TUCSON, Ariz. -- After winning back-to-back home games against Oregon and Colorado, the Arizona Wildcats hit the reset button last week with a bye in Week 11 of the season. 

Fresh off the rest, the Wildcats will hit the road for a Saturday night matchup at No. 8 Washington State. Kickoff is set for 8:35 p.m. MST, and will be televised by ESPN. 

Below is a full preview: 

Some Game Themes: Rested and recharged, the Wildcats head to the Palouse to take on Pac-12 front-runner Washington State … Arizona's lone bye week of the season came on the heels of a two-game win streak which capped a stretch of 10-straight games to open the season. Kevin Sumlin's charges find themselves with plenty to play for over the final two weeks, including bowl eligibility and an outside shot at the Pac-12 South Division title … However, the objective this week is simple: keep it "about us", as the first-year UA coach often says. In wins over Oregon and Colorado, the identify of this Wildcat football team began to take shape. The two victories showed a physical, tough and enthusiastic presence over four quarters of each game, a consistency that had been lacking for the first two months of the year … Now the challenge gets harder: No. 8 Washington State is in the top-third of the conference in several major offensive AND defensive categories … It will be a late kickoff – 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. back home in Tucson) and certainly cold, though forecasts keep conditions reasonable for this time of the year … Mike Leach has done what he often does, which is find a quarterback he can win with. This year it's Gardner Minshew, a Heisman darkhorse candidate and the league's top passer at over 385 yards per game … For the third-straight year, the Cougs bring with them a national ranking into this contest. The tilt two years ago in Pullman was one to forget for the Cats, but they remember well their 59-38 upset of No. 15 Washington State last October … These two sides lead the Pac-12 in total offense, so it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that this will be a shootout. But not so fast. The Cougs have the third-best rushing defense and hold opponents to 22 points per game … On the flip side, Arizona's defense has turned things around in conference play, holding foes to 25 points per game in seven outings … The undoubted keys to this game will be turnovers (both teams are +2 this season) and third down efficiency on either side of the ball … It's another nationally televised #Pac12AfterDark game, this one with plenty at stake … With a win, WSU moves one step closer to a Pac-12 North title and possibly the College Football Playoff, while the Cats would become bowl eligible and maintain their South Division title hopes … Bring a blanket. We'll see you Saturday night.

Last Time Out: Before it's lone bye week of the season, Arizona defeated Colorado, 42-34, on Nov. 2 at Arizona Stadium. The Wildcats backed up their upset of No. 19 Oregon from a week earlier with another well-balanced effort against the Buffs, who were hungry to snap a three-game losing streak. Colorado jumped out to a 10-0 first quarter lead, but it could have much larger if not for a couple key stops for the UA defense. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles stuffed a fourth down fly sweep, forcing a fumble and turning away the Buffs at the 6-yardline on CU's first possession. After the Buffaloes took a 7-0 lead on the next possession, UA fumbled inside its own 10-yard line to give the Buffs another extremely short field. But the Cats' defense stood its ground, holding CU to a field goal and a 10 point lead instead of perhaps 21-0. By the time the second quarter rolled around, Khalil Tate and the Arizona offense got rolling and a shootout in the southwest ensued. Lucas Havrisik's 49-yard field goal put the Cats on the board, then Tate hit Stanley Berryhill for a 40-yard passing score and Shawn Poindexter for a 1-yard touchdown toss. Now trailing 17-10, the Buffs answered, and the teams would trade punches heading toward halftime. Steven Montez found Kyle Evans for a 17-yard TD to tie the game, then Tate connected with Shun Brown for a 12-yard strike to regain the edge for UA. The extra point missed, leaving the Cats ahead 23-17. Montez marched the Buffaloes back, and Travon McMillian's 57-yard catch and run put CU ahead 24-23 with the extra point successful. Still with only 33 seconds left in the half, UA wasn't done. Havrisik's 55-yard boot as time expired gave the home side a 26-24 lead. After intermission, Colorado asserted itself again. An 11-play drive resulted in a 20-yard touchdown pass to Tony Brown for a 31-26 lead, but it was all Wildcats the rest of the way. Tate found Shawn Poindexter behind the defense for a 39-yard score to regain the lead, and later Josh Pollack's 41-yard field goal put the Cats 35-31. Colorado inched closer with Tyler Francis' 48-yard field goal to end the third quarter, but UA's Cedric Peterson opened up an 8-point margin with a 57-yard touchdown reception early in the fourth. Arizona's defense shut the door, with Troy Young intercepting Montez in the endzone, and then UA ran out the final five-plus minutes of the game. J.J. Taylor, who ran a career-high 40 times for 192 yards, converted a key third down backed up in his own endzone, and a couple more first downs put the game away for good. Tate finished with a career-high 350 yards and five touchdowns. Colin Schooler racked up three tackles for loss, leading a defense that had 10 stops behind the line of scrimmage and five sacks.

