Press conference recap: What Jedd Fisch said ahead of Arizona's Utah trip

Jedd Fisch spoke to the media Thursday afternoon ahead of Arizona's game on Saturday against No. 14 Utah in Salt Lake City. The Utes currently hold a five-game winning streak on the Wildcats with UA's last win at Rice-Eccles Stadium coming in 2014. Utah (6-2, 4-1 Pac-12) is coming off two significant wins after defeating USC and Washington State over the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, Arizona (3-5, 1-4) is looking for its first win in over a month after losing its last three games. The Wildcats' last victory came Oct. 1 against Colorado.

Fisch has plenty of respect for Kyle Whittingham's team, and he again turned back to his admiration for how the Utes have built their program when speaking with reporters ahead of Saturday's matchup.

Here is everything Fisch discussed during his Thursday press conference:

Opening statement

"Obviously getting ready for a very good football team at Utah. We know how good they are. They are sitting here at 6-2 coming off a Thursday night game so they had pretty good time in-between the last game against Washington State and now and then coming off their last home game against USC. Great battle ahead of us, excited that we get a chance to play another top team going from playing the No. 8 team in the country, No. 9 team in the country and now the No. 12 team in the country. It is a great challenge for our players and certainly excited about that."

On the consistent success of the Utah program

"I believe that coach Whittingham has been there 19 years, as a head coach. Prior to that as a coordinator. He took over a program that I believe was 11-0 the year coach [Urban] Meyer left. They had the No. 1 overall pick in Alex Smith and was able to keep it going. You look at how he has recruited. He's recruited exactly what he wants his program to look like. There is a definite you can say standard in the way they recruit defensively and what their expectation is. He has had the same defensive coordinator over seven years. Andy Ludwig has come and gone and come back so they are very good offensively. They know exactly what they want to be. They're going to be an under center team and [shot] gun of course, but more under center than most college football programs are right now. They're gonna have a great play-action game. We understand the importance of being able to move the football and score points, but they've also kept the standard of playing great defense and this year they have won a lot of games. You look at who they are and how they do it. They sell out their stadium. They have incredible home field advantage when you go out to Salt Lake. We want to be that. I don't know why we can't be. I believe we can be, but it starts with the community. It starts with the fans rallying behind. It starts with our players making plays. It starts with our coaches coaching at the highest standard, recruiting at the highest standard and then all together the group trying to get it done."

On Rayshon Luke's status and talk about him redshirting

"He should be good to go. ... He has got four games he can play before you have to redshirt," Fisch said. "There was zero conversation. He wants to play. We'll see how the game goes. Him being available and him playing are two different things. We'll have to see what that looks like, but he is available and full-go."

On what Luke showed Fisch when he did play

"Two things. One was pure speed which there was no doubt in that but number two is he's got a really good feel as a runner on how to see holes and how to make cuts. He's not just one of those guys makes the perimeter and runs and bounces runs. He can run downhill. He can catch the ball and he has very good vision and he's a one cut runner."

On the thought of making DJ Williams the designated goal line back

"Not really. Michael Wiley leads the team in touchdowns looking at run and pass. Michael had no problem getting into the end zone when we ran the option play. Jonah Coleman has gotten into the end zone. DJ gets into the end zone. I think really what it came down to, I don't think anybody was getting into the end zone the way we blocked on that one play that you're referring to I'm sure specifically and sometimes that happens. We didn't block anybody and we wound up going from a second-and-1 to a third-and-8 so you can't have that. Mike had a three-yard run on the first-and-10 down to second-and-6 and then we had two incompletions but other than that, I think DJ will certainly play his role and he'll continue to get more opportunities throughout this season, next season and with that I'm sure there'll be more opportunities inside the five."

On the thought process behind playing more true freshman

"Really what it comes down to is we're playing our best players, guys that are practicing the best, guys that are playing the best at that moment in time, guys that are giving us the best opportunity to win the game. In addition, it's enabled us to continue to watch the build and be able to see how good people can get. We're still looking forward to a full recruiting class in 2023. We still have to see exactly who is coming in into those spots to be able to immediately impact you and be able to see what the competition is going to look like. For us, it's all about winning this game against Utah and we're going to play the best 22 players we believe we have on this roster."

On Utah ranking No. 11 in the country in time of possession

"The way they balance the run and pass, the way they huddle or at least use most of the play clock like North Dakota State does. For us, we're going to find a way the best we can to move the football. We're going to do everything we possibly can to score as often as we can against a very good defense. We're going to have to find a way to take the ball away by our defense against their offense to limit their time of possession. We don't want them to be in the 31, 32 minute game where we have it for 27 1/2 minutes or whatever it might be. We're going to try to figure out a way to get more points with every possession we have and really not get too wrapped in what they're doing."

