TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Arizona Wildcats are set for their first road trip of the season as they head to El Paso, Texas to take on UTEP Friday night on ESPN. The Cats will bus to El Paso Thursday morning in preparation, looking to finish the nonconference portion of their schedule with a winning record. 

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Some Game Themes: There's no rest for the weary – or in this case, Arizona. Licking their wounds from a disappointing defeat last Saturday, the Wildcats hit the road for the first time this season and have one less day to prepare for a Friday tilt against UTEP on deck … The Miners, while playing at home a second straight week, also must compete with the short prep week following a second-straight loss … … This will be a true road trip of sorts for the Cats, who will bus to El Paso on Thursday before flying home following the game Friday night … Arizona has not played the Miners in El Paso since 1977, but it has twice appeared in the Sun Bowl (1985 and 1992) since that last venture along I-10 eastbound …These two schools, twice former conference rivals, have a long history that dates back over 100 years despite the most recent meeting being more than a dozen years ago … Arizona has won the last 12 contests, but only five of those showdowns have taken place since these two were WAC members back in the 1970s … The matchup on paper doesn't mean much. Statistically, UTEP has been outmatched by high-powered Oklahoma and also Rice. But Arizona must recover emotionally from its first taste of adversity. Doing so in unfamiliar territory is easier said than done, and the Miners will have no sympathy for their counterparts … The Wildcats, with some 50-percent of the roster listed as freshmen, are young across the board, especially defensively. The young bucks on defense showed their potential in shutting out Houston in the second half a week ago, but the Wildcats couldn't get things going offensively much of the night … Some of that was an unsettled backfield. Senior running back Nick Wilson missed the game with an ankle injury, and quarterbacks Brandon Dawkins and Khalil Tate were not fully healthy in the fourth quarter. Their well-being and eventual consistency will go a long way in proving Arizona has the formidable pieces to match the potential most feel exists … This will be the first of two straight games under the Friday night lights for the Cats, who open conference play at home a week later against Utah.

Series History: A pair of old southwestern rivals renew a history that dates back some 100 years … Arizona owns a 38-11-2 advantage in the all-time series, a tally that includes 12-consectutive wins. For the 22 games played in El Paso, the Cats boast a 16-5-1 lead in the series … However, Friday's showdown in the Sun Bowl will be the first meeting between these programs since a 42-7 Wildcat victory in Tucson on Aug. 30, 2003 … Meanwhile, UTEP last hosted Arizona on Nov. 19, 1977, which was a 41-24 victory for the visiting Wildcats in one of their final Western Athletic Conference games … The first-ever meeting was a 41-0 rout for the Cats in Tucson back on Nov. 4, 1916 … The schools played 10 more times through the 1930 season and soon after became peers in the Border Conference. Arizona joined in 1931 and UTEP followed a few years later … Meetings between the programs were regular in the Border Conference until Arizona left in 1961. The two sides joined up again in the WAC from 1967-77, before Arizona moved to the Pac-10 Conference. … In the four decades since, there have been only five additional meetings.

The Sun Bowl: Arizona returns to El Paso for the first time since Dec. 31, 1992, when the Wildcats lost to Baylor (20-15) in the John Hancock Bowl. It was UA's third bowl trip to the game traditionally known as "The Sun Bowl". Arizona previously tied Georgia, 13-13, on Dec. 28, 1985, in its second appearance in the gameArizona's initial debut in the Sun Bowl game was a 34-10 setback against Auburn on Dec. 28, 1968. The last two meetings are more recent than UA's last time playing UTEP in a regular season game in El Paso, which was in 1977.

Road Openers: The Wildcats seek to close out their non-conference slate by winning their first road game of the season. Historically, Arizona is 47-60-4 in road openers, a mark that includes a 3-2 record under head coach Rich Rodriguez. The two losses under Rodriguez have come against Pac-12 foes, dropping contests at UCLA in 2016 (UA previously played a neutral site game against BYU) last Oct. 1 and at Oregon in 2012. In between are three victories against non-conference opponents, including UNLV (2013), UTSA (2014) and Nevada (2015). 