Against the AP Top 25: For the second time in three games, Kevin Sumlin and the Wildcats get a crack at a nationally ranked opponent … Arizona is 47-121-1 all-time against Associated Press Top 25 opponents, including this year's 44-15 rout of No. 19 Oregon on Oct. 27 at Arizona Stadium. That victory gave the Cats at least one win over a ranked team in 13 of the past 15 years dating to 2004 … In 11 seasons as a head coach, Kevin Sumlin is 16-17 against ranked foes, including 1-0 as Arizona's head coach … All-time, Arizona is 14-60-1 in road games against ranked opponents … At No. 8 this week, Washington State will be the highest ranked team the Wildcats have faced since losing to No. 3 Oregon in the 2014 Pac-12 Championship game (Dec. 5). This week's game will also mark the highest ranking for an opponent in a UA road game since the Cats upset No. 2 Oregon in Eugene earlier in that 2014 season (Oct. 2) … The Cats have 19 victories against AP Top 10 teams (19-56-1), including four in road games (4-28-1) … The last time Arizona defeated two ranked teams in the same season was 2014, when the Wildcats were 3-3 in such games.

When the Cougs are Ranked: All-time, Arizona is 6-5 when facing a nationally-ranked Washington State squad … At No. 8 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll, this will be the highest ranked WSU team that Arizona has ever faced … Saturday will mark the third consecutive season in which Washington State enters its matchup against Arizona as a national ranked team … Last season, the Wildcats upset No. 15 Washington State, 58-37, on Oct. 28 in Tucson … In 2016, the No. 25 Cougars routed Arizona, 69-7, on Nov. 5 in Pullman … Arizona's last road win over a ranked WSU team came on Nov. 4, 2006, when the Wildcats prevailed, 27-17, over No. 25 Washington State … Six times the Wildcats have played a ranked team in Pullman, with the sides splitting the affairs, 3-3 … Arizona is 0-2 when facing Top 10 Washington State teams (1997, 2002).

J.J. Taylor Leads Power 5 Players: Running back J.J. Taylor leads all FBS conference players in all-purpose yardage, collecting 1,315 combined yards on rushing (817), receiving (87) and kick return (411) plays. The sophomore's 164.4 all-purpose average is third nationally among all FBS players, including best in the Pac-12 and second among Power 5 conference players (Rondale Moore, Purdue – 179.9 ypg). The average per game is also the best mark for a UA player since Ka'Deem Carey, who turned in consecutive seasons with 172.9 and 171.5 all-purpose yards per game averages in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Scoring Defense: If you're looking for a reason why Arizona has turned things around in conference play, look no further than the defensive improvement the Wildcats have made under third-year defensive coordinator Marcel Yates. When he arrived in 2016, Yates inherited a small roster lacking playmakers, especially in the front seven. His strategy was to make the most in Year 1 while focusing on adding length and skill in his first recruiting class that would arrive for 2017. That group provided a trio of freshmen All-Americans (Colin Schooler, Tony Fields II, Kylan Wilborn) and numerous other playmakers that made an early impact in 2017. The results were noticeable with the Cats reducing their points allowed and emerging as one of the league leaders for turnovers forced. Focus again centered on recruiting as Kevin Sumlin was hired and retained Yates, who had worked on Sumlin's staff at Texas A&M in 2012-13. Now in Year 3, Yates' unit has taken a more significant step in the scoring defense category, down more than 10 points from his first season.  

Arizona's Scoring Defense Improvement Under Marcel Yates

2016	2017	2018
38.3	34.4	28.1

2018 Power 5 Scoring Defense Improvement (Non-Conference to Conference Play)

School	Non-Conf.	Conf.	Difference
Northwestern	30.3	19.9	10.4
Arizona	34.7	23.8	9.4
Virginia Tech	37.0	28.0	9.0

 
Pac-12 Scoring Defense Leaders (Conference Games Only)

School	Avg.
Washington	18.4
California	21.9
Utah	22.6
Stanford	24.6
Arizona	25.3

 
Run Defense Steps Up: Arizona's run defense has stiffened up in recent games. In fact, the Wildcats have held each of their last two opponents (Oregon and Colorado) under 100 yards rushing. The last time a UA defense did that was to close the 2011 season against Arizona State and Louisiana. In terms of conference games, it last occurred over a four-game stretch in 2010 against Oregon State, Washington State, Washington and UCLA. Also of note: the Wildcats have limited the last three foes under 4.0 yards per carry, (3.3 ypc vs UCLA, 3.7 ypc vs. Oregon and 1.2 ypc vs. Colorado), something that hadn't happened since the four-game stretch listed above from 2010.

