Rich Rodriguez calls Wildcats’ win over UTSA a ‘learning experience’
Sep 8, 2014, 9:51 PM | Updated: Sep 9, 2014, 12:05 am
Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez was not impressed by his team’s 26-23 win over University of Texas at San Antonio, but he is still happy to get the victory.
“We didn’t play well at times, but we snuck it out,” Rodriguez told Doug & Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “So, we kept our composure, didn’t play that great, but I’ll take the win.”
Rodriguez said there are still numerous areas the Wildcats need to improve in, especially on defense.
“We’re playing hard, but we’re giving up too much on first down,” Rodriguez said. “We’re not creating enough negative yardage situations and enough second longs and third longs.”
He also noted the lack of pressure put on the opposing quarterback.
“One time, he could’ve taken his shoes off, put them back on, tied them up and still had time to throw the ball, and I’m like, ‘Holy cow.’ So we’ve got to get that fixed in a hurry.”
Rodriguez identified the biggest problem on offense as lack of execution.
On the positive side, Rodriguez liked the Wildcats’ rushing game, aside from a few plays. He singled out the play of freshmen running back Nick Wilson and quarterback Anu Solomon as impressive. Wilson had 174 rushing yards and a touchdown. Solomon had one touchdown pass, no interceptions, and threw for 231 yards.
“After the game, I told the team, ‘You know, I’d rather win ugly than lose pretty, and it wasn’t pretty,” Rodriguez said. “But we hung in there. A lot of things we could get better at and a lot of things we’ve got to get better at. But hopefully it’s a learning experience and we move on.”
The Wildcats’ next game is Saturday at home versus Nevada.
