Notes and takeaways from the Arizona Wildcats’ weekly Monday news conference at the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility:
* UA coach Rich Rodriguez addressed the question of why he didn’t start quarterback Khalil Tate from the get-go this season. We’ll have more on that topic later today.
* Meanwhile, Tate was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row after accounting for 378 yards and three touchdowns in Arizona’s 47-30 victory over UCLA. Tate became the first Wildcat to earn two Pac-12 OPOW awards since Ka’Deem Carey in 2013 and the first to do it in back-to-back weeks since Tom Tunnicliffe in 1982.
* Tate officially ascended to the No. 1 spot on Arizona’s depth chart this week. Rodriguez used the word “terrific” to sum up how Brandon Dawkins has handled his demotion to the second team.
* Rodriguez said he liked the way the team responded to the victory in Sunday night’s walk-through practice. His message to the players: “The more you win, the more that’s at stake.”
* Rodriguez said the Wildcats slowed the tempo against UCLA to give their defense “a little bit of a break.” Arizona ran two more plays than UCLA but possessed the ball for eight more minutes.
* Arizona will continue to work though its issues on special teams. Rodriguez believes Nathan Eldridge and Trevor Wood can do a good enough job with short snaps, even with limited practice time. Rodriguez was most disappointed in the punt-coverage unit, which allowed a 41-yard return in the fourth quarter.
* Rodriguez described upcoming opponent Cal’s performance against Washington State as a “total team effort” and can sense that Golden Bears are playing with “a lot of confidence.”
* Rodriguez on Arizona’s last meeting with Cal – the “Hill Mary” game in 2014: “What an improbable outcome. We were dead in the water. We kept playing and kept playing. I didn’t think we’d get enough possessions or score enough to beat them. We were really lucky. I don’t know if you have too many of those.”
* Regarding the health of defensive tackle Luca Bruno, Rodriguez said “we’ll see where Luca’s at” later this week. Bruno sat out last week because of a concussion.
* Arizona will be without DT Parker Zellers for the first half against Cal after he was ejected for targeting against UCLA. Rodriguez supports getting crown-of-the-helmet hits out of the game but again questioned the severity of the penalty for an unintentional foul.
* Rodriguez said he was impressed with tailback Nick Wilson’s physicality against UCLA both as a runner and a blocker.
* Rodriguez was pleased with Kwesi Mashack’s ability to fill in at free safety after Mashack spent “half the week” on the scout team. Rodriguez declined to update the injury status of starter Scottie Young Jr. Rodriguez did say that Arizona could shuffle some personnel in its secondary.
* Rodriguez said he has been surprised at how consistent freshman defensive end Kylan Wilborn has been. Wilborn had four sacks vs. UCLA and leads the team with five sacks, seven total tackles for losses and three forced fumbles.
* Rodriguez said he wasn’t exactly sure what Dereck Boles did to draw an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. “He said something,” Rodriguez said. “He doesn’t need to do that. Those are things we just can’t have.”
* Arizona has run out the clock each of the past two weeks. Rodriguez said the key to a good “four-minute offense” is having “the ability to run it when everybody knows you’re gonna run it.”
* Regarding the team as a whole halfway through the season, Rodriguez said: “We’re right in the middle of everything. That’s where you want to be. My hope and expectation is that we’ll play better going forward.”
