It was a full week and weekend of action for Arizona with a football game and two basketball games taking place over the last seven days and it left a lot to learn about the Wildcats. That is where the focus will be for us this week in the War Room so let’s get right into it.
Football
Arizona had to go through one of the worst losses of the Rich Rodriguez era Saturday in Pullman as Washington State made things hard on the ‘Cats in a 69-7 game. But it is still sports and Arizona will get another chance to get a win this Saturday against another ranked team as Colorado makes its way to Tucson.
* In lieu of our regular breakdown of Saturday’s game by position group we’ll just take a closer look at the three phases of the game instead. There wasn’t a lot of good for the ‘Cats in the lopsided loss to the Cougars, but it did present another opportunity to examine this current team.
- Offense: Rodriguez’s own personal group that he watches over continued to lack productivity Saturday and in a year where there is a lot to critique there was not one area Saturday that was worse than the other. All of the elements played into one another causing yet another sluggish outing on that side of the ball.
Everyone wants to be a quarterback for a reason and the signal caller was once again at the forefront Saturday. Brandon Dawkins started the game but he didn’t finish it. Anu Solomon came in and Khalil Tate even got time once again. Overall the group was not good once again and finished with just 11 completions. The progressions and decisions continue to feel like they are happening too quickly still, but Solomon was the most consistent of the bunch. Still he had some head-scratching decisions that show he still isn’t quite right coming back from his injury.
The running back spot continues to be what it is at this stage of the year. Samajie Grant is inexperienced at the position but he is giving what he can. There were still some instances where he could have picked up more yards, but there is not much more you can ask of a receiver being asked to move positions. The lack of a running true game has hurt the Wildcats as Washington State had no problem loading up the box and forcing UA to pass the ball. It’s just hard to get anything going when you are outmanned.
The receiver group has shown flashes this season but when they are only being targeted 23 times it can be tough to make plays. That margin for error with limited attempts is small and that has impacted the game for UA this season especially as of late.
- Defense: Anytime you give up 69 points in a game there are going to be few positives and that was certainly the case for the Wildcats in Saturday’s loss. UA’s defensive group has been at a disadvantage for most of the season and the blowout was just the latest example of it. More injuries and experience being learned on the job has led to some big scores on the other side, but the dam finally felt like it broke in the loss to Wazzu. Marcel Yates was supremely limited by what he could do Saturday because of the personnel.
The ‘Cats are counting on players in a lot of spots who have not seen something like Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense. Still, there was more that could have been done and Rodriguez said as much Monday. It was clear that UA should have tried to switch up what it was doing at certain points even more but with what the team has out there it very likely would have made little difference.
Only rushing three the defensive line just didn’t have the man power to overcome the disadvantage up front and that meant very little to virtually no pressure on Luke Falk allowing him to pick apart the secondary.
Missed tackles have been an issue, but Saturday was about as bad as can be remembered for the linebacker unit in particular. It was not just that group, but when it came to the linebacker unit the plays were just not being finished quite a bit.
The secondary knew it was going to be tested and it was. There were some positive plays and Arizona was working to keep everything in front of it, but with no pass rush that meant more time in coverage for the defensive backs and it was just too much. There were missed plays and at times confusion the back end and it all played into a rough day for the ‘Cats.
- Special teams: It was the same old story with Arizona’s special teams units. The kickoff and punt coverage teams had issues again giving a team that didn’t need it good field position seemingly the entire game. It led to the Wildcats switching punters making it the latest game to not write home about for Charlie Ragle’s group. At this point it is not something that looks like it will be fixed this season, but in the long term the Wildcats will have to find a solution to the special teams woes.
* In addition to Saturday’s game the Wildcats were able to get back to work Sunday and on Monday the team’s weekly press conference took place. Here were five notable topics to be addressed by Rodriguez and his team.
- The Arizona head coach hasn’t avoided the blame for the way his team’s season has gone and the current state of the program and he once again put himself first when it came to Saturday’s game. Rodriguez mentioned that no part of the game was coached well and that started with himself.
“It’s gotta motivate them (players),” he said. “It motivates the coaching staff. It motivates me. It motivates everybody in the program. Work a little harder. Recruit well. Get some guys in there to provide some depth and competition and maybe even start, and get the guys who are returning to play at a higher level.
“Then the guys who are seniors to play their tail off the next three games.”
