Arizona @ Nevada preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 13, 2014 ) Nevada 28, Arizona 35

No. 20 Arizona, which struggled defensively in a 42-32 season opening win over Texas-San Antonio, travels to Nevada on Saturday without its best defensive player in All-American linebacker Scooby Wright. Wright, last year's national defensive player of the year, will be sidelined 3-to-4 weeks after undergoing surgery Saturday for a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee suffered in the first quarter against the Roadrunners on Sept. 3.

To say the Wildcats will miss Wright, who had 163 tackles, including 29 for loss, and 14 sacks and six forced fumbles last season, is an understatement. UTSA, which returned just two offensive starters, rolled up 525 yards and 29 first downs against the Wildcats, who needed two defensive touchdowns to help pull out the win. Making the situation even worse for Arizona is the fact the player who would have likely replaced Wright, Cody Ippolito, tore his ACL 10 days before the opener and is out for the season. "The loss of Scooby Wright, they'll feel that," Nevada coach Brian Polian, whose team opened the season with a methodical 31-17 home win over FCS UC Davis, told reporters. "He's just a terrific player. He's one of those guys when you watch the tape preparing for an opponent, you just giggle when you watch him play because he's fun to watch and he's so good."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network LINE: Arizona -11.5

ABOUT ARIZONA (1-0): With Wright out, the Wildcats are probably going to have outscore people for a few weeks which puts the spotlight on talented but erratic sophomore quarterback Anu Solomon and sophomore running back Nick Wilson. Wilson had 97 yards on 22 carries in the opener while Solomon had a strong second half and finished 22-of-36 for 229 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions but also overthrew a couple of receivers on long passes that would have been touchdowns. "We thought we could have been better in all three aspects of the game," Solomon told reporters. "But everyone is happy and it's on to the next one."

ABOUT NEVADA (1-0): Junior Tyler Stewart takes over for four-year starter Cody Fajardo at quarterback and had a solid opener for the Wolf Pack, completing 13-of-20 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown and also rushing for 43 yards on nine carries, including a 15-yard touchdown run. He got a lot of help from sophomore running back Don Jackson who rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns, his fifth career 100-yard game. Defensively, the Wolf Pack are led by senior defensive end Ian Seau, the nephew of NFL Hall of Famer Junior Seau, who had a team high 8.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss last season.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Haden Gregory, a fifth-year senior walk-on who joined the squad in 2013 after two years at Long Beach City College and had four tackles against UTSA, will take Wright's spot in the lineup.

2. Nevada is 4-5 all-time against ranked teams at Mackay Stadium.

3. Three Arizona players who were suspended for the opener for a violation of team rules -- starting WR Samajie Grant, starting S Tellas Jones and backup DT Anthony Fotu -- will be available this week according to head coach Rich Rodriguez.

PREDICTION: Arizona 34, Nevada 28