This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jakin Zalace on Fox Sports
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Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports Fortune fifty. I'm Steve
Rivera, He's jakins Aus. Got our new guy Sammy at the booth,
so bewhere. Don't call us, call sat hey, Jenny. I hate
sports, absolutely hate sports, and that has all everything to do with the
La Rams. It was another tough week, Steve. What a tough week
for me. But I'm not gonna lie, Steve. I was rooting for
the field goal. My daughter also had the forty nine ers, as she
said, right next to me on the couch, and I'm quietly, just
in total silence, rooting for the Rams to go kick that field goal.
What in the world they screwed up? And you know you in what we
do, we paint scenarios. So there had a third and eight I think
it was. They moved it to the four second and eight, got it
to two more feet or whatever, and they didn't get the first down with
about a minute and a half whatever it was left. I'm thinking, that's
gonna kill me. It's gonna kill me. So they moved the ball down
and then they had a chance to intercept at the at the end zone right
and the guy just didn't catch it, just didn't catch it, and that's
gonna kill me. And then they moved the ball down and they got it
to the wein over twenty let's just say twenty. And I'm thinking, is
he gonna kick it? Why would he kick it? And he kicked it?
Why would he kick it? Jay? Because good coaches win, Great
coaches cut so that he was aware of the number had Oh of course he
had to him. It was all over Instagram. Yeah, they flipped it.
It was all over spread. It either it either caused you to lose
the game and not. Some people. I'm right there, some people at
the ramps, probably unexpectedly or pushed. But I'm sitting there going and I
told, you know, I Toined, I said, you know, they're
gonna go down to kick a field goal. They're gonna she goes northern.
I say, it's there because they're gonna try and kick a field goal.
Getting onside kick and then throw a hail Mary, and then four seconds left,
and I thought, Okay, they're not going to kick the field goal,
and then they did. Yeah, when they walked out, when you
started walking off, and I'm thinking, they're gonna kick kill the field goal?
Yeah, I saw, I saw. What's the name the quarterback,
Severed Stafford. When he starts walking off the field, they are going to
kick this field goal with four seconds left. It's not gonna leave him any
time. I will never pick the Rams again, Steve. I had another
tough week. You know, I was going good. I got two games
on saturd was two out of three on Saturday. I'm like, all right,
I got this. I'm good. I was really mad at Oregon State,
and I'm pissed at those guys because I bad mouth and bad mouth and
bad mouth, and and then they give them my confidence, they give them
my love, and they crap. I saw, I hear you. You
know the kiss of death for every game and every pick is a damn field
goal. Once they started kicking field they your toast because it four I think
it was. They lost at least sixteen points of the old mess. I
think, what the hell they have been the hell out of him, and
they just couldn't put the ball in there right right. I'm you know what,
I'm back to where I was it. They're not that good. They're
not as good as everybody thinks. Is not that good. I don't know
about that, Jay, And I know you're the Monday Morning even at one
point he was like eleven for twenty seven. I watch against a bad team.
I watched the game. I know, I know I picked them too.
I get it. But you're the Monday morning, Monday afternoon quarterback.
Overreact overreactor. Uh. And we'll get to this with Arizona as well,
because I wanted to get your thoughts on that. But there's so many things
in Colorado. I really, I really. As the game was being played
and we were watching it while Arizona was being played, I'm thinking we were
playing that night, I'm thinking, why did I fall into the trap of
a rivalry game? Because rivalry games any any place, anywhere, anyway,
And I think, why did I even think of this? Sunglasses personal blah
blah? Why did I fall into that trap? You did? But you
know, and it's funny because I'm not rooting against Dion Sanders and Colorado or
any of that. But I was rooting hard. I was rooting for the
upset. I'm always rooting for upsets, unless Arizona was the one that's getting
upset, right, So I'm like, they're gonna lose. And then they
didn't. They didn't. Damn that. That showed a lot of na for
them to come back and get there. I think more of Norville now than
I did before. And I thought he was pretty good when he came here.
And I told you about this Friday Ny when he bought his team to
play the Arizonable. Uh, his team played tough, man, his play
team tough. It's very tough against another team that I'm sure you've kind of
lowered the bar a little with Colorado because of how they performed, right,
Yeah, because Colorado, You're not. Nobody's gonna argue that Colorado State is
a good team. Now. They you know, they had some things.
