OT. Arizona and Rodriguez

Submitted by massblue on

Happened to be in Utah and went to Utah-Arizona game.  Rich has lost his magic.  Defense was as bad as it was in Ann Arbor.  His offense had trouble scoring.  Utah played horribly in the first half and was trailing by only 2.  Watched an interview with him on the local station and he was as densive about his team's performance as he was here at UM.  

I think he  has lost his confidence as a coach and now everyone is running spread and teams have a better handle on how to defend it.  I thought Arizona was perfect place for him, but this could be his last year there.  

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Gulogulo37

October 9th, 2016 at 9:19 PM ^

Yeah, really. OP, why would Arizona be the perfect place for them? They're a bottom-feeder Power 5 team historically. Those are the hardest jobs in football IMO. 

I haven't been keeping track of Rodriguez but I know they've had a ton of injuries. I watched parts of their game last week and they were literally down to their 4th-string QB. Not that they'd be crushing everyone with Anu Solomon, but I don't get the point of a RR update that says nothing except how they were bad in the last game.

Joined: 03/16/2010

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Brodie

October 10th, 2016 at 12:51 AM ^

Yeah, here's the thing: we are very spoiled as a fan base. We have come to expect the level of performance that we are currently seeing from Michigan. Not only that, but amongst our rivals Ohio State and Notre Dame expect the same level of performance. Even at Michigan State, you have the Biggie Munn and Duffy Daughtry eras to look back on in addition to the occasional good years under Saban or Perles and the current run. That makes it hard to understand what schools like Arizona or Indiana are like, what the expectations are.

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Brodie

October 10th, 2016 at 12:51 AM ^

Yeah, here's the thing: we are very spoiled as a fan base. We have come to expect the level of performance that we are currently seeing from Michigan. Not only that, but amongst our rivals Ohio State and Notre Dame expect the same level of performance. Even at Michigan State, you have the Biggie Munn and Duffy Daughtry eras to look back on in addition to the occasional good years under Saban or Perles and the current run. That makes it hard to understand what schools like Arizona or Indiana are like, what the expectations are.

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Tater

October 9th, 2016 at 6:41 PM ^

Arizona is a tough job. They have never been to the Rose Bowl and have been in the Pac 10 since 1978.  RR has the second highest winning percentage of any coach there since they joined the Pac 10.

His offense is fine; he needs better personnel to execute it   I do agree that defense is a WTF issue for him this year, though.  ]

I think RR gets a high profile job at the end of this year.  But he is going to need to find a great DC and, like all coaches, should be constantly tweaking his offense.

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DonAZ

October 9th, 2016 at 6:47 PM ^

As a resident of Tucson, I agree.

Recruiting -- it's hard to get talent to go to Tucson.  Tucson is a long way from anything, and there ain't much there.  What little talent Arizona has gets vacuumed up by ASU, USC, UCLA, Stanford, Oregon ... and now Washington, no doubt.

Support -- I am forever astonished by how little excitement there is around Tucson on a football Saturday.  True, Tucson is more than just a small college town ... but holy crap, there have been Saturdays I was out around town and didn't even know there was a game going on.  It's a basketball town, not a football town.

 

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Kevin13

October 10th, 2016 at 9:57 AM ^

and I never get while people enjoy seeing RR not do well. Arizona is not a great job and the expectations are pretty low as no one cares about football there. RR has actually done a pretty good job there and I know they have had a lot of injuries this year making his job even tougher.

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uminks

October 10th, 2016 at 2:46 AM ^

If AZ fires RR at the end of the year, he will not be getting a higher profile job.  I think RR would be great at a MAC school. May be Toledo or CMU. Then may be he can rebuild himself?

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DonAZ

October 9th, 2016 at 6:42 PM ^

The football world has moved on from 2006-era read-option spread.  I'm not sure Rodriguez has.

Look at the successful coaches -- Saban, Meyer, Harbaugh, Petersen -- they're all incorporating elements of spread with elements of power.  They adapted as styles and techniques evolved.

There's a reason no pure-spread team has made it to the championship; either in the later BCS years or in the playoff years -- defenses have adjusted to it.  Nick Fairley and Auburn killed Oregon by getting into the backfield and disrupting plays; Cardale Jones and OSU grabbed Oregon by the throat and punched them as hard as they could.  It's a physical game, and the team that can play physical and fast ... wins.

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funkywolve

October 9th, 2016 at 8:39 PM ^

I wouldn't say Kelly and RR offenses were mirror images of each other. Kelly had a lot more passing in his offense and QB'S who are much better throwers than what RR usually has. The Auburn team that lost to FSU was much closers to a RR spread offense.

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titanfan11

October 9th, 2016 at 7:52 PM ^

picky here about your comment...but didn't Auburn beat Oregon in the national championship game?  And Ohio State beat an Oregon team in the semis.  And you could argue that the 2014 Auburn team that lost to Florida State was a pure spread team.  Not arguing that physicality won out, but spread teams have gotten pretty far, when they have a capable quarterback and coach.  

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WolvinLA2

October 9th, 2016 at 7:58 PM ^

That's not true. I did. I thought he'd make a good DC. He's a good coach and knows defense well. He's obviously not doing well this year and I don't know how much of that is his fault and how much of it is the wheels falling off at Oregon (they have more issues than just defense) but I wouldn't give up on him being a good defensive coach just yet.

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I dumped the Dope

October 9th, 2016 at 8:27 PM ^

I'm pretty sure we agree Hoke can recruit...not sure he's had time to do that yet at the Big O.  I get that he has a dopey Fred Flintstone public persona, but I also don't think he's really that guy behind the scenes.  I didn't personally watch the game to see what the exact issues are.

I'd say Helfrich's seat is getting pretty hot, I think he has this season and next but not much more to enact a turnaround.  Who knows, he might fire Hoke to buy him more time...

One thing remains certain: the Huskies are a fearsome machine once again...

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BlueVball8

October 9th, 2016 at 6:42 PM ^

I feel like everyone said he would be a GREAT D-Line coach. Hoke couldn't scheme worth a crap but he could develop D-Lineman.

So no, I never thought he would be a good coordinator, but dude is a northern version of Ed Ogeron.

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