Wednesday was the second-to-last practice of the week for Arizona as it will wrap things up Thursday it was the last day we'll get to talk with the players and coaches about the upcoming game against Houston on Saturday. There are still some question marks and unknowns on Arizona's end about the Cougars but things will start to get answered by the end of the week.
* Rich Rodriguez really didn't change his tune on what needs to be better for his team. Getting the other team's offense off the field is up there and being able to guard against the pass while also not giving up as many yards will be important and on offense being able to pass the ball better is at the top of the list. He said the team has worked hard on all the things that it didn't do well against NAU and is well aware it will need to play better to win on Saturday.
* The UA head coach was asked about the defensive line rotations and what you saw on Saturday is essentially what the coaching staff hopes to stick to outside of maybe what you saw late depending on the situation. Rodriguez has been saying he wants to play more guys and the team if forcing itself to do so and the defensive line is one spot the Wildcats want to have a steady rotation. From Dereck Boles, who we found out today played with the flu and didn't tell anyone on the staff, to players like Kurtis Brown and veterans such as Luca Bruno, Parker Zellers and Justin Belknap there should be an even amount of plays being distributed to make sure everyone is fresh for the entire game.
"They did OK," Rodriguez said of the defensive line in Saturday's game. "We rolled them in there pretty consistently, so they all had about the same number of plays which is the ideal thing. We're forcing to play more people. It's a long season and guys get banged up, but we've gotta play more people on both sides the ball.
"We were able to do it Saturday, of course, but we've gotta do it every week."
* It was pretty clear to those watching the game that NAU was essentially running the same play over and over again going off tackle with its runs and gaining yards. Arizona was not able to set the edge like it wants to and needs to, and that is something that has been a focus for the defense this week. Freshman STUD linebacker Kylan Wilborn knows a big part of that responsibility falls on him and he said it's something the coaching staff has been stressing all week.
"Well, we lost contain on some plays we shouldn't lose contain," Rodriguez said. "Sometimes it's challenging when they do a good job of play faking, or the quarterback scrambles around. But, when we have a responsibility to keep the edge and keep contain we gotta make sure we do that and not let him get outside the defense."
Rodriguez really didn't blame it on youth because he said there were veterans who struggled with it Saturday as well. In addition to that NAU was using a technique that the Wildcats have not practiced against much so far.
"An experienced guy can get clues or ideas when they're gonna maybe try and break contain on him, but for us it wasn't just young guys that lost contain," Rodriguez said. "It was upperclassmen as well. And some of the time we just got chopped down and we haven't worked as much on chop blocks live and that was an issue as well."
It's fair that Arizona hasn't worked on going up against chop blocks considering how many players have been hurt over the last couple years, so not risking injury isn't a shock but it is something the players will have to get used to as there are a good amount of teams still left on the schedule that use the tactic and will see how well it was used against UA already this season.
* There is a new rule proposal that would make transfers eligible to change schools without penalty and without sitting a season if their GPA is at a certain level. That would open the door for players to leave schools whenever they wanted and play somewhere else immediately. The restrictions would be that a player could only do it once in his career that way and the second and subsequent times he would have to sit a season out, but it has opened up a conversation about what the ramifications from that decision would be and for Rodriguez he is not in favor of it and he has some valid points as to why.
* Defensive coordinator Marcel Yates spoke with the media today as well and here is a rundown of the big topics he discussed with us coming off Saturday's game and looking ahead to the contest with Houston this week.
- When it comes to the young players who were able to get in the game Yates said he thought the group played "fast and played with energy" and he thinks there will be a nice jump for that group from the first game to the second.
"I think that you'll see them have a better feel for the game this week, but you know they played OK," he said.
- Third down continues to be an issue for Arizona defensively and NAU did a good job of preventing Arizona's defense from getting off the field and keeping drives alive. Yates said he wants the defense to be around 40 percent when it comes to the other team's third-down efficiency and truly he would like it to be under 35 percent if things are going well. NAU was 10-19 on third downs.
"We had some chances to get off the field," he said. "We have to be better as far as blitzing, as far as man-to-man coverage with our eyes and all that type of stuff. When it's third down we have to have a better sense of getting off the field and each guy has to say to himself, "I'm going to be the one to make that play,' to get off the field."
- When it comes to the DBs and corners in particular, Yates said he wants his guys to be "in their grills" speaking of the receivers. Arizona was called for some penalties and he said he questioned one of the calls but it's something the team has worked on this week and he said it is about being less panicked when the ball is in the air and picking up on certain things that will help them get their heads around and make a play on the ball to not get those calls and come up with big plays.
