Published Nov 21, 2024
Arizona looks to overcome recent road struggles, keep season alive
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Ari Koslow  •  GOAZCATS
GOAZCATS.com reporter
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Following last week's win over Houston, Arizona has kept its season and bowl hopes alive with two games to go on the schedule.

Coming out of their first bye week early in the season, the Wildcats were able to go on the road and take out Utah in Salt Lake City who at the time was still thought out to be one of the top teams in the Big 12.

In two road games since, Arizona has lost 41-19 at BYU and 56-12 at UCF.

The Wildcats will look to use the momentum from last week's win and bring it onto the road to Fort Worth.

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Dominic Lolesio talked about better game-planning being one of the ways for Arizona to improve on the road.

"We just have to execute the game plan with fanatical effort and continue to do what we do as a defense," Lolesio said. "Obviously the offense is going to do what they have to do. All of that stuff is behind us. We're looking forward now and looking forward to TCU."

It is a new experience this season for Arizona on the road going from facing Pac-12 teams to now Big 12 environments in front of bigger crowds. The Wildcats were able to cancel out the noise at Utah early in the season and they'll now look to use what they learned from that game as well as the losses to BYU and UCF in Saturday's game at TCU.

"We've gotten them under our belt and you're expecting a huge environment," Owen Goss said. "That will help us with that experience."

It will be a challenge for the Wildcats secondary this weekend going up against a TCU passing offense that ranks No. 6 in the country heading into this week. Despite that, the Horned Frogs posted one of their top rushing performances as a team in their last game before the bye week when they ran for 175 yards a team against Oklahoma State.

"TCU is one of the top passing offenses in the country and the top in the Big 12," Stars coach Brett Arce said. "They've got a lot of weapons out there, so I think heavier pass but you've got to be ready for the run game for them as well."

In the last two losses on the road, the offense has combined for just 31 points. Arizona is going to need more consistency from the offense from the start to finish as it showed in last week's win against Houston.

We know what Tetairoa McMillan can do, but the one big problem for the Wildcats for most of the season has been not having another wide receiver step up consistently alongside McMillan. Across the past two games, Chris Hunter has stepped into a more consistent role opposite eclipsing 100 yards against UCF followed by 65 yards on six catches last week.

Despite his recent success, he understands he needs to continue to prove himself as he continues to progress.

""I think just continuing to increase Noah's [Fifita] confidence and feeling what routes he can get me the ball on," Hunter said. "Becoming a playmaker with the ball in my hands after the catch. I feel like that's something I can do for the next level, start making plays downfield and after the catch.

I don't think I made it yet. I think I still have a lot more to prove, so I think my next step is continuing to perfect my game and trying to work on things. I still have some weaknesses to work on, so I think just being more comfortable in a game environment because I am three starts in now."

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