* At this point it is clear the season is wearing on Rodriguez himself. Monday was one of his more subdued and almost depressing press conferences of the season. He was asked how he is taking all the losing and he said simply that it is “miserable” as things have played out. He has never quite gone that far with it publicly, but that is the reality for the Wildcats right now and for Rodriguez as the team’s head coach.
* More injuries for the Wildcats too as receiver Cedric Peterson who recently jumped into a new starting role when Grant took over at running back is now out with a broken foot. It happened prior to Saturday’s game but it will keep him out for the season joining a growing group of injured players. Rodriguez was asked about JJ Taylor and Nick Wilson and he said that Taylor is absolutely out for the season and at this point he doesn’t expect to have Wilson back this year either.
So for those holding out hope that Wilson might be able to make a comeback for the Arizona State game it doesn’t look likely at this stage, but based on how Rodriguez was acting when he announced the injury that doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
* Arizona’s special teams continue to be a big issue and the Wildcats decided to switch punters going with Matt Aragon over Josh Pollack in the game. Rodriguez isn’t sure if it’s something that will stick, but he felt a change was needed in that game.
“We’ll see how they punt during the week,” he said. “Josh has been pretty good all year, but that was like everyone can be critical and we deserve to be criticized for that performance. But guys aren’t doing it on purpose. We’re supposed to kick it high and to the right and we kick it low to the left. We’re supposed to kick it to the left and we kick it low to the right. It’s not like they’re doing it on purpose.
“You can scream and yell at them and all that, and you just wonder why. Why do you flip the ball sideways when you can fall forward for a first down? You just have to get to a point where you coach them where they won’t do that. They’re inevitably going to make mistakes and learn from them hopefully the key is they don’t do them again.”
* One of the biggest issues fans had an issue with was the return to dropping eight players into coverage while only rushing three linemen meaning less pressure on the quarterback. Because of personnel Arizona’s defensive staff is in a tough spot, but it’s clear more could have been done to create some kind of disruption for Washington State’s defense.
“Again, it goes back to I think it’s not like we weren’t trying,” Rodriguez said. “When we blitzed our blitzes weren’t getting there and our man coverage didn’t hold up long enough. We certainly didn’t get no pressure with a three-man rush and we didn’t react well in our zone dropping. So, it was one of those nightmare games.”
Football
Arizona had to go through one of the worst losses of the Rich Rodriguez era Saturday in Pullman as Washington State made things hard on the ‘Cats in a 69-7 game. But it is still sports and Arizona will get another chance to get a win this Saturday against another ranked team as Colorado makes its way to Tucson.
* In lieu of our regular breakdown of Saturday’s game by position group we’ll just take a closer look at the three phases of the game instead. There wasn’t a lot of good for the ‘Cats in the lopsided loss to the Cougars, but it did present another opportunity to examine this current team.
- Offense: Rodriguez’s own personal group that he watches over continued to lack productivity Saturday and in a year where there is a lot to critique there was not one area Saturday that was worse than the other. All of the elements played into one another causing yet another sluggish outing on that side of the ball.
Everyone wants to be a quarterback for a reason and the signal caller was once again at the forefront Saturday. Brandon Dawkins started the game but he didn’t finish it. Anu Solomon came in and Khalil Tate even got time once again. Overall the group was not good once again and finished with just 11 completions. The progressions and decisions continue to feel like they are happening too quickly still, but Solomon was the most consistent of the bunch. Still he had some head-scratching decisions that show he still isn’t quite right coming back from his injury.
The running back spot continues to be what it is at this stage of the year. Samajie Grant is inexperienced at the position but he is giving what he can. There were still some instances where he could have picked up more yards, but there is not much more you can ask of a receiver being asked to move positions. The lack of a running true game has hurt the Wildcats as Washington State had no problem loading up the box and forcing UA to pass the ball. It’s just hard to get anything going when you are outmanned.
The receiver group has shown flashes this season but when they are only being targeted 23 times it can be tough to make plays. That margin for error with limited attempts is small and that has impacted the game for UA this season especially as of late.
- Defense: Anytime you give up 69 points in a game there are going to be few positives and that was certainly the case for the Wildcats in Saturday’s loss. UA’s defensive group has been at a disadvantage for most of the season and the blowout was just the latest example of it. More injuries and experience being learned on the job has led to some big scores on the other side, but the dam finally felt like it broke in the loss to Wazzu. Marcel Yates was supremely limited by what he could do Saturday because of the personnel.
