It has been a rough start to the season on the defensive side of the ball in two of the first three weeks for Arizona. The bye week was a time for the Wildcats to clean up some things heading into Saturday's game on the road against the current Big 12 favorite in Utah.

Defensive coordinator Duane Akina along with defensive back Dalton Johnson and defensive lineman Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei spoke to the media in Wednesday's press conference. Here are five takeaways from what they had to say.

Johnson was one of the players sidelined in the loss against Kansas State two weeks ago, so having some extra time without a game to prepare for helped bring some improved health heading into this week's game against the Utes.

"Personally, I would say it was good and bad timing," Johnson said about the early bye. "Bad timing that I wasn't able to play against Kansas State, but good timing because I've had two weeks to heal up. I'm good to go and as far as other guys, coming off a loss and going into a bye, we were able to fix what we needed to fix on the field but also guys with injuries and treatment were able to take that time to recover."

Johnson added that he would have been able to play this past Saturday if Arizona did not have its bye week.