Arizona Wildcats

Arizona Football: Coaches Rodriguez and Petersen not taking game lightly

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Arizona Football team is on a winning streak, they’ve won two in a row, next they face No. 9 Washington who’s coming to the Dirty-T.

Arizona Football head coach Rich Rodriguez wanted to go into the game this Saturday against Washington 3-0, but he’ll be taking on the No. 9 team in the country at 2-1. His team has not suffered a turnover in the last two games (are you all knocking on wood?) but have forced and recovered four fumbles and four interceptions.

Washington has two players on special teams who have already scored touchdowns, so look for Josh Pollack to be kicking and punting the ball as far over their heads as possible.

Arizona Wildcats Coach Rich Rodriguez

Coach Rod was asked on today’s teleconference call how he is preparing defensively scheme-wise for the upcoming game against the Huskies. “[Defensively] They have a few unique scheme’s up front that they use — they’ll go in both an odd front and an even front,” Rodriguez explained, “They are just very active, they have three big guys who can run extremely well.”

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The Arizona coach continued to explain why the Huskies are a challenge on offense, “They’re very athletic on the back end, and they get off blocks extremely well. They’re well-coached, and they have great players.”

The Wildcats and the Huskies have met 32 times (the series currently stands at Washington 20 to Arizona 11 and one tie). In the last eight meetings, each home team has won the game. Last season Washington won decisively 49-3, so this season it’s Arizona’s turn. We reminded coach Rod of this trend:

“It’s good to be at home, and hopefully the home crowd will give us a little bit of a lift– but they know we are capable of playing better than we have in the last three games and certainly better than we played against them last year.”

Instead of telling his players to worry about the Huskies ranking, he is looking at this game as more of a chance to be put on the NCAA college map. “It is a great opportunity,” said Rich Rod “And I think our guys understand how good Washington is, not only from playing them the last couple years but seeing what they’ve done this year and knowing the players that have got returning,”

Are the players ready for an upset? “So, I think our guys are anxious to prove ourselves, and this is a chance to get a to get immediate respect because Washington is very well respected nationally. As they should be,” said Coach Rod.

Washington Huskies Coach Chris Petersen

Coach Chris Petersen is not resting comfortably this week coming in as the No. 9 ranked team in the nation. Although you would think the Washington Huskies Coach and his team pay attention to rankings and that they have this game in the bag, they don’t.

“Well, first of all, the ranking around here means; they, nothing to any one guy on this team or this program at all,” said Petersen, “Preseason and mid-season rankings mean nothing. And, so you can take that off the table.”

Okay, coach Petersen, we will take that off the table. So, how about your players? What are you telling them, and how is your team approaching this game with the Wildcats?

“Second of all, I think if you watch the tape, and you watch how these guys play and watch the passion that they play with, you know we have had some good hard-fought games with Arizona. And our guys know that. So first league game, it’s on the road all those types of things, and you know our guys are very focused.”

To make sure we completely understood what he was saying, he repeated, “Yeah, that’s not going to be an issue that our guys won’t be focused.”

Interesting, he has faced Coach Yate’s defense before, but does he feel Yates had changed his defense from when he was in Boise? “It looks real different, he’s definitely doing some different things than he did at Boise — It looks a lot different,” said Petersen.

What does Arizona need to do to beat Washington in Petersen’s eyes, and does he respect the Wildcats? “I think they’re well-coached, and I think they play extremely hard,” said coach.

Petersen is familiar with both coach Rod and Coach Yates, “I know those coaches really well. Coach Rod is an innovator of offensive football. He has a great scheme, and I know Marcel Yates really well, and I know what he’s all about. I know how he gets guys to play, the passion, the technique. I have tremendous respect for these guys, and we are in for a hard fought game here on Saturday,” explained Petersen.

What will the Wildcats do to Beat the Huskies?

The Wildcats will need to keep the defense on their toes, and they may not be seeing last season’s running back or quarterback. Will they instead be ready for J.J. Taylor?

That’s why Arizona will need to pull out more tricks to beat Washington.

Maybe this play can happen again, even though we are without Casey Skowron who was the gutsiest kicker Arizona has had in a long time. The Pac-12 Networks reminds us of what a historical play this really was.

We will find out more on Thursday, but as of today, the Wildcats will have to overcome injuries. As of today, there are plenty of questionable players:

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Well, there you have it, both coaches have profound respect for one another, and neither team is backing down or is taking this game lightly. Should be a good one, and we are dying to see what Coach Rodriguez and Yates throw at Washington. Whatever it is, it will have to be unique and a surprise. BearDown Arizona!

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