Arizona Football: Defense doesn’t lack the talent, it’s effort and scheme

With a much needed win in the books for the Arizona Football team, it was the defense that came up big in the 28-14 win over Texas Tech!

Three weeks in to the young, Arizona Football season, and the results from the Wildcats’ defense have been inconsistent to say the least. And at 2-1 on the year, the Wildcats rank 119th overall (out of 130 teams), surrendering 484 yards per game and an average of 33.3 points per game as well.

So far we’ve plenty of excuses and beliefs as to Arizona’s defensive ineptitude. It’s a lack of talent, it’s Marcel Yates, etc. And quite frankly, the dead horse has been beaten plenty to point of nausea, so it’s not worth rehashing the same talking points.

Arizona Wildcats

Now I can say I was one of the ones to call out Yates for the poor performances, and while I still stick to some of those notions, after watching a few things from Saturday, my opinion is changing a little here.

Leading up to their game against Texas Tech on Saturday, we heard nothing but how the players haven’t been playing well, and that the porous play was ultimately on them.

Perhaps true to some degree, as the players got to execute, however, the coaches are also there to ensure they are efficiently using the talent they have in order to put themselves in a position to win games. To me, that’s a scheme issue!

So while it’s hard to say if Arizona happened to get a lot of their defensive struggles fixed over the course of a week, the result from Saturday was a great step in the right direction, and it got me thinking a little deeper about the issues of this group.

Never mind what many college football and Arizona pundits (not myself) have alluded to, in saying that it’s Arizona’s lack of talent defensively as to the reason why we do not have a competitive group. I call foul. To me that’s a lazy assessment and doesn’t really hold much truth either.

So you mean to tell me, for roughly seven years or so, Arizona’s coaching staff(s) have been so bad at evaluating talent, that they couldn’t even find the right players that are worthy of even playing at Arizona? That’s kind of harsh judgement if indeed that is the inference being made here.

However, to me it’s quite the opposite. While I do think the Wildcats have had some personnel that haven’t quite worked out these past few years, there have still been plenty of players good enough to make this group more competitive, rather than being ranked in the bottom third of college football!

To me the poor results scream bad scheme, poor adjustments, having a lack of knowledge of your players and their strengths, and lastly execution by the players themselves.

So for this past Saturday, while a bit can be drawn on the poor play of Texas Tech’s offensive line, as well as a few mistakes made by the Red Raiders, adversely you saw a focused, hungry, motivated and slightly altered Arizona defense that played their best game in quite some time.

Jace Whittaker was lined up in safety for most of the game, Arizona used three linebackers instead of just two, and the group were making plays in space that we haven’t seen in awhile.

Hopefully, Yates is finally figuring it out, because I genuinely want to see him succeed. But in the world of college athletics, or more importantly in a world of immediate satisfaction and gratification, results, success and winning speak volumes.

So moving forward, I think Yates and Co. need to be better about adjusting, continually evaluating your roster to find the best personnel possible, and continue to put your team in a position to succeed and win!

If it means simplifying the defense, simplifying the coverage packages, adding more blitzes/ more stunt blitzes, you got to make those adjustments, but stop blaming the players for every short coming.

The team has talent, but effort and coaching will always reign supreme!

Listen to coach Kevin Sumlin speak following his teams’ win on Saturday evening!

At Zona Zealots, we’re hoping for continued, improved results and hope the Cats finally found their niche on defense! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!