CINCINNATI – Head coach Scott Satterfield, redshirt junior quarterback Brendan Sorsby, redshirt senior cornerback Logan Wilson, and redshirt junior offensive lineman Taran Tyo spoke with the media ahead of Saturday’s game vs. Arizona.
The Bearcats and Wildcats will kick off at noon at Historic Nippert Stadium. The game will be televised on FS1.
Opening Statement
“We just had a bye week and it was a great time for us, after six straight weeks of conference games. I thought we had a great bye week. Last week was a reset for us to recover mentally and physically. We cut back on practice last week and allowed them some time to heal up. At the same time, we worked on some young guys and let them play. We had a great time with that. That was fun, so it was a good week. Knowing that we had Arizona coming up, we had the opportunity to watch them play Saturday and get ready for this team. Coach Brent [Brennan] has done a great job there this year. Their defensive coordinator (Danny Gonzales) this year, he’s done an outstanding job. Mixing up fronts, coverages, the guys are playing hard. They're playing physical, creating a lot of turnovers. When I first turned on the film, that was probably one thing that stood out. Everybody talks about how he's [Noah Fifita] a great quarterback. He’s started 31 games, so he's done it for a long period of time. An incredible player puts pressure on the defense. Some really good wideouts, good running game as well. The running game is overshadowed by the passing game. They finished the game off against Kansas by running the football in the last drive. We're excited about the opportunity to be sitting here playing in the middle of November, tied for first place in the Big 12. We're excited about that opportunity, because our goals are still set in front of us. We have to have a great week of practice this week, and our preparation will determine how we go out and play.”
On preparing Brendan Sorbsy for a team that plays man defense
“I think it's more than just Sorsby. I think it's everybody on our offense, starting with the coaches. We have to put our players in positions where they can make plays. We have to do a good job of staying on the sticks and not getting off schedule. Ultimately, guys have to block well up front, we have to run good routes and throw a catch. Everybody has to go out and execute at a high level. When you're playing really good defenses like Arizona's, you have to execute. If one or two guys are not executing, then you're going to have a much more difficult time moving the football. We've seen that from Arizona over this season, they do some great things on defense and shut down a lot of good offenses.”
On the difference between Baylor QB Sawyer Robertson and Arizona QB Noah Fifita
“Robertson was 6’5, and Fifita’s got a lot more ability to move with his feet. He does a great job of buying time and his pocket scrambling. He’s scrambling to throw, and the guy also can run. That last drive last week, I think he maybe got two true draws in that drive, over 10 yards a piece to go down and score. So he's a much more dynamic runner, but he can throw. He ended up tying for the most touchdowns in Arizona football history. That speaks volumes about how good a player he is.”
On if Arizona is underrated
“Absolutely, they easily could be at 8-1 right now. They were up 10 against BYU and had that game won. BYU did a great job pulling it out, but if one little thing goes differently, Arizona's winning that game. And that was an incredible crowd at Iowa State white out, and it was an unbelievable atmosphere. I think they are underrated at 6-3. They have an outstanding football team. They have team speed, they can run physically, they have good plans in all three phases. That's the recipe for success.”
On what makes Arizona so successful on defense
“I think that's also a big part of their success, creating turnovers, and they've taken care of the football too on the offensive side. That turnover margin is a huge stat, and I think that's why they've had a lot of success this year. They just do a good job. Their coaches are putting their guys in position to make plays. They do a lot of things on defense, a lot of different pressures. Linebackers are walking up, off the edge, blitzing. They're not scared to blitz a safety or a corner. They're going to give you a lot of different looks to try to confuse the offense. They have some good tacklers. Number 43 [Dalton Johnson] is their safety lead tackle. He’s a really good player. Number four [Max Harris] is their middle linebackers, another really good one. They have some good D-linemen that are quick twitched, that can cause problems when they're one on one, blocking. They give you a lot of different looks. You guys mentioned they play man, they do a lot of things back in the back end. They'll play quarters. They'll play man, they'll play three. They'll jump into some different looks to try to confuse the quarterback. I think that's where quarterbacks have gotten in trouble, throwing in the coverage.”
On running backs Tawee Walker and Evan Pryor
“They're all improving and getting better. Tawee, I think he's back to normal now, and Evan's making great improvement. We'll see where we're at by the end of the week. It would make a great improvement.”
On how important the run game is for him
“This year, we've been very efficient in the run game. We are one of the most efficient teams in the country running the football. We have to be able to run the football. And that comes in a lot of different ways. It's running at the right time. It's running the quarterback. We need to run the quarterback, but also try to create some space where our backs can have more room to make people miss. We have to be able to mix all that in. We have to run the football better, and control the clock a little more. We would love to somehow have the ball a little bit more than we've had in some of these games, and run some more offensive plays. That would be awesome. For us, it just really comes down to execution up front and starts with our offensive line. They've had a really good year, but this will be another great challenge for the guys up front.”
On getting to Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and generating sacks
“You’d love to be able to get some pressure on him to be able to get him. Looking at that film of getting to the quarterback you mentioned, they sacked him five times, and they were back there some more times as well. But he is slippery. He does a great job of moving around. If you do flush him out, well, now he's on a perimeter. He's looking down the field. If you lose some cover somewhere, he's going to make you pay. So he's a tough guy to cover, to defend so we have to do a good job again. I'm mixing it up, not playing the same defense out there, some of the same things we talked about. Try to get him off schedule, but that's the biggest thing for us and the guys up front, and you have a great game.”
On what he would have done differently for the Utah game
“There are a lot of things involved with that, where we played, when we played, how they play. It was a lot, and they're a good football team. Their scheme was really good. We didn't exploit it. There are some things we would do differently, I think, if we played them again; we have to execute better as well. We didn't execute great in that game, but a lot had to do with what they were trying to do to us, and they got good players, so you put all that together, and I think that's what ended up happening. We moved the football often, we had 400-some yards, and we didn't score enough. It's a team game, so you've got to play well on both sides of the ball in a team like that. We do things a lot differently, but I also think you're going to do what you do, like whatever your scheme is. You're going to try to do that at a high level. I don't think you are necessarily going to try to do something somebody else did. You may maybe lean a little bit more toward that, but you're going to do what you do.”
On getting the ball to Joe Royer
“There have been times this year when we try to call Joe's number, and you look in, and there are two dudes on it, and it's hard to get the ball to him. The other side of that is, like you mentioned, we do have some guys on the outside that we'd like to win, and they have made good plays for us this year, and spreading the ball out. You look at our distribution of the balls to the wideouts, and it is pretty even. Then you get Joe in there, you put some running backs in there, and you obviously want to run the football. So, our balance, as far as that, has been really good this year, because you're not necessarily just trying to pin one guy. You try to defend this one guy, and then we're going to beat you with some other guys. I think that's probably the problem. That's why he didn't have as much on him.”
Tickets