touchdowns from quarterback Bo Nix. The defense wasn’t able to get much pressure on Nix, and when they did, it seemed there was always a hole for him to scramble through. The defensive line wasn’t the only part of the defense struggling. There were four Oregon players that broke out for 20+ yard runs, including a 55-yard touchdown run from running back Noah Whittington. The Wildcats defense will have to tighten up to get their record back over .500.
Arizona converted on 10 third down attempts
On the bright side, the Arizona offense converted on 10 of 17 third downs while Oregon only converted on four. The Wildcats also beat the Ducks in passing first downs with 14. Quarterback Jayden de Laura seems much more comfortable when he has downs to work with. The offensive line will really have to work hard to give de Laura and the skill players time to get first downs.
Negative 30 rush yards for de Laura
The offensive line also had their struggles on Saturday. De Laura was sacked twice for big losses. De Laura seemed to have almost no time to throw the ball with all the pressure and was forced to scramble quite a bit.
This caused him to throw another interception making his total for the year seven. This was also the third game of the season where de Laura finished with negative rushing yards, and it was the second game with more than negative 20 rushing yards. The line will have to figure out how to make space and keep the ball moving.
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