Youth, inexperience, and not being ready to play can get your team into trouble. These three things came to fruition for the Arizona Wildcat in the Fiesta Bowl. Arizona came into this game wanting to get rid of the taste of the Pac-12 Championship game in which Oregon ran them right off the field. That was the plan anyways.
In the blink of an eye, Boise State took a 21-0 lead on the Wildcats and it was only by getting a touchdown in the first quarter that the Cats stopped the bleeding. However, Arizona came out very slow on offense and on defense. They seemed at least a step slow on both sides of the ball and the Broncos took full advantage of it. The Broncos scored on two long scores on their first two drives and it wouldn't be a Boise State Fiesta Bowl appearance if they didn't do some kind of trick play. Boise State breaks out the Statue-of-Liberty play and scores their third touchdown of the first quarter.
From there Arizona was not able to muster any kind of comeback on the Broncos for the first half. The score at the half was 31-17 Boise State was ahead, but I had the feeling that Arizona was not going to be able to get back into the game due to their horrible defense in the first half. They couldn't tackle, were slow on their feet, and almost looked disinterested in the game. They should have shown more energy because Boise State had plenty of energy coming out of the gate.
The second half of the game was a little bit different. Arizona showed the energy that they should have had in the first half. They started making some plays on both sides of the ball. However, Boise State was still making enough plays to keep the Wildcats far enough away on the scoreboard that it never felt like the Cats were not going threaten.
Arizona needed to take bigger chunks of the lead away and they couldn't do that. Anu Soloman committed a couple of interceptions at critical times and that lead to two touchdowns by Boise State. Solomon, as talented as he is as a young quarterback, is still a young quarterback. The interceptions were bad, bad throws made with bad decisions. You could tell that Head Coach Rich Rodriguez was starting to become a little frustrated with his quarterback with those interceptions. Rich Rod did not pull him like he did against Oregon, even though some of the fans may not have argued with that move.
The move that really showed Anu Solomon's inexperience was the last play of the game. The Cats quarterback got his team down in the red zone, but the team had no timeouts left to use. With 14 seconds left to play he had a couple of plays left to score the touchdown and two point conversion they needed. Enter youth and inexperience. Solomon rolls out and to his credit was trying to make a play, but he had very little time to make a play. He needed to throw the ball away once he saw nothing open, instead he takes a sack, the clock runs out. Game over.
Anu Solomon will learn how to better manage the pocket when he is passing, he will know when to run or throw the ball away, and finally when to NOT take a sack. He's a good quarterback, he will get better and Rodriguez will get him better.
There is a lot of young talent at the skill positions for the Arizona Wildcats and all the experience that they got this year will be put to good use in 2015. Coaches and fans have great optimism heading into next year and another Pac-12 South division title should be within grasp for them again. They have solid leadership on the team and the chemistry is only going to get better. Bear Down Arizona fans, better things are coming your way.
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