El Paso Connections: Arizona doesn't have many Texas ties on its roster, but there are a few for this game: First-year receivers coach Theron Aych spent the 2016 season on the Miners' coaching staff. Aych coached the wide receiver unit that helped haul in 21 receiving touchdowns, the most for the program since 2010. The balance provided in the pass game allowed UTEP to improve its per-game scoring by nearly a touchdown from 20.7 points per game in 2015 to 26.3 points per game last season. Additionally, receiver Terry Juniel was named honorable mention All-Conference USA a year ago … Arizona junior receiver Donovan Walker transferred from UTEP, where he was on the roster for the 2014-15 seasons. Walker started the 2015 opener for the Miners, hauling in one catch for five yards against Arkansas. He eventual transferred to Arizona and participated in 2016 spring drills, but did not play football last fall. He rejoined for 2017, played in the opener against NAU and missed last week's contest with a shoulder injury … Sophomore safety Tristan Cooper hails from Andress High School in El Paso. Cooper played in 11 games with five starts as a true freshman in 2016. Cooper has played as a backup safety in each of UA's first two games this season … Walk-on freshman linebacker Elijah Ruiz played at Franklin High School in El Paso, where he posted 118 tackles, 20 for loss, and four sacks as a senior … UTEP offensive line coach Spencer Leftwich was a member of Rich Rodriguez's first staff in Tucson. Leftwhich coached tight ends and coordinated special teams during his one season at Arizona in 2012.

Defensive Shut Out: Arizona's defense pitched a second-half shutout against Houston, which did tally a safety for its only points after halftime in a 19-16 victory. The Wildcats' defense intercepted two passes and forced four punts in the six Cougars' drives in the second half. Houston's longest second-half drive was its first, a seven-play drive that covered 40 yards before Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles intercepted a pass deep in UA territory. Otherwise the Cougars never marched the ball more than 34 yards against the UA defense. The effort afforded Arizona, which trailed 17-10 at the break, a chance for a comeback, but the Cats mustered only a pair of a field goals and had a pass of their own intercepted on an otherwise promising drive. Still, it was the first second-half shutout for Arizona's defense since blanking Grambling State last September 10. The last FBS opponent UA shut out for the final two periods was Oregon State on Oct. 10, 2015.
Young Bucks Rack Up Tackles: Through two games, Arizona's top three tacklers are freshmen. Cornerback Lorenzo Burns, a redshirt freshman, leads the way with 14 tackles. All totaled, UA's freshmen have combined for 59 of the team's 128 tackles (46.1 percent). Behind Burns in the individual race are a pair of true freshmen: linebacker Tony Fields II has 13 tackles and free safety Scottie Young Jr. has chipped in 11 stops. Other true freshmen have produced as well: Stud/DEs Kylan Wilborn and Jalen Harris each have four tackles, linebacker Colin Schooler has four as well and lineman Kurtis Brown has three. The true freshmen have combined for 39 tackles, while collecting four of the seven tackles for loss. Wilborn leads the charge with a TFL in each game.

Defending the Red Zone: If there's one area Arizona's defense has shown marked improvement through two games, it's in red zone defense. The Wildcats have allowed only five red zone scores in 11 total trips. While it can be noted that two of the non-scoring drives have come at the end of the game with no consequence to the final outcome, the six total non-scoring drives match the entire season total from a year ago. In 2016, opponents scored on 50-of-56 (89.3) red zone trips, a percentage that ranked No. 100 in the FBS (the current 45.5 percent conversion rate ranks No. 6). The real factor in red zone defense is keeping opponents out of the endzone, and the Wildcats have done well in that regard. Arizona has surrendered a touchdown on only three of 11 red zone drives so far, a 27.3-percent clip that is significantly improved from the 76.8 (43 of 56) mark a year ago.

(Field) Positioned for Success: One of the most telling statistics since the start of the 2016 season has been the battle for field position. When Arizona has better starting field position than its opponent, it is 4-0. When the opponent has the advantage or its even, the Cats are a winless 0-10. In the opener against the Lumberjacks, Arizona's average starting position was its own 30-yardline, while NAU averaged its own 23-yardline. The recipe for the Cats last Saturday was turnover-free football combined with kicker Lucas Havrisik's nine touchbacks on 10 kickoffs and punter Jake Glatting's 41.0 average on five punts, including two inside the 20-yardline.  Last week against Houston, the script was flipped. The Cougars enjoyed a plus-11 margin in field position, starting at its own 35-yardline on average compared to UA starting on its own 24. The critical play: an 81-yard kickoff return that set up the Cougars' go-ahead touchdown right before half. The 17-10 lead was enough to hold on for the victory as Arizona tacked on only two field goals in the second half due in part to drive starting at the own 8, 14 and `0-yardlines on successive possessions in the third/fourth quarter.

