TUCSON, Ariz. -- California coach Sonny Dykes has a problem most coaches have about this time: injuries. His dilemma is compounded by the fact that his team is lacking talent to begin with, while the recruits he brought in as part of his first recruiting class are still young and learning the system.
Despite that inexperience, Cal's starting quarterback is a true freshman, the running back is a true freshman and a couple of the offensive linemen are freshman.
"It's one of those years," Dykes said. "It's tough to deal with."
The life of a first-year coach: It isn't pretty. It certainly isn't in Berkeley, where Arizona visits for a game against a beat-up Cal team on Saturday afternoon. The wins have been few (one) and the losses plenty (seven) thus far. Dykes has brought in an exciting, up-tempo, pass-oriented brand of football, but any successful brand of football requires holding onto it. The Bears have turned the ball over 14 times this year, contributing significantly to their struggles.
"They've made a lot of big plays, but turnovers have hurt them," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. "
The Wildcats, conversely, have reaped the rewards of consistent play for most of the season, winning their first three games with ease and then, after competitive road losses to Washington and USC, getting back on track and winning the next two. At 2-2 in conference play, Arizona is tied for second in the Pac-12 South, a game and a half back of Arizona State.
But what Rodriguez has had to do of late, in an effort avoid injuries like Cal's due to his team's lack of depth, is limit contact in practice.
"We've been pretty businesslike," Rodriguez said, "(because) we've put pads on but we don't really hit much. It's alright.
"It's really cut down. I worry about some of our fundamentals, but ..."
It's been so far, so good in Arizona's last two games, relatively comfortable wins over underdogs Utah and Colorado, although those victories were to be expected. The same is true for Saturday's game with Cal, a team that's clearly in rebuilding mode under Dykes, a former Arizona offensive coordinator who was hired last offseason after resuscitating Louisiana Tech with a dominant offense.
Rodriguez said that, in addition to watching Cal game tape this week, he has gone back to watch some Louisiana Tech video to get a more comprehensive view of Dykes' offense.
Earlier in the week, Rodriguez said he had not spoken to Arizona reserve quarterback Nick Isham yet but planned to. Isham transferred to Tucson after the 2011 season, when he started as a freshman for Dykes at Louisiana Tech.
"I only know him through Pac-12 meetings, and I know his history from what he’s done here and at Texas Tech," Rodriguez said of his relationship with Dykes. "He’s a really good football coach, and I know everyone around here speaks very highly of him during his time here."
But this game isn't about the coaches as much as it is the outcome for the Wildcats. They need just one more win to become bowl eligible, and games coming up against South opponents UCLA and Arizona State, Arizona still has an opportunity to make a run at the division title and the oh-so-elusive Rose Bowl.
"We don’t talk about it a lot," Rodriguez said. "Everybody’s goal is to win the league, but I’m not one that mentions it a lot. I like to narrow our focus to not even a week or a day ahead but just the next hour or minute.
"You want to be in a bowl every year. It’s one more game for our seniors. If you’re a senior, you want to play in a bowl game somewhere."