You know, Travis Hunter, you know got on that that awful hit,
you know, was that was out of the game, you know, And
again with him, you know when you got starting two ways, they lost
two starters, not one starter on that sure, right, and plus some
guy, a guy who's sort of the heart of that that team along with
Sanders. So you know, I thought, man, everything's going bad for
Colorado. And then they came back and won that game, and we were
totally wrong and totally where people said were they playing. We thought Denver,
We thought it was Denver and it was in Boulders. Yeah. So I'm
sitting there and uh, and I just thought, I just saw somebody tweeted
some video from the ACU game, and everybody's watching the Colorado game on the
phone, so were we. Everybody. There were guys across the out from
us, and they were doing a play by play of the game. I
had it on on my phone and we're all watching it on the Arizona game
ended, but I didn't get up and walk out until the Colorado game.
Man, sure sure, sure, No. We were waiting on some of
us in the media area where we're watching the game because it was on stream,
right but it was like a five minute delay on stream for whatever reason,
and uh, we were waiting to go down. Luckily, Jed took
a while to go down and and finding the interception or the passion and completely
in the end zone. So we raced down and we got to give it
to Colorado for doing what they did. But I too think you know,
they're they're in big trouble against Oregon. Travis Hunters out for like three weeks,
and you know they got they got Oregon in USC You go play those
two games, and who knows what you look like coming out of those two
games and what they'll what they'll do going down the road. But they've certainly,
you know, shocked the college football world by going three and alt.
You know, they're over under was three and half, three and a half.
So I just win one more game, true, and they're capable.
Yeah, they're capable. Okay, did you go to the game? I
did not work? So okay, okay, because it was it was it
was not forty four, right, it's maybe thirty eight forty? No,
I think I think it was over forty. Really, Yeah, the Zona
Zoo was jammed at the beginning of the top was not very full, I
know, but but it's I thought it was that that's included the intendency.
I thought. No, I thought it was well over forty. I really
did. I didn't see that, but you know, and I and then
we can't see what's on your side right on this side, and yeah,
so no, I thought it was well over forty and A Jed today as
press conference said that he thought that was going to be that they've already got
forty seven right for that should be a great game if they take care of
the take care of business. It's funny. It's funny. And I didn't
go to the press conmence. You did. He starts with that right there,
it's gonna be forty eight thousand. We're happy, blah blah blah.
We need more about two thousand and more, but all our concentration is on
the Washington think that you that's not right. You just talked all our concentrations
on St. Stanford. Thinking you just talked about Washington. Well yeah,
well he's just saying that's our next home. But here's uh, he did
talk about Stanford. Uh kind of said, you know, this is why
our focus is. Here's what he had to say about right now, all
focuses on Stanford, and uh, the task we have in front of us,
and we know it's a always a tough task to go on the road.
Uh, this is our first conference game. They've already had a conference
game, they've gone through that experience. So far, we have not.
They're very well coached team. I think coach Taylor does a great job.
You could see the type of program he built at sack State and now the
type of program that he's trying to build currently at Stanford. So we know
we have our work cut out for us with a very good football team just
beginning preparations on that last evening and then this morning, and so I'll be
a little bit far away from knowing too much about them right now, but
did enjoy reviewing our tape and seeing some of the good that occurred in our
game on Saturday evening. Yeah, it's strange. Uh, well, Stanford
was not going to be good, right, You wouldn't think they're good,
right, And he's coaching, he's coach speaking. Yeah, he got to
he got asked about what do you think about Stanford losing to Sacramento State the
former Detroit Taylor's former coach, right, former team? Yeah he he uh,
well, it's just like it was just like, what are you gonna
say? Right? Oh? First of all, I mean sach State,
I think is thirteen and one in their last fourteen games. I don't know
anymore in college football about upsets and not I mean I think college football is
up for grabs every single week. We saw what Northern Illinois beat Boston College.
Then we saw Boston College, and then Florida State beat LSU, and
then Florida State and Boston College. We're thirty one, twenty nine. I
think that just the way college football goes. Right now, you're dealing with
eighteen to twenty two year old kids on a given Saturday. I think sach
State it's a good team. I think Stanford's a good team. Regarding us
this week is more of the same. Regarding protecting the football, regarding playing
clean football, winning the turnover battle, We've yet to do that. We
were even this past week at one one. And then really I would say
we need to be able to all three phases. Take a step, one
more step forward. See if we can be better in each phase of the
game. And if we're a little bit better in each phase of the game,
it'll give us a great chance to come back home, uh with the
victorious. So, so you surprised me yesterday when you said in your note
about my story, right so see and then you properly said it. See
I do read your stories. So just let's talk real quick about the game.
