Game coverage from around SBN: Here
Time: 12:30 p.m. PST
The place: Arizona Stadium (Tucson, Ariz.)
TV: Fox College Sports (live), FSN Northwest (delayed, 7:30 p.m. PST). Also -- potentially -- channelsurfing.net, although it can be unreliable at times.
Radio: Find your local station here. You can also listen to it via streaming for a fee at wsucougars.com.
The line: Arizona minus-32.5 (Fun fact! The Cougs have covered in five of their past six games.)
When the Cougs have the ball ...
| WSU | UofA | |||
| Pos. | Name (# = Redshirt) | Pos. | Name (* = Redshirt) | |
| X | Jeffrey Solomon (6-0, 195, #Jr.) | DE | Ricky Elmore (6-5 250 Jr.*) | |
| F | Gino Simone (5-11, 174, Fr.) | DT | Earl Mitchell (6-2 295 Sr.*) | |
| LT | Tyson Pencer (6-7, 297, #Fr.) | NT | Donald Horton (6-0 275 Gr.*) | |
| LG | Zack Williams (6-4, 293, #Jr.) | DE | Brooks Reed (6-3 255 Jr.*) | |
| C | Kenny Alfred (6-2, 300, #Sr.) | SLB | Sterling Lewis (5-11 225 Sr.) | |
| RG | B.J. Guerra (6-3, 318, #So.) | MLB | Vuna Tuihalamaka (6-2 230 Sr.*) | |
| RT | Micah Hannam (6-4, 284, #Jr.) | WLB | Xavier Kelley (5-11 215 Gr.*) | |
| TE | Tony Thompson (6-2, 241, #Sr.) | CB | Trevin Wade (5-11 182 So.*) | |
| Z | Jared Karstetter (6-4, 203, So.) | SS | Robert Golden (5-11 190 So.) | |
| QB | Jeff Tuel (6-3, 207, Fr.) | FS | Cam Nelson (6-1 202 Sr.) | |
| RB | Dwight Tardy (5-11, 204, #Sr.) | CB | Devin Ross (5-11 175 Sr.) |
When Arizona has the ball ...
| UofA | WSU | |||
| Pos. | Name (* = Redshirt) | Pos. | Name (# = Redshirt) | |
| X | Terrell Turner (6-2 190 Sr.) | LE | Casey Hamlett (6-3, 250, Jr.) | |
| TE | A.J. Simmons (6-3 255 Jr.*) | DT | Bernard Wolfgramm (6-3, 291, #Jr.) | |
| LT | Mike Diaz (6-5 320 Sr.) | DT | Toby Turpin (6-5, 284, #Jr.) | |
| LG | Herman Hall (6-3 303 Sr.) | RE | Travis Long (6-4, 247, Fr.) | |
| C | Colin Baxter (6-4 295 Jr.*) | SAM | Andy Mattingly (6-4, 255, Sr.) | |
| RG | Vaughn Dotsy (6-5 335 So.) | MIKE | Alex Hoffman-Ellis (6-1, 233, #So.) | |
| RT | Adam Grant (6-6 325 Gr.*) | WILL | Jason Stripling (5-11, 225, #Sr.) | |
| QB | Nick Foles (6-5 235 So.*) | LCB | Brandon Jones (5-9, 178, #Jr.) | |
| RB | Keola Antolin (5-8 186 So.) | SS | Xavier Hicks, Jr. (6-0, 211, #Sr.) | |
| HB | Chris Gronkowski (6-2 235 Sr.*) | FS | Jay Matthews (6-1, 205, #Fr.) | |
| RB | Delashaun Dean (6-4 202 Jr.*) | RCB | Terrance Hayward (6-1, 186, #Fr.) |
Special Teams ...
| WSU | UofA | |||
| Pos. | Name (# = Redshirt) | Pos. | Name (* = Redshirt) | |
| K | Nico Grasu (6-0, 221, Jr.) | K | Alex Zendejas 5-11 190 So.* | |
| P | Reid Forrest (6-2, 193, #Jr.) | P | Keenyn Crier 6-1 200 Jr.* |
Keys to the Game Competing
1. Tackle. Last week was better for most of the game in this area, but the few times when it wasn't, it resulted in huge plays for the Irish. Tackling will be even more critical this week, as Arizona runs a spread offense that's probably most similar to Texas Tech -- lots of short passes in a concerted effort to get the ball to their athletes in space. With all the injuries on defense, this will be critical.
2. Avoid giving up the big play. This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the first key. In general, Arizona is content to just take what the defense gives them -- see Foles' 70+ completion percentage and only four sacks allowed all year. The idea is to make you pay when you have that one breakdown. The Cougs have shown at times this year that they can play against this style and even force a mistake or two along the way. They'll have to be at their best in this one today.
3. Protect Tuel. Duh. But Arizona has been merely above average in terms of sacking the quarterback (2.57 per game on the year, just about a half sack above the national median). They don't typically blitz a ton, plus the line seems to be getting healthier by the week, so there just shouldn't be as much trouble keeping a reasonable pocket intact today. If that happens, we should be able to move the ball a bit.