Offense Making its Mark: Despite a slow start to the season and a hobbled Khalil Tate for much of the first eight weeks of the season, Arizona's offense is still producing some of the best numbers in the league.  The Wildcats lead the conference in rushing (206.4 ypg), rank second in total offense (454.1 ypg) and third in scoring (30.8 ppg). When the Cats win, the numbers have trended upward, including a scoring average of 41.4 points per game. Individually, J.J. Taylor is the league's second-leading rusher (122.1 ypg), while Tate ranks sixth in total offense (234.1 ypg).

School-er Zone: A consensus Freshman All-America selection last season, Colin Schooler has been a man on a mission his sophomore season. He leads Arizona with 101 tackles through 10 games. Schooler has 19 tackles-for-loss, which leads the Pac-12 and is second-most in the country. Schooler has had at least ½ tackle-for-loss in nine of 10 games this season. In the team's most recent game, a 42-34 win over Colorado, Schooler had nine tackles, three tackles-for-loss, one sack and a pass breakup. The game before, a 44-15 win over Oregon, Schooler led the Wildcats with 11 tackles and finished with 1 ½ tackles-for-loss. That came on the heels of a 10-tackle, three-TFL game against UCLA the week before at the Rose Bowl. The linebacker had Arizona's first 16-tackle game in four seasons in the opener versus BYU. Schooler has 32 1/2 career TFLs to his credit in just 23 career games and 20 career starts. Schooler is averaging 1.68 TFLs per start in his career. He's had at least three TFLs in a game six times over his last 13 games dating back to last season. Also dating back to last season, Schooler has either been the team's leading tackler or second leading tackler in 14 of Arizona's last 16 games. Nationally, he is one of 20 players to register 101 or more tackles already this season. Only nine Power 5 players have hit the 100-tackle mark already.

Pac-12 Leading Tacklers Through 10 Games

Player	School	Total Tackles
Ben Burr-Kirven	Washington	134
Jordan Kunaszyk	California	114
Evan Weaver	California	109
Adarius Pickett	UCLA	107
Colin Schooler	Arizona	101

 
More on his TFLs: Schooler's 19 tackles-for-loss are the second-most through nine games by any Arizona defensive player since Scooby Wright collected 21 through the Wildcats' first 10 games of the 2014 season. Wright is the only player who has collected more TFLs in the first 10 games of a season than Schooler. Schooler's 19 tackles-for-loss this season are tied for the most by any player in a Power 5 Conference. With 19 TFLs already this season, Schooler has more TFLs than 21 of the past 22 end-of-season leaders for Arizona. Only Wright, with 29, finished with more. Additionally, Schooler is one TFL away from reaching Arizona's single-season Top 5 and eight TFLs away from reaching the top 10 for career TFLs in Arizona history. (Chart on Page 9).

Most TFLS Through 10 Games by an Arizona Defensive Player Since 1997

Player	Season	TFLs Through 10 Games
Scooby Wright	2014	21
Colin Schooler	2018	19
Joe Salave'a	1997	14
Mike Szlauko	1997	13
Daniel Greer	1997	13

 
National Leaders in TFLs

Player	School	TFLs
Nate Harvey	East Carolina	20
Colin Schooler	Arizona	19
Chase Hansen	Utah	19
Jaylon Ferguson	Louisiana Tech	18
Maxx Crosby	Eastern Michigan	17.5

 
Shun Does a Ton: A member of the Paul Hornung Award List for the country's most versatile player, Shun Brown does a little bit of everything for Arizona. A dynamic punt returner, Brown's primary responsibility for the Wildcats is as the team's leading receiver. Brown has led the team in catches in five of the team's last six games. For his career, Brown has 127 catches. He is just one catch away from entering Arizona's Top 12 all-time in receptions. With two more, he would pass Cayleb Jones and David Roberts and sit in 12^th alone. Brown has also entered Arizona's Top 14 all-time in receiving touchdowns with 13. He is tied with Jones for 13^th all-time. Additionally, Brown has 1,660 career receiving yards and sits in 14^th place in Arizona history in career receiving yards. (Chart on Page 9). Brown led Arizona with 43 receptions last year and finished with 573 yards, which was second most on the team behind Tony Ellison. Against Oregon last month, Brown had a career high 10 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. He also had five catches for 57 yards and a touchdown in Arizona's 42-34 win over Colorado earlier this month. Brown has now caught five or passes in six of 10 games this season. He only had five or more catches in three games total last season. In the 38 career games he played leading into the season, Brown had five or more catches a total of five times.
 