It was a nondescript kind of game, but it was impressive in that
they had a lot of things that went well, right, Yeah, offense,
defense, not a lot of bad things. Yeah, well, here's
the here's the thing. And and Michael lev asked a question that I had,
was you dominated the game. There was never in doubt. You kicked
their asses. They you know, they they got in the end zone at
the end of the game. It was going to be a three another three
point game, but it's only thirty one to ten. Yeah, you didn't.
It didn't feel like the domination that it should have been. And sure,
it's like you dominate like that, don't you expect to score more point
not? Look, they covered this, They covered the line. The line
was eighteen and comfortably right. It was never you. I don't think it
was ever in doubt. But you know, it was like, you know,
you walked out of the stad and you looked at the scoreboard and you
thought, well, that wasn't that impressive because it was you type you should
have scored in the forties. And you know, yes, you were impressive
defensively, but it just didn't seem like it was as dominant as it sounded.
Here's what you had to say about that. Yeah, I think that
the way the game went, I would imagine if we wanted to end the
final drive, we could have kept going in the final drive probably would have
gotten us some points. We got a field goal blocked and then we had
a turnover. You know, I think that we were we were five or
five in the red zone, so it wasn't that we weren't and four of
them were touchdowns, So we did miss out an opportunity in the red zone
one time. But you know, I don't know. I probably most of
the time you'd have more than that, but the way the game was going,
it was a situation where you know, you get ten more points maybe
if you do a couple of things better, and then probably sit there at
forty one. Usually you get the short fields are based on turnovers. We
got one, and when we got that one turnover, we scored a touchdown.
A lot of times if those happened earlier in the games, you get
a multitude of turnovers and then you get a lot of short fields and then
you'll be able to start piling up some points. We had to go the
long way, and when we had to go the long way. I think
we had fifteen explosive plays at a sixty nine snaps or something to that effect,
but you still didn't have enough time or enough yards. You get as
many points as we all would hope. I want to play one more clip
before we go to the break and then we can talk about both of those.
But I asked him about, you know what goes into changing the running
basks, because all four running backs came in and all of them did some
good stuff, you know. Jonah Coleman had, you know, the big
run, Mike Wiley did his usual stuff. J Williams ransom people over,
uh, you know speed. Luke got out on the open a couple of
times. But his first response was I can't tell you. But then he
told us, you know what goes into changing the running backs. It goes
into a lot of things. It goes into what we're calling. It goes
into where they are physically, where they you know, how many runs they've
had, goes into there's a rotation that we said ahead of time on how
we want to make sure we get different backs different touches. There's certain plays
that we call for certain backs, but a lot of times it's just a
matter of who's up, who's up at that time, and we try we
try to do the best we can to get the rotation as uh as clean
as we can get it, getting guys in and out quickly. But there's
always going to be some challenges there. And then obviously with Mike, he
does so many things well, we always lean on him at certain times in
the game. Okay, I thought, I think the running backs are becoming
a very big, big part of it strength. You look, the receivers
do what the receivers do that catch, no question, the catch by by
Team AC and all that stuff. You know they're gonna how they do is
going to be based on well to your point of the question, which I
thought was a good one, I was gonna ask howd of gone this?
For the first time in a long time, Jay, and I don't really
remember how long. It's a complimentary olephanse where where the elephants via the air
opens up the road the ground game, right and vice versa. That doesn't
happen often now it hasn't happened often here, right, And he talked about
the balance. We'll play that clip after after our you know, in the
after I get heard that question. But he talked about that and how balance
they have been, which is which is you're just a better team. Didn't
have that balance had he had cadem but he didn't have the reginal. It's
he had one or the other, right, right, no, no doubt.
All right, Uh, we're gonna be back. Troy Hutchinson is going
to join us from goasycats dot com. We'll talk a little bit are about
the game, and then in the second hour we're gonna have Randy Robbins.
He was thenary captain and we'll just talk about what he'saw on the sidelines on
Saturday. So let's stick around for all that. We'll be right back.
