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Transcript: Q&A chat on UA football with Ryan Finley
Here's the transcript of this week's Q&A live chat with reporter Ryan Finley about the UA football team and the upcoming game against Stanford.
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Hi everybody — welcome to our latest Arizona Wildcats football chat. The UA, coming off a 38-35 loss to Oregon State, will travel to No. 18 Stanford this week to take on a physical, tough Cardinal team. Let's get started! Fire away, and I'll do my best to answer as many as possible — and as completely as I can — in the next hour. -
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I talked to Rich Rodriguez about that very point on Monday. NCAA rules state that the defense must give the kicker a place to land,at the end of his kick. That means no players are allowed near where his kicking leg lands after the attempt. Using that definition, Jonathan McKnight "ran into" OSU's Trevor Romaine last week. It seemed ticky-tack at the time, and led to a Beavers TD instead of a missed field goals. But the call was correct, to the letter of the law.
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The UA will release its weekly injury report soon, probably in the next hour. My guess is that S Jared Tevis and C Kyle Quinn will both be listed as questionable to play because of ankle injuries. Arizona may end up taking the longview with their recoveries: Remember, the Wildcats have a bye after this week. Sitting both against the Cardinal would give Tevis and Quinn 2 weeks to recover before the Oct. 20 game against Washington.
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I think Washington was sky-high; the Huskies, like Arizona, seem to jump up and bite at least one ranked team at home every year. Washington played lights-out on defense, and was bailed out by at least 6 Cardinal drops and overthrows. It was a perfect-storm game at home, no less; I doubt Arizona can capture any of that mojo this weekend on The Farm.
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Do we? Arizona wore a non-school-colored helmet for the first time in program history, and I think you saw exactly 1 note and 1 column about it. Uniforms, like marching bands, stadiums, etc., are part of college football culture. I think we give it the proper amount of attention.
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Arizona's fast, compared to past seasons, but slow compared to what Rodriguez was used to at WVU and Michigan. The Wildcats' fastest freshman, J.T. Washington, is redshirting, and the UA hopes to recruit more speed moving forward. Rodriguez won't be happy until he has 10 backs and receivers that are as fast as Washington, or starter Ka'Deem Carey.
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I think you'll see them do exactly what Washington did: Stack the box and force Nunes to throw. The Wildcats will probably blitz more, too, because they're so small up front. They're going to need to take chances, force turnovers and make plays on defense to win. Could be a long night for Wildcats fans.
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I think Ariz has shown it's offense can be dynamic. But the defense seems to give up 600 yards per game routinely. Seems like the D-line got dominated in the OSU game and the Beavs ran it at will. Does RR have any plan on how to stop the bleeding on the D-line or will this teams success be predicated on being able to outscore teams in shootout games such as Okla St or OSU??
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Look, we all knew Arizona's defense wasn't going to be very good this season — especially after Adam Hall went down with an injury and Brian Wagner left the team. They're small — too small to hang with teams like Stanford — and probably too slow to run the 3-3-5 odd-stack defense the way coaches would like them to. Consider the Oklahoma State game to be the perfect template to win games: Arizona is going to allow yards and points. The defense needs to force turnovers and three-and-outs to stay in games.
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I may not be here for the response: People seem to be focused on Arizona as a team and is standing. I dont believe they are yet a team. Coach Rodriquez has the task of building a team. That includes ... well ... everything; training, culture, physical condition, rosters and more. It will take several years at the earliest to create the Team (capital T). He clearly needs at least several recruiting classes and many many games to even start. What I am watching is progress in those areas - the first list. The games being played provide grist for the team building mill and little more. From that perspective - games as tools rather than stepping stones to 'ranking' - why are conference standings seriously discussed (including post season participation)? (Unedited) Thanks
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Agreed, Jim. Fans won't like to hear this, but results are secondary in the first year of a rebuilding process. Rich Rodriguez got lucky that Matt Scott was on the roster, and the team's having success — in fact, they're ahead of schedule — because of the offensive talent that he inherited. That said, the Wildcats are probably running about half of what coaches would like to on both sides of the ball. The team will continue to grow within the system this year; it's unfair to judge the team by wins and losses until, maybe, 2014.
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That's the question. The beauty of the 3-3-5 is that teams need to recruit just one "war-daddy" nose tackle instead of two defensive ends, but they're still the most rare of recruits. Keep an eye on Arizona's Tevin Hood going forward: He's a 300-pound kid with good instincts. He may grow into the position.
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most think of the 3-3-5 being disadvantaged against a Stanford front. I'm not so sure. Stanford won't be able to just lean on UA defenders...they'll have to get to the LBs and then block in space. Much like tackling in space...that isn't easy. If the Cats LBs and DBs can shed blocks and tackle well they may be ok.
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Last night Rick Neuheisal (sp?) predicted an Arizona win over Stanford on the PAC-12 Network. I get the impression that in light of our injuries and depth issues and lack of size on the D Line, we are more likely to be road kill for their juggernaught O Line. Can our offense make up for that? Is Coach N just crazy?
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I agree more with you than Rick, though it's clear that he sees something we don't — maybe he just doesn't think Nunes is any good, and that most teams will follow the blueprint Washington used in the upset. I don't see Arizona winning this game without forcing three or four turnovers, a tough task given Stanford's size and skill.
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