How Arizona's Offense Can Stay Hot Against Kansas

The Wildcats are just a win away from qualifying for a bowl, but the pesky Kansas Jayhawks stand in their way this week back in Tucson.

Noah Fifita took advantage of some short field opportunities against the Buffaloes, thanks to five turnovers forced by his defense. He threw for 213 yards and four touchdowns in the win and won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors.

While the Wildcats can't rely on such easy scoring opportunities consistently, the offensive outburst is something that could carry over this week against another uninspiring defense from Kansas.

The Jayhawks are 5-4 this season and fighting for a bowl berth as well, despite being a much improved team from last year's disaster, similar to Arizona. They can score points with anyone in the Big 12, but they give them up just as easily. That puts Arizona in a great position to maintain momentum in the scoring department at home.

It's also a battle of experienced quarterbacks, with Fifita facing Jalon Daniels, who is having the best season of his career. Both offenses flow through their quarterbacks, meaning the game might be decided by which signal caller makes more plays. Let's take a look at how the Wildcats can keep the good times rolling on offense this week.

Arizona's Game Plan vs Kansas Defense

The Jayhawks allow 25.3 points per game, 11th in the Big 12. Like Colorado, the Jayhawks don't particularly impress in any single facet defensively. They allow 170 rushing yards per game (14th in Big 12) and 213 passing yards per game (11th).

The Buffaloes have the worst run defense in the conference, but we still saw Arizona go to the air early against them before leaning on the rushing attack to close the game out. It's clear that offensive coordinator Seth Doege wants to put all of his trust in Fifita to run the offense, no matter the circumstances.

So, I would expect Fifita to be busy again this week. Tre Spivey should get more involved, but he might be a safe bet to find the end zone whenever he touches the ball. Spivey caught a screen pass and scored from 57 yards out against the Buffaloes, and that could be the game plan again this week to stretch the field.

The Jayhawks play with their safeties close to the line at times to stop the run, but that means they could spread the defense out with quick throws to the perimeter and then line up shots downfield to Kris Hutson and Javin Whatley.

Lyrik Rawls and Devin Dye cover the field well on the back end, leading the team with six and four pass deflections, respectively. Kansas doesn't create many turnovers, but the last line of defense has done a good job of stopping the explosives.

Arizona's pass protection has been pretty good this year, but they will need to account for defensive end Leroy Harris III, who leads Kansas with 4.5 sacks this year. The Wildcats have surrendered 19 sacks this year, so keeping Fifita should be paramount this week.

Harris also does a decent job setting the edge against the run, which would negate Arizona's strong tackle play if he can continue to do so this week.

The ground game takes a backseat until the second half, when Arizona hopes to grind games down and hold on to a lead. That's worked on occasion this season, but also come back to bite them against talented offenses. Kansas is closer to the latter, so it could be smart to try to run early this week.

Ismail Mahdi and Kedrick Reescano both scored last week, with Mahdi breaking off a 68-yard run, while Quincy Craig led the trio with seven carries. It doesn't feel like Arizona has fully taken advantage of the depth at this position yet, and this is the type of vulnerable run defense to do so against.

Doege usually keeps his plans close to the vest during the week, so we'll have to find out what he thinks on Saturday. But, the running backs could be in for a big week. It's important for Arizona to find ways to keep defenses off balance so they don't just sit back and tee off on Fifita in the passing game.