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Streaming live on the iHeart Radio WAM, This is I on the Ball
with Steve Ribera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen five days. Hey,
welcome back TOY on the Ball. Here a Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve Rivera, He's Jackinsaus. Now on the phone, we have Troy Hutchinson
from goasycatch dot com. Troy, how are you good? How about you
guys? We're doing fine? Thanks for joining us. Hey, would you
get a question in today? I did not. I was just listening and
rivetted by Michael Love's question about more points. Yeah, yeah, well we're
talking about that that they just it just felt like a game that they beat
him by more than thirty one to ten. It felt like I did they
did. Yeah, you know, I think what kind of led to that
was the block field goal and then the weird fumble by Tetoro McMillan early in
the game. But yeah, I felt like they dominated the game. But
you look at that first quarter or zero points in the first quarter again for
Arizona. That wasn't good for the over either, I can tell you that.
So do you think they're a victim of their own success? That everyone
thinks that because they have a pretty good offense, oh yeah, that they
should be scoring more a little bit. But I also think that when you
compare last year's offense to this year's offense, there seems to be a little
bit more flow offensively last year than there is this year. And that's with
the turnovers. I mean, they have eight turnovers on the year already,
and there's been a couple of penalties here here and there. Rather it be
a holding all start, just some weird plays that's kind of set them back
a little bit. I don't think it's something to worry about long term,
but I think they're getting there, but they just quite haven't hit their stride
yet often what do you what do you mean by flow? Because in my
mind, and I could be wrong, that this offense is much better than
last year's. I mean that, you know, they're not they're they're smoother
in the red zone for sure. But you have a block field goal one
game, I think you have a missfield goal the other game. You have
eight turnovers. It's just not that constant rhythm to finish off some drives where
you know you're leaving ten eleven points out there on the field. And I
agree, I think overall it's a better offense. You just haven't seen that
game where at all fully clicks for them offensively. Yet, you know,
and and my thinking is that Delora had never got into a rhythm against an
Au. Yeah, and then that then, I you know, obviously that
kind of spilled into the first quarter of the Mississippi State game. So it
really wasn't until you know, the second quarter, maybe even the second half
of the Mississippi State game where he kind of felt okay, like he's getting
into a little bit of the rhythm, a little bit of a rhythm,
and then he I thought he was. It was pretty good, you know,
the whole the whole night, you know, Saturday, and so it
is different. And then again they're running the ball more and they're they're more
successful running the ball, which is a big deal. Yeah, And you
know the amazing part about that is their offensive line has had a lot of
shuffling right now with Raymond Polido out of the game. And you've had Big
Jonah jonahs Avenia moved from right tackle to right guard at times. You've had
Laife Magnus and come in and play. You've had Josh Bourgeon Joseph Bourgeon play
right tackle at times too. So you've seen the mix and match on the
offensive line. And usually when you have that, you know, much mixing
and matching, it can cause issues on the line, and we haven't seen
that yet for Arizona. So I think that says a lot about coach Carroll
and it says a lot about Josh Baker at center well. And and they've
been protecting Delora pretty well. I know he got think at SEC maybe once
or twice on Saturday, but you know, he's not running for and he's
running some, but he's not running for his life all the time like he
did a lot. Yeah, last year, Yeah, it seems like there's
a lot more. There's a lot less i should say, improvising this season
than there was last season for Jaden, and you kind of saw that at
the end of this year where the offensive line improved and now this year where
it's a cohesive unit and there's a lot less running around because you know,
he's running for his life and it's more running because there's a hole now.
So I think you're just seeing a steadiness by Jaden inside the pocket this year.
Do we know or have an update on pl Yes, he said he's
one hundred percent ready to go this week. Yeah, that contact and practice,
it be interesting to see how ready he is right right right, And
I guess in the starting lineup or we don't know you because that's what I
will assume that he will be in the starting lineup. I know Carol talked
about, you know, he won the job during training campus was the week
leading up to the UTEP game that he didn't see that changing, but he
was proud of how his guys were able to step up. So when you
add six six sixty seven, three hundred and thirty seven pounds at that right
guard position, and I think that's going to be a bonus for Arizona.
