Arizona vs. Oregon: Game Grades for Wildcats, Ducks

Welcome to the chaos that is the 2014 college football season. 

The No. 2 Oregon Ducks (4-1) were upset at home by the upstart Arizona Wildcats (5-0), losing 31-24. Rich Rodriguez's team rushed for 208 yards en route to the victory. The team also got after Marcus Mariota, sacking him five times and forcing two fumbles. Arizona is 5-0 for the first time since 1998.

It's another disappointing loss for Oregon. Seemingly every year, the Ducks lose a game they shouldn't. The defense couldn't tackle, nor make adjustments to Arizona's offensive scheme. Offensively, the beleaguered offensive line wasn't able to adequately protect Mariota. 

A full box score can be found here, courtesy of NCAA.com. 

Check out first-half grades and final grades for the Wildcats and Ducks. Additional analysis for different positional units will also be addressed.

Position Units	First-Half Grades	Final Grades
Passing Offense	C-	B+
Pass Defense	A-	B+
Rushing Offense	B	A
Rush Defense	A	B
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	A	A

Arizona Wildcats Game Grades Analysis

Passing Offense

Rich Rod did a nice job of giving his freshman quarterback, Anu Solomon, easy throws early. He was able to change the launch point on rollouts, giving Solomon very manageable situations in which to toss the ball down the field. The first half didn't provide much in the way of production, but the second half yielded great results. 

Throws out of the backfield to Nick Wilson and Terris Jones-Grigsby were particularly effective. For the night, Solomon went 20-of-31 for 287 yards and a touchdown. 

Pass Defense

Due to the fact Oregon's offensive line couldn't block Arizona up front, Oregon began to opt for a shorter passing game. As a result, Arizona corners did a great job in press coverage, hugged up on receivers giving minimal space. 

On the night, Oregon's biggest pass play went for 34 yards. Against an offense as prolific as Oregon's, it's a good statistic. Holding Mariota to under 300 yards passing is also a very impressive feat. 

Rushing Offense

This was a masterful effort up front by UA's offensive line. The unit got great push and constantly was opening up holes for Jones-Grigsby and Wilson. The diminutive Jones-Grigsby led the team with 115 yards. He ran with authority, often breaking tackles and picking up tough yards. 

Wilson had three touchdowns, including a beast mode 34-yard touchdown catch in which he ran over All-American corner Ifo Ekpre-Olomu. The duo makes up one of the more potent pairings in the conference. 

Rush Defense

The defensive line played very well throughout the night. It held Mariota to only one yard on nine carries. The vaunted Oregon rush attack ran for a modest 3.5 yards per carry on the night. The linebackers did a great job of plugging holes in the middle of the line. It opened up things for rushers Scooby Wright III and Dan Pettinato. 

Pettinato had two sacks and a forced fumble. He absolutely thrashed true freshman tackle Tyrell Crosby on multiple occasions. Wright's sack and strip of Mariota was the play of the game.

Special Teams

Should Solomon become a punter? A 48-yard pooch punt by the signal-caller pinned Oregon back at its 1-yard line. Casey Skowron was perfect on all of his kicks, and returner Tyrell Johnson nearly averaged 25 yards per kick return. 

A solid night all around for the Arizona special teams unit. 

Coaching

An absolutely wonderful game plan by the coaching staff. The offensive play-calling (especially in the second half) was creative and electric. Rodriguez took what Oregon gave the UA offense and picked up huge chunks of yards. His plays to the running backs out of the backfield were virtually unstoppable. He kept Oregon's defense on its proverbial heels throughout the contest. 

Defensively, Jeff Casteel's unit showed wonderful grit. The unit was aggressive and dominated the line of scrimmage up front. It shut down Oregon's ability to run the ball between the tackles. Blitzing on well-timed situations flustered Mariota and led to multiple turnovers. 

All in all, the UA coaching staff deserves a tremendous amount of praise.

Position Units	First-Half Grades	Final Grades
Passing Offense	B	B
Pass Defense	A	C
Rushing Offense	C	B
Rush Defense	B	D
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	B	D

Oregon Ducks Game Grades Analysis

Passing Offense

Credit Arizona's secondary for getting in the face of Oregon's receivers. It challenged the likes of Devon Allen and Keanon Lowe, not allowing them to beat the unit deep. 

Mariota had varying success on short and intermediate routes. He wasn't able to hit the home run pass deep Thursday night, in large part because he had little time to throw the ball down the field. Allen yet again flashed his ability, leading the Ducks with 78 yards receiving. 

Mariota finished 20-of-32 for 276 yards and two touchdowns. 

Pass Defense

The bright spot on the evening was a diving, athletic interception by Arizona native Reggie Daniels. For the most part, the secondary did do a good job of bottling up the explosive UA receivers. Cayleb Jones had only three catches on the evening. 

However, the defense was gashed on passes out of the backfield. It was as if Oregon had never seen a wheel route before. These killed the defense on more than one occasion. Even more bizarrely, there were seemingly no adjustments made to combat the Arizona play-calling. 

The untimely pass interference call on Ekpre-Olomu led to a touchdown. Early in the season, he's not displaying the same form he did a season ago. 

Rushing Offense

The offensive line wasn't able to get much of a push. There was little to no room running between the tackles. Much of the success on the ground game on stretch plays. 

Oregon was able to run a bit inside with Royce Freeman when the tempo was revved up. Unfortunately for the Ducks, those moments weren't often. Between the perpetual 3rd-and-long situations and the officiating, Oregon wasn't able to get into much of a rhythm offensively. Without great success on the ground, the passing game suffered. 

On the night, the unit rushed for 144 yards on 41 carries. In terms of pass protection, Mariota was battered. The signal-caller was sacked five times on the night. In one instance, Arizona dropped eight and still sacked Mariota with a three-man rush. 

Perhaps most concerning, it appears as if Mariota is playing hurt. 

Rush Defense

Dreadful. Terrible. Porous. 

Arizona ran roughshod on Oregon's front seven all night long. To be fair to Oregon, the loss of Arik Armstead was massive. He's arguably the best defensive lineman on the team. Regardless, Oregon's defensive line was getting little to no pressure on Solomon. 

Arizona's offensive line won the battle at the line of scrimmage. The Wildcats piled up over 200 yards on the ground. On multiple occasions, UA running backs would go untouched for 10 yards before meeting an Oregon defender. 

Special Teams

There was nothing particularly noteworthy either way in this category for the Ducks. Kicker Matt Wogan connected on his only attempt. Ian Wheeler was solid with a 41.5 yards per punt average. 

Both Thomas Tyner and Charles Nelson were solid on kick returns. 

Coaching

This was one of the most poorly coached games in recent history for this staff. 

From an offensive standpoint, Mark Helfrich was bizarrely conservative, especially in the red zone. With the best player in all of college football, why would one opt to run the football on a 3rd-and-6 inside the opposition's 20-yard line? With the constant pressure Mariota was facing, Helfrich could have done a better job of changing the launch point, getting Mariota on the move when throwing the football. 

Defensively, there was seemingly no adjustments made in correspondence with Arizona's offensive onslaught in the second half. Multiple busted coverages resulted in big plays. With a freshman quarterback on the road in a hostile environment, conventional wisdom suggests getting after the young signal-caller with pressure. 

Defensive coordinator Don Pellum didn't really do that too often.