On the consistency of the Utes defense

"As I was saying earlier, their defensive coordinator has been there seven years. Most of their defensive staff either played there or has been there for a significant amount of time. Their head coach was the defensive coordinator, so I'm sure he plays an enormous hand in how they recruit defensively. I think we have to go back 20 years to really look back and say, 'What did you guys do to make sure you build the defense the way you wanted to?' And I'm sure the answer was Whittingham. He was the defensive coordinator, Meyer was the head coach and Whittingham built the defense the way he wanted to as a defensive coordinator. They got to a point where they were top five in the country and then Urban moved on, Kyle moved up and he kept the defense going. There hasn't been a lot of drop-offs. I'm sure you guys can find a year or two that I can't remember, but the for most part I feel like Utah's defense has always been one of those that you know they're tough, you know they're physical. The body types are pretty similar. What they bring in defensive line was, they bring in the 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, 305 pound guys interior, they bring in the edge rushers. The linebackers I have always thought have been very good. That hasn't changed. Eric Weddle was a great safety from Utah years ago that I remember hosting at a draft dinner in Baltimore in 2006 that had been with the Rams in the Super Bowl 12 years later. There is just the mentality and mindset there that coach [Jason] Kaufusi can probably speak on for sure. We know that that's the type of defense we want to build here."

On the potential for weather impacting Saturday's game

"If it rains, it rains. If it doesn't, it doesn't. We can't control that at all, so our goal is to strictly play the competition, not the weather and do everything we possibly can to move the football and prevent them from moving the ball."

On the Wildcats being ready for a potential hostile environment at Utah

"They better be or it is not going to be a fun Saturday night. We have to be ready for that and it's another great opportunity to figure out exactly where we are on the spectrum of the build of this program. You can go to Washington on Homecoming and go head-to-head and make it a 42-39 game with a couple of minutes left. You can play the No. 9 team in the country here for Homecoming and be down two points with 14 points left, be down a score with a minute left and have a fourth down they've got to convert and you can stop them and go 60 yards to tie the game. This is one more step for our guys to see how we can become."

On how the team has responded during the current tough stretch

"It seems great to me. We certainly didn't flinch last week. It was 17-13 at halftime, 17-16 to start the third quarter. We went back-and-forth, 31-29 with 14 minutes left and they scored twice and we scored to make it 45-37 and we went for the two-point play. It seemed like no stress at all in terms of getting them ready to play. I felt the same way against Washington. It was 42-39 and no issue at all trying to get them ready to play. I think our guys are excited about it. What you've got to do is you got to try to find a way to turn the table and the score will take care of itself as we keep playing hard and keep practicing hard and know what you're supposed to do and what you need to get accomplished. This is part of it. I know we talked about it a long time ago or it felt like a long time ago but it was only a year ago that we go from losing big to losing small to winning small to winning big. We are right in that middle. We're right in those two areas beating North Dakota State, beating San Diego State in a game that was pretty close to the end, losing some close games here. We're right here at the brink that we got to keep getting better and keep playing complimentary football."

On the scouting report for Cameron Rising and his unknown status

"I would expect Cameron Rising to play. My scouting report is I remember meeting with him in 2017 at UCLA talking about him coming to play for us at UCLA. He is from Newbury Park high school which is just about 45 minutes north of Westwood. It is right by where the Rams practice. I have always thought of him as a very good quarterback, athletic quarterback. He can certainly make plays with his feet, throw on the run. He did a great job against San Diego State a year ago, really that's when he showed back up and obviously he was at Texas and transferred to Utah. When he went in the second half of that San Diego State game and started lighting it up. I think Cam is big, tall and a very NFL prototype in terms of his ability to run and his ability to throw and his ability to lead. If you look at what he did against really Florida, drove all the way in the swamp on opening day. I know the game didn't end the way they wanted to with the last throw, but he got them there to the five and then this past game against USC driving all the way down, using his legs, making great decisions and then getting the win on the two-point play. He is going to be quite a challenge as it feels like a lot of the Pac-12 quarterbacks are."

On Jayden de Laura throwing more downfield passes against USC

"The coverage that was given to us. There are times you can throw underneath because of the coverage. Let's call it the umbrella-like coverage that has been given to you that it's easier to find intermediate routes. There are other times they want to sit on intermediate routes and your option is to go over the top or not. We're not afraid to go over the top. We hit a 70-yarder, but we had a couple other opportunities to hit about another 100 more yards there. We're going to throw the go ball and we're going to take our chances there with our receivers. I think he throws it very well down the field and it's allowed us to become a pretty explosive offense. I know that we're first in explosive plays from the scrimmage so we'll keep doing that."

On changes in coverage tendencies against Arizona wide receivers

"I would say a big mix of coverages that teams aren't necessarily playing you one or two coverages. They're going to make it challenging. They're going to pressure you, play man, play two-deep zone, play three-deep zone, then they're going to play quarters, then they're going to play zero and you're going to spin the dial a little with the different body types we have out there and the different successes that those guys have had making plays and challenging them. This week, I think we're going to have our hands full with this defense. They play very physical man-to-man coverage. I think Clark Phillips is a fantastic corner and I'm looking forward to seeing him. I think he is really good. We have a big challenge ahead of us and we're hopefully going to be ready for it."

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