That kind of sucks from he's missed a quarter of the season, you know,
I mean we talked to his dad, right how ready was he to
going right? There? Does been posting stuff all the time. It's a
quarter of the season. That's too bad. So so overall, you know
with this three you know, the three games in the you know, non
conference season, it's over now went on conference. You know, he talked
about, you know, being more ready this year than last year for the
conference season. What do you think? Yeah, I think they're at a
better space headspace overall. I think everybody's kind of understanding what they need to
do, especially offensively Janden's commerce in the system. I think there's more of
understanding of what's going on offensively from everybody, all the transfers, and then
defensively it's night and day. I think last year you saw a lot of
holes, especially against the run during the non conference compared to this year,
where Arizona has been one of the better run defensive teams than the country in
terms of, uh the stats right now and will that hold up? Who
knows, But you can see that there's more understanding and more running to the
football. Not a lot of people are standing around and there it's game tackling,
and it's a lot better communication out there on the football field, on
the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, Okay, no, I was
gonna say it, just it just seems like, you know, look,
going to games the last few years, you walk into every game thinking they
can lose today no matter who it is, well except for and of you.
And then they did lose to any of you last year. You know,
at no point, you know, on Saturday, either at my tailgate
party or once I got to the same did I think there's a chance they
could lose tonight. And that's a weird It's kind of you know, it's
it's sort of a weird feeling for an Arizona fan after the crap that we've
been through over the last seven weeks. Because they're but they're just they just
look better out on the field. I don't know, guys, if you
want to agree with me here, but I've said this a number of times,
and I believe it even more now because because my eyes are not deceiving
me, even though they're old and I need cataracts broaly, so Arizone has
gotten better, much better, and you can see it. You can see
it, you can almost feel it, both on both sides of the ball.
Special teams everything, right, they've gotten better, and I've said this
before, they've gotten better, but so have other teams. Right, So,
in the real world of the PAC twelve conference, because it's a PAC
twelve conferent sides would start now, where do they land? Where do they
land? So you have eight in the in the top twenty five right now.
I know that the UCLA coach said Arizona belongs in the top twenty five.
Two that's a much crap. But but do they still Are they ninth?
Are they ninth? Are they tenth? Are they seventh? Where do
they land? Because you can still get better yet still be where you're at,
right, Yeah, you know, I think right now, going into
the conference play somewhere between that sixth to ninth range. I think you can
make a case for Arizona. I know there's teams that are ranked in you
know, slotted ahead of them right now, but you also don't know about
those teams as well, Like Colorado. Yes, a nice win over TCU,
but struggle against a pretty poor Colorado State team and took care of business
against a Nebraska team that isn't very you know, talented as of right now,
and going through their stuff. Oregon State, you know, they look
really good right now and DJA has played really well. Can they hold that
up? I think they will. But in Washington State as well, they
look improved. So I think, yes, Arizona is improved, like you
said, Steve, but there is a chance where they are ninth or eighth
in the Pac twelve. But I do think you're seeing them move in the
right direction and you're going to learn not only a lot about them, but
some of the other teams that might be overachieving at this point in the season.
Yeah, I'm with you. Well, I put them in this yeah,
six to nine range, maybe even six to eight, you know.
I again, my opinion is of Oregon State went way down this weekend,
not just because I had them and they didn't freaking come close to covering.
Just I'm not oppressed with dj You don't get oh you Leila, I'm just
not. He just did not very good your eyes, I see him because
he didn't have a good game, But but I you know, I've seen
him a couple of times and he just doesn't look that good. And I
think there's a reason why he was he's no longer at Clemson because they realized
now Clemson, you know, probably could use him this year. But he's
just not very good. And so you know, he's he's got the reputation
because he was such a great, you know, high school quarterback. But
you know, you're talking about, you know, going into going into Pac
twelve play. I think there's probably no better way for them to start than
to go, you know, to play Stanford, and Stanford is just not
going to be very good. You will, you know, go win that
game, take care of business. You know, he's he's not playing to
that. You know why, I don't think there're any good you know,
I gotta asked a couple of times about Stanford a Jed did, But uh,
you know, I I'm kind of moving them up a little bit just
because they've been so methodical. I guess is what I'm saying. They don't
look they don't look out of sorts ever, offensive or defensively. I guess
what I'm trying to say, Yeah, you know, and it kind of
reminds me of last year. I'm not saying that the same thing can happen,
but the same thoughts were kind of similar. I mean, more questions
on the defensive side of the ball, but same thought process going into that
game against Cal. They open it up, played very well the first half,
and then lay an egg the second half. So I think that's what
you're trying to avoid if your Arizona is to not have that disappointing second half.