Demetrius the Thief: Through two games this season, junior safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles is one of just two players in the country with three interceptions. Flannigan-Fowles is tied with Central Michigan's Josh Cox for the national lead in interceptions with three. Flannigan-Fowles had two interceptions in the season opener versus NAU and then picked off another pass Saturday night versus Houston. He entered the season with three career interceptions in 25 games. Twice in his career, Flannigan-Fowles has picked off at least one pass in back-to-back games. Last season, he notched an interception in Week 2 versus Grambling State, and then had another one a week later against Hawai'i. Before he picked off passes in back-to-back games this season, he was the last Wildcat to do it last year. Flannigan-Fowles also already has more interceptions than any individual Wildcat had last season. The safety is also just two tackles shy of 100 for his career, as he enters the UTEP game with 98 career stops.

Pickin' Their Spots: The Wildcats have notched multiple interception games as a team in back-to-back contests for the first time since 2013. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles had two interceptions in the opener versus NAU, and then he and redshirt freshman cornerback Lorenzo Burns each had one against Houston. The Cats haven't had multiple picks in back-to-back games since the first two games of the season in 2013 when they had three interceptions against NAU in the season opener and then two the following week against UNLV. With four interceptions already this season, Arizona is halfway to its 2016 total of eight interceptions in 12 games.

A Dane-dy game: Prior to the season, senior Dane Cruikshank moved positions, switching from the boundary cornerback spot to the "Spur" safety spot for the Wildcats. The senior from Chino Hills, California embraced the move and was named a captain for Arizona's season opener versus NAU. The position change seems to have agreed with Cruikshank, who started all 12 games for the Wildcats a year ago. Cruikshank had six solo tackles, one tackle-for-loss and a forced fumble in Saturday's game versus Houston. It was the second solo tackle-for-loss of his career and first forced fumble. Cruikshank didn't have any tackles-for-loss in his first 11 games as a Wildcat, but has two over his last three games after notching one in last year's season finale against Arizona State. Cruikshank has eight tackles in two games for the Wildcats this season.

Wow, Wolma: True freshman Bryce Wolma saw extended action Saturday versus Houston with starting tight end Trevor Wood sidelined with an injury. Wolma made the best of his opportunity, leading Arizona with five catches. Wolma finished with five catches for 38 yards and was a safe and sound option for Arizona quarterbacks Brandon Dawkins and Khalil Tate all game. Wolma's five catches are the most by an Arizona tight end since Terrence Miller had nine catches for 88 yards and a touchdown against No. 5 Oregon in 2013. Arizona tight ends Wood and Josh Kern combined for 12 catches all of last season. Wolma has also seen time on special teams for the Wildcats in the first two games.

Polished Pollack: Redshirt junior placekicker Josh Pollack had one of the best games of his career Saturday. Pollack set a new career high with three made field goals, connecting from 45 yards, 21 yards and 42 yards. Overall, he was three of four in the game, missing his second attempt from 30 yards. The 45-yard field goal was just one shy of his career high of 46 set last season against BYU. In fact, Pollack had just one make better than 40 yards in his career before hitting twice from that distance on Saturday. He finished with 10 points Saturday, also one shy of his career high of 11 set last season against Hawai'i. Pollack handled placekicking, kickoffs and punting for much of last season, but has narrowed his focus down to just placekicking this year. Jake Glatting has handled the punting duties the first two games and freshman Lucas Havrisik has been on kickoff duties.

Green Means Go (for the End Zone): Over the first 27 games of his career, redshirt senior running back Zach Green rushed for 259 yards on 62 carries without reaching the end zone. However, over the last five, which spans back to last year, Green has rushed for 247 yards and five touchdowns on 39 carries. He has seen his average per carry increase from 2.4 over the first 27 games to 6.3 over the last five. Green had another touchdown in Saturday's game versus Houston, marking his fifth touchdown over the last five games. He's averaging one touchdown per every 7.8 carries over his last five games. He's become a more than viable option in short yardage and goal line situations with his strength and ability to run in between the tackles. Green graduated in 2015 in three years and will now finish his Master's degree this spring.