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– The last time Arizona faced a team with a “Pistol” offense — UCLA last season in Tucson — the Wildcats’ defense looked like Desert Swarm revisited. How bad was it for the Bruins? Johnathan Franklin gained only 11 yards on the ground in UCLA’s 48-12 loss in which the UA won its first game under interim coach Tim Kish and ended a five-game losing streak. The Bruins had 37 yards rushing.

The most significant difference between Rick Neuheisel’s wanna-be Pistol offense at UCLA (which contributed to his firing) and that of Chris Ault’s scheme at Nevada — the Wolf Pack coach has used it since he created it in 2005 and defenses are different in the WAC and now Mountain West than in the Pac-12. What will Arizona face with Nevada’s Pistol offense in the New Mexico Bowl tomorrow? It is a hybrid of the traditional shotgun and single back offenses. In the Pistol offense, the quarterback lines up four yards behind the center instead seven yards like the shotgun formation. The running back lines up three yards behind the quarterback, instead of next to him as in the shotgun. In the Pistol formation, the quarterback is close enough to the line of scrimmage to read the defense and far enough back to give him extra time and a better vision of the field just like in the shotgun.

– Neuheisel sought Ault’s advice and hired former Nevada assistant Jim Mastro as his run-game coordinator. Ault is quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying about the pistol offense: “The first premise is the running back has to be the guy carrying the load for you. The quarterback has to be a threat.” Neither was the case last season with UCLA quarterbacks Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut injury prone because of the way defenses keyed on them with the pistol formation. Neither had the speed and agility of a Colin Kapernick, who gained more than 1,000 yards rushing in each of his final three seasons with Nevada from 2008-2010. … Nevada sophomore quarterback Cody Fajardo is a threat for Ault and he complements junior tailback Stefphon Jefferson well in the backfield. Fajardo has gained 981 yards on 168 carries and he’s passed for 2,540 yards while completing 66.7 percent of his passes (224 completions in 337 attempts). …

– In somewhat of a surprise move, Mike Leach hired Mastro to his staff this season at Washington State as the running backs coach. Leach is the master of the pass-happy “Air Raid” offense. The pistol offense is a run-oriented offense. Leach reportedly wanted to incorporate some of the pistol schemes in his quick-read spread sets. So much for that (although one season should not be a deciding factor). The Cougars were last in the FBS in rushing with only 349 yards on 252 carries. The 349 yards are 17 less than what Ka’Deem Carey gained against Colorado in his Pac-12-record 366-yard performance on Nov. 10. …

– The best defense statistically that Nevada faced this season was Fresno State, at No. 19 allowing only 335.3 yards per game. The Bulldogs defeated the Wolf Pack 52-36 but allowed 404 yards in total offense. Arizona’s young, injury-marred defense is yielding 485.7 yards a game, ranked 116th in the nation. Jefferson and Co. are licking their chops looking at game film of Arizona struggling against the likes of Franklin of UCLA (162 yards on 24 carries), Kenjon Barner of Oregon (86 yards on 20 carries) and Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor (142 yards on 31 carries). Arizona allows 189.7 rushing yards a game. … One thing in Arizona’s favor is it did not allow a quarterback to break away for large gains. Oregon’s Marcus Mariota gained only 17 yards on five carries against the Wildcats and UCLA’s Brett Hundley Jr. gained 16 yards on 10 carries. ASU’s Taylor Kelly was the most successful with 42 yards on six carries. …

– Jefferson, who is second to Carey nationally with an average of 141.92 rushing yards per game, was not recruited by any of the Pac-12 schools when he attended El Diamante High School in Visalia, Calif. According to Rivals.com, only Fresno State and Nevada offered him a scholarship. He was listed at 5-11 and 198 pounds. He has added 12 more pounds since redshirting as a freshman at Nevada in 2009. The biggest question about his recruitment is how did former UA assistant Pat Hill, who coached Fresno State for 14 years until last season, allow Jefferson to leave the Fresno area for rival Nevada. …

– Another recruiting oddity: Although Nevada and Arizona are bordering states, not one of the Wolf Pack’s players are from Arizona. Nevada’s roster is loaded with players from Nevada and California (most of whom were overlooked by Pac-12 schools). The Wolf Pack also has players from Texas, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Montana, Florida and Massachusetts. Arizona sophomore receiver Garic Wharton is the lone player from Nevada (Las Vegas Valley High School) on the Wildcats’ roster, but the UA has featured talent from Las Vegas in recent years with Juron Criner and Keola Antolin. The Wildcats have signed Las Vegas Bishop Gorman quarterback Anu Solomon, who will make an immediate homecoming to Nevada next season when the Wildcats play at UNLV on Sept. 7. …

– Arizona’s basketball series with Missouri in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons shows that Sean Miller intends to keep a schedule worthy of a decent RPI — not a top 10 RPI, but one that can be in the top 40. Playing Florida in a home-and-home arrangement seeks a top 10 RPI because of the history of Billy Donovan. Rather than play the elite — Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Indiana, etc., — Miller has routinely scheduled good but not great teams in the ACC and SEC. Florida classifies as a great team. That’s why McKale Center will host a game involving two top-10 teams for the first time in eight years tomorrow. Let’s hope it does not take another eight years for that to happen. …

– Jason King of ESPN.com, who is as knowledgeable about college basketball as anyone, predicts Florida to beat Arizona 74-62 tomorrow night. King writes that “the Wildcats’ first game against a quality opponent ends in a loss, but the setback won’t define their season.” … Florida is coming off consecutive Elite Eight appearances and some coaches believe they are better this season. King writes that the Gators’ three best wins (Wisconsin, Marquette, at Florida State) were by a combined 76 points. “As good as they were last year,” Marquette coach Buzz Williams was quoted as saying by King, “the chemistry and execution of this year’s team far eclipses last year’s Elite Eight team.” …

– How great is Florida? Three of their players can be in the NBA next season. Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com forecasts them to be second-round selections in the NBA draft in June. They are junior power forward/center Patric Young (No. 40 pick overall), senior power forward Erik Murphy (No. 45), and senior guard Kenny Boynton (No. 56). The Gators will have a decided experience advantage with Young and Murphy starting against freshmen Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley. This will be a “Welcome to college basketball” moment for Tarczewski and Ashley. It will also be a good gauge as to how far they have come in handling a pressure situation.

– Donovan was asked this week in a press gathering about the potential of Florida recruiting in the West, especially with a game in Tucson. Because of the distance from Florida to Arizona, Donovan and Miller will find it difficult to sign players in the other’s location. “I am always looking to recruit guys who want to play here,” Donovan told the media. “You look at the west coast there’s UCLA, Arizona, Gonzaga and Washington … there’s a lot of real good programs. And then not far away are Texas and Kansas. It would take a special situation where maybe a kid’s roots are back east. For us to recruit out west, it would have to be an isolated situation.” …

– Murphy shares a past with Tarczewski. Both hail from St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass., although they were never teammates there. Tarczewski was a teammate of Murphy’s brother, Alex Murphy, a one-time prime recruiting target for Miller at Arizona. Alex Murphy opted for Duke, where he is a redshirt freshman. … Florida is also familiar with Arizona senior guard Mark Lyons, who played against the Gators two years ago on New Year’s Eve. Florida snapped Xavier’s 30-game home winning streak with a 71-67 win. Lyons had a game to forget, shooting 1-of-11 from the field and fouling out with only two points in 32 minutes. …

Site publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner