(Written by kencraw)

I still feel like I’m trying to catch back up with my life after that Notre Dame trip (which was at the tail end of a series of trips). But late is better than never, so here are my Arizona game thoughts:

• Does anyone else feel like we’re allowing the fact that the offense came alive to ignore the fact that the defense looked troublesomely bad in the 1st half?
• Obviously the big offensive revelation is the re-built offensive line. And the big news there is true Freshman Sioape Vatikani, who looks to be a rock around which future offensive lines can be built. But also important was moving Driscoll (who is one of our better linemen) to guard. With those two doing lots of pulling on run plays the line looks a lot better. I think they also give the Bears more flexibility on pass protection to pick up the various rush patterns.
• The hiding bad news is that one injury at O-Line and the team could be in real trouble. Although mid-week news (an updated depth chart) suggests that a couple more younger players might be ready to come in and make a difference, moving up to 2nd team.
• What I had previously said about competent QB’s shredding the Bears definitely appeared to be true in the 1st half of the Arizona game. In particular, there are lots of gaps for crossing routes behind the line-backers as they have to be so focused on run support.
• I haven’t had a chance to re-watch the game to figure out what the Bears changed in the 2nd half defensively, but I have to give the defensive coaching staff credit for their drastically improved performance. Frankly, that’s what won the game.
• I do have to say that Arizona is significantly improved on both sides of the ball. Mark my words, they’re going to upset a couple of teams this year.
• Continuing down that aside, the Pac-12 south looks to have the weaker teams than the North this year. In the North, only Stanford looks weak, with both WSU and OSU looking somewhat strong. In the South Arizona, ASU and Colorado are all on the weaker side. Good news: We get Colorado, not Utah.
• Back to the game, Plummer seems to be settling in. Of course it helps when he’s not constantly getting pummeled, but even without that I feel like his confidence in his progressions including when there’s a blitz is improving.
• And of course then there’s Ott, who is looking great and if it’s possible even greater every week. But don’t under-estimate either of his backups. Moore and Brooks are both capable. Brooks particularly impressed me in that he seemed to have more tackle breaking skills and power than I previously saw out of him.
• Back to the concerns, the inability of the defensive line to get pressure on passing plays is really mind-boggling. This might be the worst the pass rush has been in a decade, even going back to the Dykes era (where while overall having issues, their defensive line pressure wasn’t the worst of it).
• I find it interesting how much the Bears increase their blitzing late in the game. There’s a notable increase of “bringing the house” in the 4th quarter. I suspect part of that is they’re waiting until they know the offense is in a ‘must-pass’ situation. But even when it’s 3rd and 17 in the 2nd quarter, we’re not seeing the sort of blitz packages we see in the last 5 minutes of the game.
• Looking forward, WSU is going to be *really* tough. At least the weather looks to be nice. (There’s nothing worse than a November trip to the frozen potato patch. (I was there last January taking my son on a potential college tour… 100’s of miles of frozen “tundra”).) But WSU is looking pretty good and they let Oregon off the hook by losing that game last week.
• Looking backwards, Notre Dame seems to have come to life so Cal’s ability to go toe-to-toe with them is looking more and more like a “moral victory” and UNLV is dong quite well. The Bears might be better tested than we thought.