Now, this Stanford team is probably a lot less talented than last year's
Cal team, but you still you know, it's a it's a road game,
it's a conference road game, and you never know. So yes,
they should be the favorites. I think they are nine and a half point
favorites. I see here that I'm probably covering that, but you just never
know how these conference road games go. Well, I wouldn't that's it,
And you still wouldn't take that. I think so bad. Come on,
you could have a second house if you did, Steve, I've been following
their zone all my life. I'm not giving the nine and a half points
on the road. You said something I just Troy, don't get old,
but you said something that's interesting to me. Oh, Troy, it's twelve
and a half on draftings right now, twelve and a half, definitely not
taking And here's the thing. Here's the thing. If they win twenty seven
twenty four, you just have to be happy. You go on the road
and went you have you win eight. You can't. You gotta shut the
hell out. Okay. So well, okay, so this is what I
thought. So did anybody ask about about Speedy Luke because he's getting more touches,
he's getting more action because I think if they open it up with him,
because he has that potential to just go crazy, if he has more
opportunity, yeah, him and also Jona Pullman. I mean, Jonah's only
had five touches in the last two games, and last game he broke off
with fifty nine yard or so. I think if they get those to the
ball, and you're right, Speedy Luke has kind of got him his foot
and rhythm in the offense right now, I think you're going to see those
numbers go up for both of them. But you know, whenever they talk
about the running backs, it's not just one guy they talk about. Yes,
they talk about Wiley all the time, but it's always the unit,
the corner of the running back room and how balanced it is. So just
trying to you know, feed everybody the ball is a tough task, and
you know, it's it's a good problem to have if you if you're jetting.
Yeah, you know, Steve and you know, I've been on the
Michael Wiley bandwagon. You know all off season you're thinking he's the key,
he's the key, he's the key. But I think you're you're right,
Troy. It's not just him. It's the whole running back, the whole
running back room. I'll tell you what, I love Michael Wiley. He's
steady, he does so many things. He catches the ball, all the
things that he does. But I cannot wait for Jonah Coleman to be the
guy. Okay, So the key to what you see, he's the keys.
Just their their offense that he's gonna have. If he has a great
year, they're gonna be really good. So you know, I was just
gonna ask you both, is it a case where and maybe that you don't
agree as as Jaden goes, this team goes. But see that and see
I think I think Michael Wiley and the running backs take some pressure off of
Jaden. He doesn't have to do everything well, tell Jaden that I know
that. I know he thinks he does, but he doesn't have to,
you know. I mean the we're on the Jonah Coleman broke like the other
night. I mean, he's just like just ball up the middle, right.
But you know, and I think it's less is more a situation and
to get Jadeen to work in that frame of mind is going to be good
for this offense. But I mean, once the guns leaner, always a
guns leaner. He has that Jay Cutler mentality where he doesn't see a window
he doesn't like, and you know, if you can avoid those moments,
that'll be good for Arizon him. Okay again, tell him, tell him,
tell him that. Looking for the facial expression from him. Yeah,
because I tell it's like Telly Khalil, don't you think thirty six times passing
is too much? He didn't like that question. Yeah. Look, the
game was it was methodical. There wasn't anything you know, uh, I
don't know, just it was it was just me. Yeah, I mean
it was just that. But but the thing is that, you know,
methodical to win a game like that and just never be in any danger of
it. We just haven't had that here for so no, no, and
it was it was non descript. It was a game that they should have
won by that many and blah blah blah in two weeks. Well, no,
to take care business on Saturday on Saturday, because I love the idea
of Washington coming here on a Saturday night for a game. Okay, thank
you, Troy, Thanks thanks Auch. Yeah, I you know, but
you gotta get that. You can't go screw this up. You know.
No, no, And you're right. You're a fan because you know these
things and it can't happen. It certainly can happen. All right, Uh
take a break, yes, no, yeah, all right, take a
break. We'll come back. Had a few more clips from the Jetfish Press
conferences sticker. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you'd know it's been
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Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Subscribe now to the
podcast on the iHeart Radio Whip Just Surgery I on the Ball. Hey,
welcome back to I on the Ball. Here all Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Ski Rivera, You're Jakin's all Scott Sammy here today. We've got em
eleven minutes. If you guys want to give us a quick call, please
do let us know what you thought about the game. The team. Yeah,
you know what I mean. We've been talking about how it's just sort
of nondescript, nondescript but still good. It's still good in the sense that
there's one never felt threaten. You know, when t Mac fumbled that bomb,
I'm like, come on, guys, just just be clean. And
then they didn't have another in turn over the rest of the game. There
are a couple of penalties early on those went away, and then the rest
of the game was just kind of actually put the game on. I was
working and just you know, the game was the replay was on. I
just I had it on. It was kind of like nothing really happened.
