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Arizona football notebook: On first down efficiency and preparing for Mississippi State’s schemes

Arizona ran only 53 offensive plays in its season-opening win over NAU, the second-fewest of the Jedd Fisch era. But the Wildcats averaged more than nine yards per play, which ranks fifth in the country after one week, so they made the most of those seemingly fewer opportunities.

The key against NAU, and apparently since the start of last season, has been production on first down.

Of those 53 plays, 32 of them came on first down, and on those first down snaps the UA averaged 12.4 yards while generating more than 83 percent of its total yardage.