Khalil Climbing the TD Chart: After throwing five touchdown passes against Colorado last game, Khalil Tate has 19 touchdown passes on the season. He's currently tied with Nick Foles (2009), Jason Johnson (2001) and Ortege Jenkins (1997) for ninth all-time in single-season passing touchdowns. With one more, he'll tie Foles (2010), Marc Reed (1966) and Anu Solomon (2015) for sixth all-time. Tate's five-touchdown game was his second of the season. He also threw five touchdowns against Southern Utah earlier this season. Tate has thrown five TDs in a game three times now, becoming the first Arizona quarterback ever to do that. Tate also had five touchdowns against Purdue last season in the Foster Farms Bowl.
      
Single-Season Passing Touchdowns

Player	Touchdown Passes	Season
Nick Foles	28	2011
Willie Tuitama	28	2011
Anu Solomon	28	2013
Matt Scott	27	2012
Willie Tuitama	23	2008
Nick Foles	20	2010
Marc Reed	20	1966
Anu Solomon	20	2015
Khalil Tate	19	2018

 

Teammates	Team	Total Tackles
Jordan Kunaszyk/Evan Weaver	California	223
Ben Burr-Kirven/Tevis Bartlett	Washington	196
Colin Schooler/Tony Fields	Arizona	174

 
Lockdown Lo: Sophomore cornerback Lorenzo Burns, who had a breakout season last year as a redshirt freshman, has taken the next step in his development this year as a sophomore. Burns has played in nine of 10 games, missing the UCLA contest with an injury. He leads Arizona with 11 pass breakups and is fifth in tackles with 35. Burns ranks third in the Pac-12 with his 11 pass breakups and is also third at 1.22 passes defended per game. After missing the game against the Bruins, Burns returned against Oregon. He was effective in coverage and only notched one tackle. He also had a pass breakup and a fumble recovery. Against Colorado, Burns had a pair of pass breakups to get into double digits for the season. He also had four tackles, including one for a loss. Burns established himself as one of Arizona's most reliable defenders a year ago as a freshman. He tied for second in the nation in interceptions by a freshman with his five. The five picks were the most by an Arizona defender since Trevin Wade also had five in 2009. Burns now has 16 career pass breakups in 21 games.

Pac-12 Leaders in Pass Breakups

Player	School	Pass Breakups
Paulson Adebo	Stanford	14
Byron Murphy	Washington	13
Lorenzo Burns	Arizona	11

The 1K Club: Redshirt sophomore running back J.J. Taylor has rushed for 404 yards over his last two games against Colorado and Oregon. With that, he crossed the 1,000-yard mark.  He becomes the 14^th player in school history to post a 1,000-yard season, and his total of 1,221 yards already ranks ninth for single-season rushing in program history. Not only did Taylor go over 1,000 yards for the season, he also went over 2,000 for his career. Taylor now has 2,329 career rushing yards, which ranks 13^th in program history. Next up would be Jim Upchurch at 2,389 yards. Only 15 previous players in program history went over 2,000 career yards. Taylor rushed for his 192 yards against Colorado on a career-high 40 carries. The 40 carries were the most by an Arizona player since Ka'Deem Carey rushed 48 times against Oregon in 2013. Taylor is currently sixth in the country in rushing yards per game at 122.10 and fourth in total rushing yards.  

Most Rushing Yards Nationally

Player	School	Total Rushing Yards
Jonathan Taylor	Wisconsin	1,548
Darrell Henderson	Memphis	1,446
Eno Benjamin	Arizona State	1,295
J.J. Taylor	Arizona	1,221
Jermar Jefferson	Oregon State	1,201

 
Top 10 Single-Season Rushing Performances in School History

Player	Rushing Yards	Year
Ka'Deem Carey	1,929	2012
Ka'Deem Carey	1,885	2013
Trung Canidate	1,602	1999
Khalil Tate	1,411	2017
Nick Wilson	1,375	2014
Art Luppino	1,359	1954
Art Luppino	1,313	1955
Clarence Farmer	1,229	2001
J.J. Taylor	1,221	2018