STANFORD, Calif. — Five storylines for the Arizona Wildcats' Pac-12 opener against the Stanford Cardinal on Saturday.
1. Ex-Stanford coach Teevens 'really important' to Fisch
The loss of Dartmouth head coach Eugene "Buddy" Teevens, who was head coach at Stanford from 2002-04, has had a personal impact on Arizona coach Jedd Fisch.
Teevens, 66, died Tuesday following complications from a bicycle crash in March.
Teevens, who Fisch called "a really important person in my life," was struck by a Ford F-150 while riding his bicycle in St. Augustine, Florida, on March 16. As a result of the crash, Teevens' right leg was amputated, his spinal cord was severely damaged, and he was hospitalized for six months before his death earlier this week.
Teevens is survived by his wife, Kirsten Teevens, and his two children, son Eugene Teevens IV and daughter Lindsay Teevens.
"It was a very sad situation for us that occurred for me, my family and really the coaching profession," Fisch said during his introductory comments at his news conference on Thursday.
Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens gestures on the sideline during a football game against Princeton in Princeton, N.J., Nov. 18, 2006.
When Fisch was a law student at the University of Florida and became eager to pursue coaching, he left notes on Gators head coach Steve Spurrier's car windshield for several months and asked for an opportunity. After the "Head Ball Coach" carved out a student assistant role for Fisch in 1999, he worked closely with Teevens, who was an offensive assistant under Spurrier at the time.
"Not many people were giving me much of an opportunity, and Coach Teevens did that," Fisch said. "He did that for me. I wound up becoming very close with him and spent three years with him at Florida. Ended up babysitting his kids on roadtrips early on, and I just want to send my condolences to Kirsten, little Buddy and Lindsay and their families. ... I just wanted to wish the best to Dartmouth football moving forward."
Fisch said his "fondest memory" of their time together at Florida "was when he said we were going to redo Coach Spurrier's playbook," which was "all handwritten and was never done on a computer."
"He said, 'This is our task, we're going to do it together,' and he was willing to spend a lot of hours teaching it to me. We did that together," Fisch said.
Then-Stanford head football coach Buddy Teevens surveys the new grass at Stanford Stadium during a Cardinal practice in August 2004.
Fisch also recalled the moment Teevens asked former Gators star and NFL receiver Reche Caldwell, "'Do you have a certain release in your repertoire?'"
"All the wide receivers looked at Coach Buddy at the same time and went, 'Repertoire?' He just started laughing and said, 'Yeah, maybe I should use some other language,' but he never did," Fisch joked. "That Dartmouth education never went away for Coach Teevens and he was just a fantastic person."
Stanford Stadium will hold a moment of silence before kickoff on Saturday for the coach who led the Cardinal for three seasons from 2002-04. Both teams are also expected to wear decals to honor Teevens.
Said Fisch: "There's a lot of irony involved with going to Stanford this weekend, where Buddy used to be the head football coach."
2. From cowbells to the library
It'll be a two-fer on history made when the Wildcats and Cardinal meet on Saturday. Not only will it be the first Pac-12 game where Stanford Stadium will sell beer and wine, it's also the final time the Wildcats and Cardinal will meet as conference opponents, with the UA going to the Big 12 next year and Stanford splitting to the ACC along with Bay Area counterpart Cal.
Arizona’s Taylor Upshaw (11) gets a pat on the head from linebacker Jacob Manu (5) after coming up big against NAU in last year’s season opener.
Since 1979, Arizona is 14-17 against the Cardinal. The Wildcats have not beaten Stanford in Palo Alto — err, let's call it Stanford, California (geographic rules are rules) — since 2006. Arizona has lost six straight to the Cardinal since 2010. The last time Arizona beat the Cardinal, Nick Foles and Andrew Luck were the starting quarterbacks.
When Arizona last played a road game this season, its overtime loss to Mississippi State in Starkville, the Wildcats were engulfed by over 50,000 cowbell-rattling SEC fans. Arizona prepared for it by blaring cowbell sounds over the speakers at the Dick Tomey Practice Fields. Announced attendance for Stanford's upset loss to Sacramento State was 23,848, a significant contrast to the rowdy environment two weeks ago.
The Wildcats had a similar experience in their 49-31 loss to Cal in Berkeley to open up conference play last season.
"We've talked about with our team, 'You've gotta create our own energy in this game.' Our responsibility as a team is to show up there and create our own energy," Arizona's Jedd Fisch said. "Not worry about or try to need the fans to not like you to get excited. 'We don't need the fans to boo you when you run out. We don't need our fans to get us going like we would on a home game. This is up to us.'
"The 74 players that we bring, the 34 staff members that we bring, those are the responsible people to get us play a much better game than we played the last time we were in Northern California, where we did not bring our own energy, we did not play to the standard that we want to play at. We've learned from that I hope, and I've certainly emphasized it enough."
3. Safety Johnson 'is playing explosive'
Arizona redshirt sophomore strong safety Dalton Johnson currently has the third-most tackles (16) by a Wildcat this season and one of the UA's three takeaways with a forced fumble against Northern Arizona.
The Katy, Texas, native, who signed with the Wildcats during the early signing period just after former head coach Kevin Sumlin was fired by the UA and the Wildcats hadn't hired Jedd Fisch at the time, registered two quarterback pressures last week against UTEP. The blitzing Johnson has lined up on the line of scrimmage five times this season and has a team-best 87 rushing defense grade by Pro Football Focus through three games. He also has a 74.6 tackling grade by PFF.
