TUCSON, Ariz. -- Bigger, stronger, faster. If that's the case for Oregon's advantage over most, if not all, of its opponents, it hasn't sunk in with the Arizona Wildcats.
"It means nothing when you step in the lines," UA linebacker Tra'Mayne Bondurant said this week. "Maybe they are faster on paper, but on the field maybe we are faster. We just want to go out and execute.
"We're not worried if they are bigger than us because we know what type of team we have."
The type of team Arizona has been is a surprisingly effective and fortunate one -- as it dodged seemingly sure losses (Washington, California) and won some big ones (Arizona State, Oregon).
Oregon's track record hasn't meant anything in the past two meetings with Arizona.
The Ducks were ranked No. 2 when they hosted Arizona two months ago, but were outplayed by the Wildcats and suffered their only loss of the season, 31-24. And that game was supposed to be a revenge game for the Ducks after Arizona knocked them out of the national championship picture last year with a 42-16 trouncing in Tucson.
Can No. 7 Arizona stay with the No. 2 Ducks again?
Why not? They are teams that are cut from the same DNA of playing fast.
NO. 2 OREGON vs. NO. 7 ARIZONA
FOX, Friday, 7 p.m. (MT)
Play by play: Tim Brando
Analyst: Joel Klatt
SCOUTING REPORT
Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez called Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota the best college football player in the country. Now, he'll have to find a way to beat him again on Friday. Stop him? Well, let's not get carried away.
"I don't think you can say we stopped him," Rodriguez said of the last two games. "If you look back at his stats, he got a lot of yards and big plays, but we got a couple of turnovers . . . he still got his yards. He's still going to get his yards and going to make his plays."
Mariota went 20 for 30 for 276 yards, but only one touchdown pass in the 31-24 loss.
Limiting them will be key. But the same goes for Oregon vs. Nick Wilson and Anu Solomon, who seemingly has overcome his ankle injury. He's not listed in Arizona's injury report. But this is not Solomon vs. Mariota.
"This game is more than two Polynesian men," Solomon said of the quarterback matchup. "It's Arizona vs. Oregon. We just have to grind it out."
WHAT TO WATCH
Big Plays: Like Oregon, Arizona has the potential to score fast and score often. This year, Arizona has scored eight times on plays of 60 yards or more.
Turnover battle: Arizona has forced 13 turnovers in the past four games, which has enabled the Wildcats to outscore their opponents 73-26 off turnovers. In the past two games against Oregon, Arizona has five takeaways.
The run game: When the Wildcats are running with success, everything opens up offensively. They have six games with more than 200 yards rushing, all wins.
WHAT TO KNOW
• Despite Arizona's two consecutive wins in the series, Oregon has won 16 of the past 21 meetings.
• Arizona is 3-1 vs. ranked teams this season, including two matchups in the past two weeks.
KEY PLAYERS
Royce Freeman, RB, Oregon: Freeman has rushed for 1,185 yards, becoming one of just six freshman RBs in Pac-12 history to top the 1,000-yard mark.
Nick Wilson, RB, Arizona: Wilson would be another freshman who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards. He has rushed for 100-plus yards in four games in a row and has scored eight TDs over the past three games.
Scooby Wright III, LB, Arizona: He'll have to be spectacular again, like he has all season. If he can find a way to get to Mariota a few times, Arizona has a chance.
PREDICTION
In a season of miracle finishes and improbable situations, Arizona has caught lightning in a bottle. But sometimes it all ends. Apples to apples, Oregon is the better team. At some point, it must prove it. Oregon 35, Arizona 20
Clearly, Arizona won't be intimidated by the Ducks.
"The confidence will never be a fault for us, especially with our defense," Bondurant said. "We love playing against these guys. We know they are a big team and always talked about. They have the best uniforms and all that, but we understand that's just another game and just another team."
But the rest of the college football world will have plenty of eyes on Friday's FOX broadcast (7 p.m., MT) as the Wildcats try to nudge their way into the College Football Playoff picture with a win.
The Wildcats seemingly have little to lose: A victory could be big enough to put them in the top four, while a loss just puts a hiccup on what has been an improbable season.
There's no denying the hype, but the Wildcats found themselves in a similar situation just a week ago, playing arch-rival Arizona State with the Pac-12 South title on the line.
Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said he doesn't sense his team will be caught up in the hype because "nobody expects us to be here and nobody expects us to win.
"We never got caught up in that," Rodriguez said. "We talk about keeping the main thing: just playing.
"All the talk and all that stuff of rematch -- when you are lined up against them and it is third-and-1 or first-and-10 or the fourth quarter, you're not thinking about all that stuff. You're just trying to win that play."
UA goes into the game a two-touchdown underdog. Still, that's 10 points fewer than in October, when it went into Autzen Stadium and stunned the Ducks.
Oregon coach Mark Helfrich dismissed the revenge or redemption factor in his team's preparations. "You can't go into the game white-knuckled, worried about what happened a couple of months ago," he said.
And while many are caught up in what Oregon "should have" or "could have" done against Arizona in October, Helfrich acknowledged the reality that "Arizona was really good. And everyone has seen how that has played out throughout the year."
Now the question is whether the Wildcats can muster a repeat.
"It's tough to beat a good team twice, although it's not impossible," senior safety Jared Tevis said. "We're going to prepare like we do every week. I don't think it's going to be any different besides the fact the stakes are a little higher."
Prepare harder and stay focused has been the mantra this week.
"Your goal every year is to win a championship," Rodriguez said. "We have a championship game, and we're in it."
Rodriguez said the Wildcats will need another "clean" game to beat the Ducks -- avoid turnovers, make tackles, move the chains. Arizona rushed for 304 yards vs. the Ducks a year ago and 208 this year. Rodriguez called it critical that the Wildcats establish the run to keep Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota off the field.
"That's going to be the challenge," Rodriguez said. "They are playing at a high level, so we have to execute offensively. Let's face it, Mariota is going to get his stuff. They will get their yards. We have to limit their chances."
The Wildcats' unorthodox defense has created more problems for Mariota over the past two years than probably any other opponent, forcing the Ducks into five turnovers in the two games.
"We just got to get to him," Bondurant said. "Once he's sitting in that pocket, having that free time makes him the best quarterback in the nation. When you get pressure on him he cracks sometimes. That's what we're going to do, try to blitz him and make sure he's running around and make sure he doesn't' see where we are coming from."
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