Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez thinks Utah Utes are talented enough to be at top of Pac-12
By Trevor Amicone, ksl.com Contributor
November 15th, 2012 @ 1:00pm
New Arizona head football coach Rich Rodriguez believes the Utah Utes are every bit as good as the team experts believed would compete for the Pac-12 South championship this season. In fact, Rodriguez went even further.
?I remember early in the year that they were projected to be the team to win the Pac-12,? he said in his weekly press conference Monday. ?They are a veteran team. They?re a big, physical team with a lot of playmakers. I see that same team.?
Although no prominent expert picked Utah to win the Pac-12, the Utes have definitely not lived up to preseason expectations. Rodriguez, however, believes that Utah is as good as any team the Wildcats have faced this season.
?They?re playing their best football in the last couple of weeks,? he said. ?It?s going to be their last game at home, so it?s going to be a really, really tough environment. We try to prepare our players for that. They?ll watch film and see the guys and remember them from last year.?
The Wildcats are as bad as the Utes are on the road, if not worse. Arizona has only played three road games this season and the Utes will be the Wildcats? last road test of the year.
Arizona lost 59-0 at Oregon, 54-48 in overtime at Stanford and finally 66-10 at UCLA. Rodriguez did point out that those three teams are high-quality opponents.
?People will say that we haven?t won on the road, but we got beat by three teams that were better than us,? Rodriguez said. ?The Stanford game we played a bit better at times. We will win on the road when we are better.?
Rodriguez acknowledges that Utah?s home crowd and the weather will test his Wildcats.
?They have a great home environment and the crowd will be into it,? he said. ?It will be a little cooler than what we are accustomed to.?
On the field, Rodriguez recognizes his team?s biggest mismatch is up front.
?We already know our issues with being undersized,? he said. ?We didn?t play very physical at all the last game (against Colorado), and if that happens Saturday, then we will be in trouble.?
Like clockwork, Rodriguez joined every other coach in the Pac-12 to gush over Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei. Rodriguez is worried about his team?s ability to prepare for a player like Lotulelei.
?We don?t have any players that are similar to his size, strength and speed to emulate it in practice,? Rodriguez said. ?He has been a dominant player in this league for a couple of years and he will be a first-round draft pick. They will move him around as well and he won?t be lined up on the same person each time. Our guys up front have to watch the film and play with great leverage and intensity.?
Arizona running back Ka?Deem Carey set a Pac-12 record last week against Colorado, running for 366 yards. He averaged an astonishing 14.6 yards per carry. So what adjustments are the Wildcats going to make in the ground game against Lotulelei and the Utes? None, according to Rodriguez.
?It?s too late in the season to change what we are doing,? he said. ?We really just need to play well up front. We have not gotten a lot of push at the line of scrimmage this year so I wouldn?t expect to do it against Star and their front. They are bigger and stronger than our previous opponents. The key for us is to have great leverage.?
Carey is now the nation?s second-leading rusher, so the Utes will be tested. However, the Utes rank 18th in rush defense making them the third-toughest run defense the Wildcats have faced this season.
As optimistic as Rodriguez is about his own running game, he is also worried about how his team will stop Utah?s run game, specifically John White.
?He?s a very fast guy and shifty,? he said. ?I think he?s one of the best backs in the Pac-12. He?s extremely explosive. He?s not real big but he?s not small. He?s a strong runner and has great explosiveness. He?s a really great football player.?
The Utes will have to deal with some unknowns Saturday. Arizona?s starting quarterback Matt Scott was out last week due to a concussion he suffered against USC two weeks ago. In the Wildcats? 56-31 win over Colorado last week, backup quarterback B.J. Denker was 12 for 14 for 136 yards through the air.
Rodriguez doesn?t know whether Scott or Denker will be start Saturday night. He believes that will help his team going into the game.
?It has some advantages,? he said. ?More particularly, (it helps) if there are two different styles of quarterbacks, where one is more of a runner. If teams know which one will take the most reps then they can maybe prepare and practice against a certain style.?
The Utes and Wildcats will take the field Saturday night at 8 p.m. If the Utes can pull out a win over the Wildcats, they will need one more win to get bowl eligible with a road trip to Colorado looming.
Trevor Amicone is the founder of byutahinsiders.com, which covers BYU, Utah and national college football with weekly polls, bowl projections, opinions and analysis. Follow its brand new Twitter page at @BYUtahInsiders and Trevor's @TrevorAmicone.
Source: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22974450&nid=635&s_cid=rss-extlink
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