3^rd quarter

14:06: Golden is one of two guys on deep coverage, incomplete and could have been picked by the other guy.

13:42: Criner targeted, but slips.

9:24: Criner takes one in the flat and gets 9 yards in space and almost the first down.

7:28: Foles throws an ill advised, inaccurate ball deep, picked.

6:53: Rosario with an awful drop. Such an easy catch, dropped.

6:48: Rosario drops another pass. This one was harder, but should have been a catch.

6:21: Criner catches one and breaks two tackles with two separate nice moves to almost convert 1^st and very long.

5:20: Criner targeted, goes up to get one against double coverage, but can’t quite bring it down.

1:59: Golden makes a nice play on the ball to intercept it, but out of bounds. Would have been tough to keep in bounds.

4^th quarter

14:38: Nick Foles is done with a 45-7 lead. Let’s see if Criner stays in.

12:21: Krump draws pass interference.

10:32: Criner is done.

0:00: Arizona came into this game 1-4, but they sure didn’t look like it. Arizona scored on all 6 of their first half drives and took a 42-7 lead into the locker room. They didn’t play as well in the 3^rd quarter and they took their starters out in the 4^th, but they still won 48-12. Almost every one of their offensive skill players had a good game, even their running backs and this was a team that couldn’t do anything on the ground coming into this game.

Juron Criner finished the game with 10 catches for 101 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had a pass interference drawn and got almost every one of his targets. He could have had more, but he didn’t even play in the 4^th quarter and in the 3^rd quarter, he only had 1 catch with a huge lead. Criner had each of his 3 touchdowns in different ways. His first one was an easy one. The cornerback covering him one on one slipped on the route and Criner was wide open for a 4 yard touchdown. On his 2^nd one, he didn’t get any separation, but he didn’t need to as he was able to reach over the defender and win an inaccurate jump ball against tight coverage for 7 yards. On his 3^rd touchdown, he simply beat his man deep for 25 yards and made an easy catch as Nick Foles’ put it right on the money for him.

That 25 yard catch was Criner’s longest and he really didn’t show a lot of big play and separation ability. However, he proved himself to be a reliable target, a good short to intermediate route runner, a red zone threat, and also a good run blocker, partially contributing to Arizona’s surprisingly good game on the ground. UCLA’s defense didn’t provide much of a test for Arizona, especially not on this night, but the 6-4 Criner had 75 catches for 956 yards and 11 touchdowns in 11 games this season (missed one with an appendectomy) after 82 catches for 1233 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He looks like a 3^rd rounder or so.

Proving that UCLA really did not come to play defensively, Criner’s partner at wide receiver, Gino Crump, not the greatest receiver, also had 9 catches for 104 yards. On the year, he has 65 catches for 610 yards and 2 touchdowns. The 6-2 210 pound receiver had some nice plays, but he’s a one year starter and a former walk on. He flashed some potential, but if he does anything at the next level, it’d be as an undrafted free agent.

The guy throwing the ball to them, Nick Foles, also had a great game. He was 26 of 39 for 291 yards, 3 touchdowns, and one ugly, ill advised pick. It is also worth noting that one of those touchdowns to Criner was inaccurate and a great play by Criner to bring it in for a touchdown. Foles has a great arm and he’s got good accuracy, but he one of those guys who doesn’t have “it.”

He’s not a winner, going 4-8 this season. He has poor pocket presence, taking 23 sacks in each of the last 2 seasons and that’s not all on his line. He has a tendency to hold the ball too long and he’s not mobile either. He also has a tendency to check down too much, rather than leading drives and taking shots downfield, even though he does have a great arm. His footwork needs work as well, as he tends to throw off his back foot, but he has a good enough arm to complete long completions in spite of that, as he did tonight. That might be work at the next level.

On top of that, he starts seasons well, but doesn’t finish them well. This season, he started with 10-0 TD-INT, but finished 18-14 TD-INT in his last 8 games. On the season, he completed 69.1% of his passes, 7.7 YPA, and 28 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. Last season he had a very high completion percentage (mid 70s) to start the season, but finished at 67.1%. I thought that was related to a leg injury that he came back too quickly from, but it’s starting to look like a trend. He has enough to work with that he should be a 2^nd day pick, but nothing more.

UCLA wasn’t awful offensively, but turnovers, drops, and missed field goals killed them as they tried to keep up with a perfect Arizona offense in the first half. Nelson Rosario was to blame for a lot of that. Continuing his inconsistency, Rosario had an awesome catch and run after, but fumbled. He also had a pair of terrible drops. He led UCLA in receiving with 4 catches for 78 yards. On the season, the 6-5 receiver had 61 catches for 1105 yards and 4 touchdowns. He’s got all the physical tools, but he does stupid stuff a lot and he plays in a weird offense. He’s probably a late round pick.

As I said, UCLA didn’t have a bad game offensively, with 323 yards of total offense. Robert Golden for Arizona didn’t have a great game. The 5-11 200 pound safety will probably have to play cornerback at the next level. He looked very undersized in this one and struggled against the run. He had a few nice plays and his share of tackles, including a tackle for loss on 3^rd down, forcing a field goal that was missed. However, his season stats aren’t that great, 69 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 pick, and 5 deflections and he just didn’t impress me. If he gets drafted, it’ll be late.