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TUSCON, Ariz. — The University of Utah football team will hit the road this week as it travels to Arizona Stadium to take on the Wildcats. The two teams have met 36 total times since 1924, with Utah leading the series with 19 wins, including the most recent victory in 2005 when the teams again met in Tucson.
Arizona interim head coach Tim Kish currently has one win and one loss in two games since taking the head coaching position for the remainder of the season when the school fired Mike Stoops after eight-plus years on the job. The Wildcats are hoping to rebound from a tough loss to Washington last weekend after being beaten by 11 points on the road in Seattle. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Arizona and KJZZ.
Kish met with the media earlier this week to discuss the matchup with the Utes. Here is what he had to say about the game.
On the tough loss at Washington:
“There is no doubt that we had a 60-minute, gutty performance. The guys played hard from the first play to the last. The effort was never in question. Some things that we did both offensively and defensively, at the end of the game, certainly didn’t help our cause. In the end, we really believe as a staff that we moved forward regardless of the final outcome."
On the defensive positives and negatives last week:
“From a defensive perspective, the three turnovers (and) scoring on defense was definitely a plus. We had that six-play goal line stand at the end of — I forget what quarter that was. They were on the 1-yard line, and for six plays we did a great job of defending, but unfortunately the last play was that hurry-up, unbalanced formation that caught us a little bit off guard. We were anticipating a quarterback sneak and most of the guys lined up in the middle of the formation, so it didn’t bode very well for us.
"We were better up front. We had six negative plays, which we haven’t had all year, (with) two sacks in there. Our three leading tacklers were a sophomore and two true freshmen, so there were some really positive things.
"Obviously, giving up that many yards to Polk (was a negative). The running game part of it with Polk didn’t bother me at all, but him getting 100 yards on four catches did. The other thing defensively was the six for six red zone trips that resulted in touchdowns, so that wasn’t good.”
On the offense against Washington:
“We started to run the ball early. It wasn’t great there early in that first quarter, but then they started blitzing us and loading the box up quite a bit. They did so many different things defensively scheme-wise to put so many people up frontthat we checked out of our run game and went to the passing game. It was unfortunate, because we did want to establish the run game.
"Three hundred eighty-eight yards passing is a positive, there’s no doubt about that. (Wide receiver) Juron Criner’s 11 catches and two deep touchdowns were good. (Offensive lineman) Mickey Baucus probably played the best game of his career. Negatively, we were three for 11 (27 percent) on 3rd-down conversions, which was not good, and one of three getting touchdowns in the red zone. So that bothered me a little bit that those red zone situations we had to go for field goals. But when you are on the road, and especially early in the game, you want to put points on the board, so that was the thought process behind that."
On how the team is dealing with on-field struggles this year:
“We’ve got another game to look forward to this Saturday. I think they all woke up this morning and the sun was shining, so that is the way that we are approaching this thing. You know, we’ve got another opportunity here, another opportunity for us against a quality football team. It’s Homecoming, so there are a lot of positive things you can take from this week. We are going to try and identify those things and move forward.”
On Utah’s offensive struggles this year:
“They have had some key injuries too, with the quarterback situation the way it is. That tight end that they had (Rogers) was really, really effective for them and he is out now for the season. Not knowing Utah all that much, except playing them in 2005, I really didn’t know too much about them until I started to game plan for them yesterday."
On if he is familiar with Norm Chow after he previously coached in the conference against Arizona:
“Norm’s opened up his playbook a little bit, running some fly motion and that type of thing. But he relies on a power run game, and he isn’t going to go too far off of that. They are very effective at what they do, but just the fact that they have lost some key players along the way, it has probably limited them a little bit offensively.”
On John White IV and the Ute running game:
“He is very quick. He can get to the perimeter very fast. They have got a big, thick fullback in there, No. 34, that does a great job of blocking for him.”
On Utah’s defense:
“Defensively, they’re (darn) good. They rank No. 1 in our conference in total defense, and I think they are No. 2 in scoring defense if I am not mistaken. Pass defense they are third and second in sacks. Their (defensive) line is very, very good. They are good up front. They stack the box a lot; they play a lot of man coverage. It will be important for our receivers to get open. It’s going to cause us to look at the run-pass combination offensively, no doubt about it.”
Landon Walters is a history and political science major currently studying at Salt Lake Community College. He is an avid sports fan and loves writing. He can be reached at mavericksoccer_22@hotmail.com.
