After giving up 111 points in its first pair of Pac-12 Conference matchups, Arizona football’s Monday press conference had the atmosphere of a funeral. Even walking into the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility had the vibe of the football squad mourning its season.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez proved once again that suffering two consecutive losses will not diminish the team’s confidence as the Wildcats prepare for Oregon State on Family Weekend.
The status of quarterback Anu Solomon was the biggest concern heading into the press conference, as the sophomore didn’t travel with the team when it was blown out by Stanford 55-17 Saturday.
According to Rodriguez, Solomon has been training and running with the athletic trainers to evaluate his condition. Solomon’s status for Oregon State is still a question mark and the only way for him to play is a substantial week of practice.
“I don’t think you can go an entire week without taking any reps and be able to play effectively on Saturday,” Rodriguez said. “Some guys could; NFL guys can do that. He’s with the training staff but today is our day off, so we’ll see.”
Backup quarterback Jerrard Randall caught Rodriguez’s attention despite playing through a minor hamstring injury during Saturday’s matchup with the Cardinal.
“I thought he saw the field pretty well,” Rodriguez said. “His hamstring was probably bothering him; he didn’t have the same burst that he normally has.”
Arizona’s defense will also get a dose of an Oregon State offense that runs a similar style of the Wildcats’ spread offense, behind true freshman quarterback Seth Collins. Arizona’s previous matchup with a true freshman quarterback didn’t go according to plan as UCLA’s Josh Rosen exposed the Wildcats’ defense.
Even though there is limited film on Collins, the freshman already has the Wildcats focusing their attening on him this weekend, as Arizona hopes to contain the quick Beaver.
“There’s four games of film on him and he might be the fastest quarterback we play this season,” Rodriguez said.
The Wildcats’ defense is used to the mobile quarterback, especially with Randall acting as a scout-team quarterback last year and the beginning of this season. Arizona’s defense understands the threat Collins presents, but the wounded Wildcats are prepared for the challenge.
“He’s a fast little guy, we just have to keep him in the pocket and contain him,” said defensive linemen Jeff Worthy.
The first two Saturdays of conference play haven’t been friendly to Arizona, especially with the petition to eliminate the Ka Mate haka dance from the pre-game ritual lead by the handful of Polynesian descent players. The haka dance was a tradition before every game since 2009, and Rodriguez shared his thoughts on taking away a tradition from his squad.
“We’ll adjust that in the offseason … as I roll my eyes,” Rodriguez said.
The head coach also touched on a potential new pregame tradition for next season, but didn’t hand out details.
Arizona’s postseason hopes took a hit through the first two games of Pac-12 play, but a win in front of a home crowd to earn its first conference victory of the season is now the ideal scenario.
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