The Cougars look to get back on a winning track against the 15th ranked Arizona Wildcats.

WSU (2-5, 1-3) will host Arizona (5-1, 2-1) this Saturday in what will be Dad’s Weekend at WSU. The Cougars are coming off a bye week after falling in their last game 34-17 to the Stanford Cardinal.

The Wildcats are also coming off a bye week after losing their previous game against USC in a hard fought battle 28-26.

Similar to many of their previous foes, Arizona possesses a mobile quarterback in freshman quarterback Anu Solomon. Solomon enters this game having thrown for 2,136 yards for 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. WSU linebackers coach Ken Wilson said the familiarity of mobile quarterbacks has helped the Cougar defense.

“We’ve seen a lot of mobile quarterbacks over the last two years,” Wilson said. “The scheme is pretty multiple and we can give them a lot of looks and I think we’re pretty athletic at most positions so we’ve handled pretty well, we’ve gotta do better this week.”

Defensively, Arizona gives a different look then what the Cougars have seen this year. The Wildcats come out with a 3-3-5 defense that at times can drop eight back into coverage. Head Coach Mike Leach said they’ll have to adapt to the change.

“It’s just a little different alignment than other guys have, it’s not uncommon,” Leach said. “They blitz out of it a little differently than other defenses.”

Here are a few keys to the games for WSU as they host the tough Arizona Wildcats.

Anu Solomon vs. WSU pass rush

The WSU pass rush has fared well against mobile quarterbacks this year, most notably sacking Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota eight times. They will have to sustain that success in hopes of slowing down one of the most talented freshman quarterbacks in the nation.

The Cougars will feature a new starter at the MIKE linebacker this week. Redshirt freshman Peyton Pelluer will take over for seasoned redshirt junior Darryl Monroe.

Pelluer will look to help aid the Cougar pass rush and force Solomon into making mistakes, something he hasn’t done much of this year. With the running back core a bit banged up for Arizona, the Wildcats look to lean a bit more heavily on Solomon.

For the Cougars to have success against Arizona, they’ll have to force Solomon out of the pocket quickly in order to prevent any receivers from getting open downfield.

The Wildcats have allowed 14 sacks over their six games, so getting to Solomon is not an insurmountable task for the strength of their defense. If the Cougars can provide suitable blitz packages and the defensive line can provide a solid push, the Cougars should put themselves in a good position defensively against one of the most potent offenses in college football.

If they fail to provide pressure against Solomon, he undoubtedly has the talent to find the open receivers and make another long day for the Cougar defense.

Connor Halliday vs. Arizona’s Secondary

Redshirt senior quarterback Connor Halliday is putting together a season that could go down in history as statistically the greatest season ever for a quarterback. He comes in with 3,344 yards through the air with 28 touchdown passes to only eight interceptions while completing 66.7 percent of his passes.

Arizona comes in ranked 106th in the nation against the pass yielding 278 yards per contest on average. Halliday and the Cougar receivers could have yet another field day offensively against a defense that has been poor against the pass.

The crucial element in how well Halliday will play is how the offensive line responds after getting pushed around by Stanford’s dominating defensive line. If the Cougar offensive line can return to their form prior to the Oregon game, then Halliday will have plenty of time to throw and find his open receivers.

After coming out with a more conservative game plan against Stanford, wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons said they could look to open up the passing game more vertically.

“Within our scheme, it’s designed to take advantage of their weaknesses,” Simmons said. “If they give us the downfield stuff we’ll take advantage of the downfield stuff, if they give us the short passing game we’ll be patient and we’ll dink and dunk until we drive down the field.”

If the offensive line gives Halliday the time, then Saturday should be another explosive performance from Halliday and the Cougar offense.

WSU will hope the fathers coming into town will provide a much-needed spark to the season. The Cougars face USC, Oregon State, Arizona State and Washington following the Arizona game. Their room for error is marginal, as two losses will eliminate them from bowl game contention.

WSU will host Arizona at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The game can be seen on the Pac-12 Network.