Arizona safety Dalton Johnson (43) and cornerback Treydan Stukes celebrate a stop of Northern Arizona on downs during the first half of the Wildcats’ season-opening win over the Lumberjacks on Sept. 2, 2023, in Tucson.
"Dalton is playing explosive. He's playing with incredible effort, which is permitting him to just chase the ball," Fisch said. "I think some of the things we're noticing is when he's on the back side and sees the runaway or sees the throw, he's willing to give that 100% effort."
Swarming to the ball, regardless of positioning, is something the Wildcats "have really emphasized the whole offseason." Former Desert Swarm-era assistant and first-year defensive backs coach Duane Akina was among the most vocal coaches about getting to the ball in training camp.
Johnson's "football IQ is unbelievable," Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said.
"He's understanding of exactly what we're looking for in order to blitz him," Nansen said. "Those things, you gotta have experienced guys in order to recognize formations, when to blitz and how to blitz, and I think he has a great feel for it. It's been really helpful having him on the field. I'm glad to see him play. I thought he wasn't going to play, but he's a tough kid and he's a winner. He comes from a great high school program, he's got great attitude about the game and his teammates. I'm just happy for him."
4. Baker 'the unsung hero' of O-Line
Arizona's offensive line will be at full strength on Saturday when freshman right guard Raymond Pulido makes his collegiate debut after missing the first three games following a bike accident.
Arizona experimented with redshirt sophomore Joseph Borjon at right tackle, with star right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea moving back inside. Redshirt sophomore Leif Magnuson played 33 snaps at right guard with Savaiinaea at right tackle in last week's win over UTEP.
“We like to talk about the defensive line depth and the ability you to have to rotate, but when you have offensive line depth that we haven’t had here in a long time,” Arizona coach Jedd Fisch said.
Later added Fisch: "We talked about it leading up through camp, leading up to the season, that we're really proud of the development of our younger guys. Coach (Brennan) Carroll has done a great job of not just coaching them, but identifying the talent, who to bring in, who to coach, the type of effort he wants to get out of those guys."
UA coach Jedd Fisch said junior center Josh Baker has been the "unsung hero" on the Wildcats' offensive line that is bookended by a defending Freshman All-American (Savaiinaea) and a potential first-round draft pick in left tackle Jordan Morgan.
The 6-3, 310-pound center has a 75.7 pass-blocking grade by PFF this season and has also been useful in down-field blocking in the second and third levels of defense for the Wildcats' running backs on run plays or screens.
"Nobody talks about Josh and what Josh has done," Fisch said. "He knows this offense inside and out. His relationship with (quarterback) Jayden (de Laura) and the way they communicate, whether or not to check a play, change a play, how we're going to pick something up, those type of things Josh is able to do has enabled the offensive line to go."
De Laura said, "Josh is one of the hardest workers in this building. He's not really talked about with all of our O-Linemen. It's crazy."
De Laura noticed Baker's football intelligence in the Wildcats' Friday film sessions before games. When appropriate, Baker commands the room and "he's calling it like he's a coach."
"He knows everything out there like he's Coach B.C. out there blocking," de Laura said. "It's a credit to his hard work."
Arizona tight end Tanner McLachlan (84) looks for running room after making a catch against Mississippi State on Sept. 9 in Starkville, Mississippi.
5. Tight End U
Since 2010, Stanford has produced eight tight ends selected in the NFL Draft. Most notably: Zach Ertz, Dalton Schultz, Coby Fleener, Austin Hooper and Colby Parkinson, among others; Arizona has six tight ends drafted all-time — most notably four-time Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer Rob Gronkowski.
The Cardinal currently have a potential All-Pac-12 selection at tight end in 6-4, 242-pound senior Benjamin Yurosek, who leads Stanford in catches (13) and yards (192) this season.
"Their tight end is not just used heavily, he's probably the best receiver on their team," Arizona's Jedd Fisch said. "He's a very talented player.
"You've got to be able to give multiple looks to a team like that, where you have that elite pass-catching tight end that they want to feed the ball to."
Stanford tight end Benjamin Yurosek gets dragged down after a catch during the Cardinal’s 31-24 loss to Oregon in October 2021.
Fisch added the Wildcats "have to be very alert" of Yurosek, who is unlike any tight end Arizona has faced all season. The Wildcats have battled mostly run-blocking tight ends this season.
"This is now truly a big receiver," Fisch said.
Fisch is hopeful Arizona's defense will contain Yurosek on Saturday, considering his skillset is very similar to UA pass-catching tight ends Tanner McLachlan, who has the fourth-most receiving yards (109) for Arizona this season, and Keyan Burnett, "so they're accustomed to tight ends stretching the field."
"Our guys will have a little bit more familiarity with defending a tight end, because of the way we play versus the last couple of opponents," Fisch said.
Arizona tight end Roberto Miranda, a fourth-year redshirt sophomore from Berlin, Germany, who some of us in the media have nicknamed "Das Gronk," has an 80.2 overall offensive PFF grade and an 81.5 run-blocking grade in 31 snaps this season.
"Where he's really helped us is his ability to be a great blocker," Fisch said of Miranda. "His physicality, his want-to, his know-how.
"He's done a great job of learning our system."
