How Much Have Penalties Affected Arizona?
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The Arizona Wildcats football team rolled past its two opponents in impressive fashion, beating Hawaii 40-6 in a week one matchup on August 30 and thumping Weber State 48-6 the next week on September 6.
Both those games are now in the past as Arizona is preparing to take on Kansas State this Friday at 6 p.m. (MST) in hopes of getting a little bit of revenge from last season's 31-7 loss in Manhattan.
There was plenty that Arizona did right en route to its undefeated 2-0 start, but also some things that it could improve upon, particularly in the area of penalties.
Despite blowing both teams out, Arizona still gave up a substantial amount of yards through two weeks of play. Against Hawaii, the Wildcats let go of 54 yards through fouls calls. Against WSU, 80 yards were given up
On offense
Arizona was penalized eight times when playing the Rainbow Warriors and 10 times against Weber State.
Of the eight total penalties called on Arizona over four quarters against Hawaii, six of those went towards the offensive side of the ball.
Of the 10 penalties called on Arizona against Weber State, seven of those were on the offense, four of those being holding calls.
" I'm not naive to the fact that guys are going to play hard and the ball is going to bounce, and they thinking that the ball is going to hit inside, so they have inside leverage the ball bounce, and all of a sudden they're trying to sustain a block while they hold so I'm not naive to the fact there's going to be holding penalties, but there can't be that many. Like I said, like, I felt like, last weekend, we just had way too many."
"I felt like, okay, the ball it did bounce a few times. Like I said, there's times where the ball bounces. And I can understand that I can rationalize that, but also I felt like we got tired and we stopped moving our feet at times, and not sustaining blocks. That's why we held and a couple of those were critical penalties, so we got to eliminate that. That's been addressed. I think our kids know that it's been unfortunate these first couple games, because that's the difference between a touchdown and a field goal. You know, Noah scores twice with his legs, and neither one of them counts."
On defense
The defense seemed to be the more disciplined squad over the two weeks of play on the field.
Two penalties were called on the defensive backs against Hawaii: a holding call on Jay'Vion Cole and a pass interference on Gavin Hunter
Against Weber State, four penalties were called on the defensive side, although three of them were minor offside fouls.
Possibly the most effective penalty Arizona received was a targeting foul on Jabari Mann for hitting quarterback Jackson Gilkey in the head & shoulder area, disqualifying him from playing the rest of the game.
Arizona was able to get away with the heavy amount of penalties against lesser teams, but it will need to clean that area up against a team like Kansas State, who will take advantage of those.
"We gave them two first downs by jumping offsides later in the game, which are the penalties that you have to eliminate," Danny Gonzales said. "A guy gets outside and they hold and all that stuff. Moving ball penalties are gonna happen. We can't have nine, but moving ball penalties are gonna happen a couple here and there, but like, offsides, when you have them in fourth down and you jump when they hard count, that's the most juvenile thing ever. We gotta solve that."
How do you see the Wildcats' season going if they clean up their penalty issues? Let us know on our X account. While you're there, be sure to give us a follow.
Nathaniel Martinez and a set of shoulder pads at 7 years old. He later graduated from Pima Community College in 2023, where he began writing for the Pima Post. He is working to achieve a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Media Studies.