You know. We're a couple of nice plays, you know, the great
catch by t Mac, a nice run by Jonah Coleman, you know,
but other than that, they just kind of beat him down. We have
a call coming in, so no, don't do that. Just answer the
call. Put the red button back on, answer the call, and hit
the microphone. There you go, you're on the on the ball. Hey
you guys, this is Gabe. Hey Gabe, how are you guys?
How are you doing. I hope everything's going go for you. We're doing
fine. What do you have to say today's Gabe? So I know that
this. I know that we are going into packtball play for this week.
I think Arizona should not take any teams lightly, and they need to score
a lot of points like in the forties and fifties and not make any bull
aheaded mistakes like turning the ball over one time, we even five times,
and so I think they need to be from parad and not take any teams
lightly. No, I think Jed has made it clear that they're not.
He you know, he was given the chance. He got asked, we'll
play that clip in a minute. You know, what do you think of
Stanford losing the Sacramento State? And he said, look, Sacramento State's really
good of Stanford lost to them. But yeah, but you just never know
what's gonna happen. You gotta be ready for anything. When we and even
when we played against the team on not I don't trust them because that rivalry
is so tricky, dicky, and so yeah, the Territorial Cup is so
wacky, So don't take any team program. We gotta another our schedule is
very difficult, and plus our every single game is a coin flips. So
Arizona me's a not make any bonehead and mistakes and be prepared. What do
you think about what you've seen so far? I love it. I love
how the defense is doing good. It's definitely improved. Thank you said last
week that let's as Arizona friends. Of course, Jaden Lord, it's gonna
make a lot of good plays and and and some what what the hell are
you thinking? Plays? Yeah, so that's good way to put it.
Yeah, that's all right, exactly exactly. All right, Dave, Hey,
thanks a much. I appreciate the call. All right, Yeah,
so you know he's right. I mean, you know, you can't you
can't go on the road against against anybody and make and make the mistakes that
they that they made. Uh you know at Mississippi State. You know you
just can't. You do that against Stanford you'll lose. You do that against
anybody in the conference, you'll lose. And then so yeah, I mean
they got to take care of business. Anything that sounds like that's the thing
that that uh jet is jet is ready for that guy, because you know
he talked about you know, Sack State Stanford. You know, you can
lose to anybody, you know, eighteen to twenty two year olds and all
that kind of stuff. So one of the things that you know, it
is being talked about is the balance. And we've been talking about, you
know, the running backs and whatnot that they've been you know, they were
pretty balanced on on Saturday, and uh, you know, it was just
kind of asked, is that on purpose? How? You know, how
is that happening? The game went a certain direction that we were able to
stay very balanced. We as I've said before, we really like our running
backs, and I think we have really good set of running backs. Sometimes
the games don't allow you to stay with the run as much as you want.
Sometimes the games allow you to run the ball more than you ever expected
to run it. We would love to be in that world of a thirty
five pass, thirty five pass attempts, thirty five rush attempts, thirty two,
thirty two, whatever it might be. You knowing the third down is
primarily pass. I believe we only had ten third downs or something to that
effect, maybe eleven or two. You know, we were somewhere in the
fifty percent range on third down. We ran the ball a couple of times
on third down, probably one or two at the end of the game,
and then that one time on the third and four on our own end zone
that Mike Wiley got the first down. But you'd love to be able to
have that balance, to be able to mix some runs in on third down
that allows you to kind of be fifty fifty. Yeah, you know,
and that's what they were. I think the point was me. They went
thirty two and thirty two run, run and pass on Saturday night and night
it looked like that. You know, they weren't throwing the ball all over
the field. You know, every play wasn't a pass play. Trying to
look that up right now, but uh, they Yeah, they had No,
that's not that's not true. They had, Oh that's the Mississippi Steak.