* Here are a couple bonus clips with Lorenzo Burns talking about what the defense wants to improve on against Houston and freshman linebacker Kylan Wilborn talking about reading keys and what the things he's looking for are when he's trying to read an offense.
https://twitter.com/mattgoazcats/status/905514061927858176
VIDEO
Rich Rodriguez
Marcel Yates
* Rich Rodriguez really didn't change his tune on what needs to be better for his team. Getting the other team's offense off the field is up there and being able to guard against the pass while also not giving up as many yards will be important and on offense being able to pass the ball better is at the top of the list. He said the team has worked hard on all the things that it didn't do well against NAU and is well aware it will need to play better to win on Saturday.
* The UA head coach was asked about the defensive line rotations and what you saw on Saturday is essentially what the coaching staff hopes to stick to outside of maybe what you saw late depending on the situation. Rodriguez has been saying he wants to play more guys and the team if forcing itself to do so and the defensive line is one spot the Wildcats want to have a steady rotation. From Dereck Boles, who we found out today played with the flu and didn't tell anyone on the staff, to players like Kurtis Brown and veterans such as Luca Bruno, Parker Zellers and Justin Belknap there should be an even amount of plays being distributed to make sure everyone is fresh for the entire game.
"They did OK," Rodriguez said of the defensive line in Saturday's game. "We rolled them in there pretty consistently, so they all had about the same number of plays which is the ideal thing. We're forcing to play more people. It's a long season and guys get banged up, but we've gotta play more people on both sides the ball.
"We were able to do it Saturday, of course, but we've gotta do it every week."
* It was pretty clear to those watching the game that NAU was essentially running the same play over and over again going off tackle with its runs and gaining yards. Arizona was not able to set the edge like it wants to and needs to, and that is something that has been a focus for the defense this week. Freshman STUD linebacker Kylan Wilborn knows a big part of that responsibility falls on him and he said it's something the coaching staff has been stressing all week.
"Well, we lost contain on some plays we shouldn't lose contain," Rodriguez said. "Sometimes it's challenging when they do a good job of play faking, or the quarterback scrambles around. But, when we have a responsibility to keep the edge and keep contain we gotta make sure we do that and not let him get outside the defense."
Rodriguez really didn't blame it on youth because he said there were veterans who struggled with it Saturday as well. In addition to that NAU was using a technique that the Wildcats have not practiced against much so far.
"An experienced guy can get clues or ideas when they're gonna maybe try and break contain on him, but for us it wasn't just young guys that lost contain," Rodriguez said. "It was upperclassmen as well. And some of the time we just got chopped down and we haven't worked as much on chop blocks live and that was an issue as well."
It's fair that Arizona hasn't worked on going up against chop blocks considering how many players have been hurt over the last couple years, so not risking injury isn't a shock but it is something the players will have to get used to as there are a good amount of teams still left on the schedule that use the tactic and will see how well it was used against UA already this season.
* There is a new rule proposal that would make transfers eligible to change schools without penalty and without sitting a season if their GPA is at a certain level. That would open the door for players to leave schools whenever they wanted and play somewhere else immediately. The restrictions would be that a player could only do it once in his career that way and the second and subsequent times he would have to sit a season out, but it has opened up a conversation about what the ramifications from that decision would be and for Rodriguez he is not in favor of it and he has some valid points as to why.
* Defensive coordinator Marcel Yates spoke with the media today as well and here is a rundown of the big topics he discussed with us coming off Saturday's game and looking ahead to the contest with Houston this week.
- When it comes to the young players who were able to get in the game Yates said he thought the group played "fast and played with energy" and he thinks there will be a nice jump for that group from the first game to the second.
"I think that you'll see them have a better feel for the game this week, but you know they played OK," he said.
- Third down continues to be an issue for Arizona defensively and NAU did a good job of preventing Arizona's defense from getting off the field and keeping drives alive. Yates said he wants the defense to be around 40 percent when it comes to the other team's third-down efficiency and truly he would like it to be under 35 percent if things are going well. NAU was 10-19 on third downs.
"We had some chances to get off the field," he said. "We have to be better as far as blitzing, as far as man-to-man coverage with our eyes and all that type of stuff. When it's third down we have to have a better sense of getting off the field and each guy has to say to himself, "I'm going to be the one to make that play,' to get off the field."
- When it comes to the DBs and corners in particular, Yates said he wants his guys to be "in their grills" speaking of the receivers. Arizona was called for some penalties and he said he questioned one of the calls but it's something the team has worked on this week and he said it is about being less panicked when the ball is in the air and picking up on certain things that will help them get their heads around and make a play on the ball to not get those calls and come up with big plays.
* Here are a couple bonus clips with Lorenzo Burns talking about what the defense wants to improve on against Houston and freshman linebacker Kylan Wilborn talking about reading keys and what the things he's looking for are when he's trying to read an offense.
https://twitter.com/mattgoazcats/status/905514061927858176
VIDEO
Rich Rodriguez
Marcel Yates
