Arizona Wildcats coach Rodriguez: ‘We have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder’
Aug 31, 2015, 10:59 AM
Last season, it was not Arizona State who won the Pac-12 South. It also was not USC or UCLA, and it certainly wasn’t Utah or Colorado.
No, it was the University of Arizona Wildcats who survived the daunting conference slate, posting a 7-2 conference mark en route to the first division title in school history.
Yet, while the Wildcats return most of the key players from that run — and welcome a solid recruiting class to the mix — they are still being a little overlooked in the conference. Last month, the Pac-12 media picked the Wildcats to finish fourth in the Pac-12 South. Meanwhile, their rivals to the North — the Sun Devils — will be a playoff team, at least according to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.
A guest of Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Monday morning, Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said he really does not care about the preseason expectations — or lack thereof.
“No, not in the preaseason, but last year was the same thing,” he said. “I think our guys like kind of being forgotten about a little bit right now, as long as we’re not forgotten in November.
“And we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder.”
The fourth-year Arizona coach said it’s a lot like recruiting rankings, where some players are given poor grades and turn out to be good players. While the five-star recruits often become impact players, a lack of stars does not prevent a player from becoming one, just like a lack of preseason expectations does not guarantee a down season is in store.
But as Rodriguez said, it’s up to the team to prove the doubters wrong. Again.
“It bothers me, and I’m sure Wolf will say the same thing, you hear athletes or coaches say sometimes, ‘Well I don’t need to prove myself anymore,'” he said. “Yes you do. If they’re keeping score, you’ve got to prove yourself every time, every day, and that’s what we kind of try to build our program around.”
So far, so good, as the Wildcats have won 26 games over the last three seasons. Last year they not only won the Pac-12 South, but also claimed the Territorial Cup and appeared in the Fiesta Bowl.
That happened in large part due to the team’s ability to run the ball, with true freshman Nick Wilson’s 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns leading the way.
Though Rodriguez’s teams are known for spreading the field and throwing the ball around, the run game is really what sets it all up.
“We’re pretty proud of the way we’ve been able to run the ball,” he said. “I think it’s like everybody else — you want balance. But we don’t try to force the balance. We may throw it 70 times, we may run it 70 times depending on how they play us.”
With Wilson back and other players like Jared Baker, Zach Green and Orlando Bradford in the backfield, Rodriguez is confident his team has a stable of runners who will produce on a weekly basis.
The Wildcats want to put the ball in Wilson’s hands as much as possible, yes, but a lot will come down to how defenses are playing Arizona, the coaches being patient with the play calling and quarterback Anu Solomon making the right decisions.
While the run game is certainly important to Arizona’s success, it’s not a stretch to say they’ll only go as far as Solomon takes them.
A redshirt sophomore, Solomon is looking to build off a season in which he threw for 3,793 yards and 28 touchdowns. The QB got off to a fast start, but faded down the stretch while dealing with an ankle injury as well as some tougher defenses.
“He’s grown physically, certainly in the weight room he’s gotten bigger and stronger and faster,” Rodriguez said of his passer. “I think, more than anything else though, he’s got a comfortablity with what we’re doing offensively. We have a lot of decisions on our quarterback, not as far as making the play calls but executing the plays, and he’s got to be able to see the whole field and make decisions where he’s going to go with the ball.
“He’s been pretty good with that, anyway, from the day he got here, but I see even now he’s better than he was a year ago and I think he’ll continue to get better.”
Any improvements the Wildcats have made will get a chance to be seen Thursday when Arizona hosts UTSA at Arizona Stadium in the 2015 season opener. Rodriguez said everyone is excited to play against someone other than themselves, and the Roadrunners — whom Arizona beat 26-23 on the road last season — are up first.
This is also the first of what will be 12 consecutive weeks with the Wildcats taking the field, as they will not have a bye unless they reach the Pac-12 Championship Game for the second consecutive season.
“It’s kind of a quirk in the schedule and we got the short end of the stick in the Pac-12 scheduling,” Rodriguez said. “And I told everybody I’m not going to complain unless we’re losing, then I’m going to complain a lot.
“But the truth is we know what it is, we’ve tried to plan for that in our preparations in August and we’ve got to have a good plan for it during the season.”