Laura Laura through it twenty nine times. I don't know the rushes,
but it's balanced probably up there. Yeah, so you know, I trying
to call it there it is the U tap k. Yeah. They had
twenty six, thirty two rushes, thirty and twenty well thirty two passes because
Noah fafeeded through a couple of passes, so you know, I mean it
was thirty two and thirty two. I mean, it's just again, while
we loved what rich Rod did throw it for five hundred yards and stuff like
that, you know, the way you win games is to not the other
team doesn't know what you're doing. That was That's a lot like told me,
right, it wasn't it just balanced? Kind of maybe maybe a lot
less boring people would argue that they ran the ball too much, right,
especially because he came here and ran the option. Well, you know,
it's it's tough when you're going to third nine and you're gritted up the middle.
Yeah, that was his biggest criticism much. But still it's more balanced.
Now, I'm not sure that's a good thing. But when you have
the running backs that he has to your coint two point and to your question,
he has a lot of different ways to go. I mean, you
know, I'm looking at the stats R and I look at these averages.
So Michael Wiley average four point nine O carry, seventeen carries four point nine,
Okay, Jonah Coleman three carries for seventy one yards twenty three a carry.
DJ Williams five carries for forty five yards nine yards to carry oh Ray
Shawn Luke, Speedy Luke two carries for sixteen yards eight yards of carry.
You're getting those kinds of yards or that kind of production from your running back.
You don't have to throw the ball as much. But the fact that
you can, I think it really makes Arizona, you know, kind of
dangerous. But again, they didn't put fifty points on the board and people
walked out of the stadium. Point that wasn't all that impressive. And then
when you think about the fact that UTEP was never in the game, it's
like, you know what, you know, I don't know. We just
want to win, right, You just want to win the game. And
if it looks great, it looks great. If it doesn't, you know,
if it's a if it's a you know, ugly, but a win
on Saturday against Stanford, you gotta be happy with that. Yeah, unless
you gave the points, what did it advanced? Advanced exactly? Win this
game and set up a great game with Washington coming to town. There'll be
all kinds of talk about the fact that Washington never does well in in the
state of Arizona. It's a ninth game, it's still gonna be it's still
gonna be h September, it's still gonna be hot, and you know,
take your chances with that, but don't screw it up this weekend, right,
we got a couple of mos We've got one more clip. Let's play
this last clip because the defense is starting to get I think very very much
of a personality with guys like Jacob man who justin flow the defensive line,
trading Stokes in the back. But he talked, had had some great comments
about Jacob Mondu and how what he's doing to lead this defense. The Jacob
mon Who's story is always a good one because it's almost hard to believe he's
still only a true sophomore. I feel like we talked so much about Jacob
and his growth because his growth is like happening week to week, not just
wow, I remember back three years ago when he's really you know, because
of the fact that his first start was week three of the season at one
year ago, we're really watching his growth happen every single week. And with
Jacob, what I've noticed the most of he's one of those people that's he's
like a plant you keep watering. He wants more information, he wants to
learn about. He wants to be able to be the type of player that
can recognize things that happen before they happen and utilize formations to his advantage.
So I've seen incredible growth with Jacob each week, not from last year this
year, but obviously having an off season with us, which he didn't have
a year ago. He didn't come with the other guys. Remember, he
wasn't here in the spring where t mac kean and Noah were, So our
first experience with Jacob was in training camp, whereas now we had him for
that whole off season. After being a starter and now seeing where he's going,
I think he'll continue to grow. You know, I think he's going
to be a guy that by the time he's done here, you know they're
we're gonna put Hi him on some of the top linebackers that you know they
played at Arizona because he's so good, so fast, right as you say,
he's true sophomore, right right, No, No, he's playing all
the time, and he's he's out there doing stuff. He's got some great
guys up front. I mean, this is not this is not your father's
literally you have a football team. Yep, it's not your grandfather's your father's
great grandfather. Yeah, it's good, it's it's good in a in a
different way, in a fun way. It was a funder right word.
Yeah yeah, well yeah, because because they're winning, Steve, I mean,
you know, true, what's three games in? I know, but
what what but since last since the beginning of last year, they're eight and
seven. You know, I'm happy with that. That's a nate A nate.
Well, that's that's that's better than and twelve or twenty or whatever.
The heck. They were dark place. I know, it was a very
dark place. All Right, we're gonna get out of here, take our
break, would and come back. Sammy's gonna have his uh first shot of
breaking news, so we'll we'll be back after in a few minutes and stick
around for all that