In the final press conference before the season opener on Saturday, Jedd Fisch spoke to the media Thursday afternoon to break down the week of practices for his team and look ahead to the weekend.
Here is a look at five notable topics Fisch spoke about with reporters:
The importance of the timing of the game and it being nationally televised
When asked about the importance of the team playing on national TV to open the season, Fisch said that aspect doesn't matter too much to him.
"I don't think it's right now about showing the nation about our program," Fisch said. "We're just building our program to where we want it to go or be one day. We have a lot of young players. We have a lot of new players. We're working very hard to have a really good game.
There are other reasons though why he likes the timing of the game and the location, which close to where many of the current members of the team are from.
"What I'm excited for is for our players to be able to have their family members to see it," Fisch said. "For nobody to have to stay up late to watch it if they're living on the east coast, but it's an opportunity really for our kids to just go out there, play their best football. Our coaches, coach their best football they can coach in this game. We're going to go out and play regardless of what station or regardless of who is televising it."
The importance of building off the first game to improve throughout the season
While there are some people who believe winning the first game and getting off to a fast start to the season is very important, Fisch seemed to brush that stance off.
"I think the first game is the first game," he said. "There are 12 of them. We really can't make the game any more than it is. It's not the last game of the year. It's not the Super Bowl. It's game one and it's our job to build off of this game, try to get better the next game and try to get better the next game and all the way through."
San Diego State remains the betting favorite in this weekend's game, so there likely won't be too much pressure on the Wildcats. Though they do want to show off the team in what has been an eventful offseason for Arizona. Nonetheless, Fisch isn't making this game any more than it needs to be.
"A lot of teams are playing a lot of good teams [this weekend,]" Fisch said. "We're playing a 12-2 San Diego State team, Oregon is playing Georgia, Utah is playing Florida, Notre Dame is playing Ohio State. There's a lot of great football games, and there's going to be a team that wins and a team that loses. That doesn't define your season, does not define your program. It's a game that we're going to go out there, play our best football and see what happens."
The challenge for Arizona's offensive line this week
The Aztecs defense ranked No. 11 in the country in turnovers forced last season that also included a top rush defense, so the Arizona offensive line and entire offense will have their hands full.
San Diego State did lose defensive end Cameron Thomas — the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year last season — to the NFL Draft, but it was still able to bolster the defensive unit through the transfer portal, which included bringing in Justus Tavai from Hawaii to the defensive line and Cooper McDonald from Washington with the linebacker unit.
Fisch expects a very similar defense to what Arizona saw last season.
"They're a very, very good defensive football team," Fisch said. "They've been that way for a long time."
The plan of determining how many touches to get each player each week
The Wildcats have a relatively deep offensive unit this season with even many reserve players who could end up playing big roles this season. This is especially the case in the backfield that arguably could go four or five players deep. Fisch talked about how the coaching staff will determine what players to get what touches each week.
"It is certainly through our process of game planning during the week," Fisch said. "We talk about matchups and we talk about personnel and how we're going to utilize our personnel for a given game versus theirs."
It won't be easy for Fisch and the coaching staff to determine what offensive players need what touches early in the season with all the new faces on the offensive side of the ball.
"It's a little bit unique because we've never seen [Rayshon Luke] play a game with us or [Tetairoa McMillan] play a game with us or [Jacob] Cowing play a game with us or Jonah Coleman," Fisch said. "You start going through let's call it our team. It's tough to really say right now, Week 1, that we're going to asterisk certain plays for certain guys because we really have to start getting a feel for who they are. I would say moving forward at some point time, you would say, 'Hey let's get X amount of touches for a certain guy.' Right now, I think we're really just trying to figure out who our team is."
Injury update on defensive back Treydan Stukes
The one major injury that is still a little uncertain for Arizona is with starting cornerback Treydan Stukes. Fisch said Stukes has been cleared and expects to be able to play on Saturday.
However, how many reps he gets will be dependent on how the third-year sophomore feels leading into the start of the game.
"We'll have to see how he moves today, tomorrow and Saturday before we make a decision on the start," Fisch said. "It does sound very promising in regards to his ability to participate in the game.
Fisch says Isaiah Rutherford, the primary backup to Stukes, will start this Saturday against SDSU.
The Wildcats will travel to San Diego to play the Aztecs on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. (MST) on CBS as SDSU debuts its new home, Snapdragon Stadium.
RELATED
> DISCUSS the article with other Arizona fans as the Wildcats continue Building The Tradition
> WATCH the latest videos from GOAZCATS.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel
> FOLLOW us on Twitter (@goazcatscom, @MattRMoreno, @THutch1995, @RyanYoungRivals)
> FOLLOW us on Instagram (@goazcats)
> LIKE us on Facebook
> SUBSCRIBE for all the latest Arizona Wildcats team and recruiting news (subscribe now)
