Oct 2, 2014; Eugene, OR, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon (12) hands the ball off to Arizona Wildcats running back Nick Wilson (28) against the Oregon Ducks at Autzen Stadium. Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona is coming off a win at No. 2 Oregon and jumped from unranked to No. 10 in the AP poll, but coach Rich Rodriguez figures his team won’t have any problems getting back to business this week.
First of all, the opponent is Southern Cal on Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.
With so many kids from the Los Angeles area on the roster, the Wildcats are always motivated to play USC with a chip on their shoulders. As Rodriguez notes, only one Arizona player was offered a scholarship by the Trojans — and that is former USC quarterback Jesse Scroggins, who left after two seasons and is now a second-stringer with the Wildcats.
Secondly, the Arizona-Oregon game was on a Thursday night, allowing UA a couple of extra days to come down from the clouds before refocusing on the next game. Rodriguez said he wasn’t worried at all about his team lingering too long on the good feelings of the 31-24 win at Autzen Stadium.
“We celebrated in the locker room a little bit and then got on the plane,” he said. “Maybe because it was so late, five minutes after takeoff it was silent. Our guys have the ability to focus quickly. I think they know how important this game is as well.”
And, finally, Rodriguez is sure to mention in the locker room that his 10th-ranked team is about a 3-point underdog at home to unranked USC.
“I’m glad we’re the underdogs,” said junior safety Will Parks.
“That just keeps all the guys focused for the task at hand. Yes, USC is a pretty good team, but I think we’re just as prepared as we would be for any other weekend. It doesn’t matter who comes into our house, we’re going to be just as prepared and focused to take on any opponent.”
Arizona (5-0 overall, 2-0 Pac-12) is the only undefeated team left in the Pac-12. USC is 3-2 and 1-1, and is coming off a gut-wrenching home loss to Arizona State.
The honeymoon is over for first-year USC coach Steve Sarkisian.
The former popular assistant under Pete Carroll came home in the offseason after five years of being the head coach at Washington, and Sark’s promise of a fast-paced offense and a have-fun attitude helped lead to predictions of a big season for the Trojans.
Everything was on track when they won at Stanford in week 2, but then they lost at Boston College (allowing 452 passing yards) and fell 38-34 to visiting Arizona State last week, yielding 510 passing yards — 46 of which came on the final play via a Hail Mary.
Sarkisian said his defense was caught in-between calls, leading to confusion. Was USC trying to defend a quick out in case ASU was setting up a long field-goal attempt, or were the Trojans guarding against the Hail Mary? The confusion contributed to tentativeness, as no USC player made a play on the ball, which ASU receiver Jaelen Strong snagged near the goal line, carrying it into the end zone.
The loss dropped USC to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Pac-12.
“We will bounce back,” Sarkisian vowed. “We will fight back. And, we will play a tremendous game next Saturday night.”
The game is sold out, so USC will be heading into a hostile Saturday night environment. Like most Pac-12 games this season, anything can happen and it’s a nearly even matchup on paper, so emotion could play a large part — whether it’s Arizona still hung over from celebrating its big win or USC still down in the dumps.
Freshman defensive back Adoree’ Jackson said Sarkisian’s message was this: “He told us, ‘It’s not going to be easy, adversity is going to hit us and we’re just going to have to overcome it.'”