The ‘Cats are counting on players in a lot of spots who have not seen something like Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense. Still, there was more that could have been done and Rodriguez said as much Monday. It was clear that UA should have tried to switch up what it was doing at certain points even more but with what the team has out there it very likely would have made little difference.
Only rushing three the defensive line just didn’t have the man power to overcome the disadvantage up front and that meant very little to virtually no pressure on Luke Falk allowing him to pick apart the secondary.
Missed tackles have been an issue, but Saturday was about as bad as can be remembered for the linebacker unit in particular. It was not just that group, but when it came to the linebacker unit the plays were just not being finished quite a bit.
The secondary knew it was going to be tested and it was. There were some positive plays and Arizona was working to keep everything in front of it, but with no pass rush that meant more time in coverage for the defensive backs and it was just too much. There were missed plays and at times confusion the back end and it all played into a rough day for the ‘Cats.
- Special teams: It was the same old story with Arizona’s special teams units. The kickoff and punt coverage teams had issues again giving a team that didn’t need it good field position seemingly the entire game. It led to the Wildcats switching punters making it the latest game to not write home about for Charlie Ragle’s group. At this point it is not something that looks like it will be fixed this season, but in the long term the Wildcats will have to find a solution to the special teams woes.
* In addition to Saturday’s game the Wildcats were able to get back to work Sunday and on Monday the team’s weekly press conference took place. Here were five notable topics to be addressed by Rodriguez and his team.
- The Arizona head coach hasn’t avoided the blame for the way his team’s season has gone and the current state of the program and he once again put himself first when it came to Saturday’s game. Rodriguez mentioned that no part of the game was coached well and that started with himself.
“It’s gotta motivate them (players),” he said. “It motivates the coaching staff. It motivates me. It motivates everybody in the program. Work a little harder. Recruit well. Get some guys in there to provide some depth and competition and maybe even start, and get the guys who are returning to play at a higher level.
“Then the guys who are seniors to play their tail off the next three games.”
* At this point it is clear the season is wearing on Rodriguez himself. Monday was one of his more subdued and almost depressing press conferences of the season. He was asked how he is taking all the losing and he said simply that it is “miserable” as things have played out. He has never quite gone that far with it publicly, but that is the reality for the Wildcats right now and for Rodriguez as the team’s head coach.
* More injuries for the Wildcats too as receiver Cedric Peterson who recently jumped into a new starting role when Grant took over at running back is now out with a broken foot. It happened prior to Saturday’s game but it will keep him out for the season joining a growing group of injured players. Rodriguez was asked about JJ Taylor and Nick Wilson and he said that Taylor is absolutely out for the season and at this point he doesn’t expect to have Wilson back this year either.
So for those holding out hope that Wilson might be able to make a comeback for the Arizona State game it doesn’t look likely at this stage, but based on how Rodriguez was acting when he announced the injury that doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
* Arizona’s special teams continue to be a big issue and the Wildcats decided to switch punters going with Matt Aragon over Josh Pollack in the game. Rodriguez isn’t sure if it’s something that will stick, but he felt a change was needed in that game.
“We’ll see how they punt during the week,” he said. “Josh has been pretty good all year, but that was like everyone can be critical and we deserve to be criticized for that performance. But guys aren’t doing it on purpose. We’re supposed to kick it high and to the right and we kick it low to the left. We’re supposed to kick it to the left and we kick it low to the right. It’s not like they’re doing it on purpose.
“You can scream and yell at them and all that, and you just wonder why. Why do you flip the ball sideways when you can fall forward for a first down? You just have to get to a point where you coach them where they won’t do that. They’re inevitably going to make mistakes and learn from them hopefully the key is they don’t do them again.”
* One of the biggest issues fans had an issue with was the return to dropping eight players into coverage while only rushing three linemen meaning less pressure on the quarterback. Because of personnel Arizona’s defensive staff is in a tough spot, but it’s clear more could have been done to create some kind of disruption for Washington State’s defense.
“Again, it goes back to I think it’s not like we weren’t trying,” Rodriguez said. “When we blitzed our blitzes weren’t getting there and our man coverage didn’t hold up long enough. We certainly didn’t get no pressure with a three-man rush and we didn’t react well in our zone dropping. So, it was one of those nightmare games.”
