Arizona football: Evaluating the team at the midway point

The Arizona Wildcats have gotten to the bye week at 3-3. They've had a solid non-conference start. Arizona edged out Toledo in overtime, shocked Oklahoma State by forcing turnovers and putting up touchdowns, then rolled past South Carolina State.

Unfortunately, Pac-12 play has been a little less kind. Arizona went to Oregon, and despite playing fairly well defensively, struggled to put the football in the end zone and eventually lost 49-0. Arizona then lost to Oregon State 38-35 in a barn burner in the desert, as Sean Mannion bested Matt Scott with a game-winning drive in the final minutes. Then Arizona looked like they were about to pull off a huge upset in Palo Alto, but Josh Nunes led an impressive comeback to help Stanford prevail in overtime 54-48.

Kyle Kensing of Arizona Desert Swarm reviews the season up to this point, and singles out Matt Scott as the biggest positive so far this season:

Matt Scott: Anyone who knew anything about this UA roster was well aware that Rodriguez's system and Scott were a fit. The surprise is just how well suited the two have been -- or rather, how Rodriguez and staff have retooled the philosophy to accentuate Scott's strengths.

Rodriguez's zone-read option has long been known as a run-first system, but this season it's called for the pass. Frequently.

In fact, Scott ended Week 6 third in all FBS for completions per game with 31, and actually has passed for more yardage than West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith. Granted, Smith has played one fewer game, but...still. Pretty astounding nonetheless.

That Scott only gets one season running this offense is a shame, but his reward for remaining at Arizona and redshirting is now justified.

There's a lot for Arizona to improve upon defensively, but their offense seems to be clicking on all cylinders, which has to bode well for the second half of the regular season.