Arizona Wildcats Football: Grading the Offense in 2011

Head coach Mike Stoops is not really known for his strong offenses, it’s his tough stingy defenses that win the Wildcats games.

In 2010, the Wildcats spent 11 of 15 weeks ranked in the Top 25 and even made it into the Top 10 at one point.

This offense has a lot to prove in 2011, and their schedule gets off to a tough start.

Here’s a look at the Arizona Wildcats offense in 2011.

For the defense: click here

Quarterback: A-

I firmly believe that Nick Foles is one of the most undervalued quarterbacks in not just the Pac-12, but also the entire country.

After transferring from Michigan State, Foles quickly found a spot on the Wildcats' roster, and hasn’t turned back. In his two years as a starter, Foles has been banged up a little and has fought through injuries.

When healthy he is a Top 10 or maybe even Top 5 quarterback in the country.

In 2010, Foles passed for 3,191 yards and 20 TDs. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see his stats around 3,500 yards and 30 TDs. Especially with a very talented receiver to throw to.

Running Backs: B

Arizona brings back their leading rusher from 2010, Keola Antolin (668 yards seven TDs), but lose longtime starter Nic Grigsby to graduation.

Grigsby battled injuries and didn’t have the breakout senior season that many were expecting.

Nonetheless, Antolin stepped in with immediate success and looks to improve in his senior season.

The Wildcats are known for lighting up the field (nearly passing for 450 yards against the Ducks in 2011) and will rarely go to the ground.

Backing up Antolin is junior Greg Nwoko, a major talent drop-off.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: B+

The Wildcats have one of the best receiving corps in the entire country, led by senior Juron Criner (1,233 yards 11 TDs).

Arizona’s receiving talent goes four-deep with David Douglas (515 yards five TDs), David Roberts (487 yards two TDs) and Dan Buckner who transfers in from Texas.

With all this experienced talent and one of the best quarterbacks in the conference, expect to see these guys all improve their catches, yardage and touchdowns dramatically.

The Wildcats do have a slight weakness at tight end, a surprise considering how good they were with the two Gronkowski brothers.

Offensive Linemen: C-

I don’t care how much talent they do or do not have, or how much rotating they did, when you lose all five of your starting lineman from last season you’re going to have a bad offensive line.

The Wildcats might start off the season with a lot of bad snaps, false starts, holdings and overall poor play on the line. These linemen have one job in 2011. Buy Nick Foles time to find open receivers.

Head coach Mike Stoops will have a lot of frustrating moments with the line.

Overall Offense: B

I feel that a “B” grade is pretty generous considering they only bring back five starters and have to bring in an entirely new offensive line. To make matters worse, this team has one of toughest stretches of any college football team.

From Week 2 to Week 6, the Wildcats play at Oklahoma State, home games against Stanford and Oregon, then at USC and Oregon State. I could really see the Wildcats losing four or even all five of these games. The offensive line will need to gel, and gel quickly.