Penalty-prone Arizona football focused on playing a more disciplined game vs. Iowa State

AMES, Iowa — If Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales could rewrite the rules of football, interior offensive linemen should be allowed to hold, "because they do it every down," he said.

Gonzales believes holding should be called if a blocker "tackles a guy on the perimeter."  

"That should be called for holding," he said. "But inside, let them try and kill each other. Who cares, they do it anyway." 

Yeah, about that whole holding thing ... It was a common issue for the Wildcats during nonconference play. Arizona is third-to-last in the Big 12 in penalty yards per game (63.3) — fourth-to-last in total penalties (25). 

Thirteen of those 25 penalties — over half — are holding penalties on Arizona's offensive linemen and receivers. Arizona right tackle Rhino Tapa'atoutai, who started the last two games after returning from a knee injury he suffered last October, has four holding penalties — two of which nullified two rushing touchdowns by quarterback Noah Fifita. 

The bye week "was good for a handful of those guys that have been coming back from injury or got injured during training camp," especially Tapa'atoutai, said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

"Just getting reps and more full-speed reps, the conditioning level and playing more football, it was good for him," Brennan added. 

Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege attributed the holding penalties to a "lack of fundamentals when we get tired."

"Most of the holdings have come on the back end of drives," Doege said. "I'm tempo-ing and we're stopping our feet, we're not setting off the ball properly, and we're letting fatigue dictate what our responsibility is.

"That's really hard. ... We've gotta train them the right way and continue to train them that way. There's a mentality part to it, in my opinion, where they gotta make the decision, 'OK, I'm tired as hell, but I'm going to finish this thing.'" 

Maybe the solution is that Arizona's offensive linemen and receivers wear white gloves to hide their hand placement on Iowa State's white jerseys when they go head to head Saturday?

Or the Wildcats can simply play more disciplined, especially against an Iowa State team that is first in the Big 12 in total penalties (12) and penalty yards (27). The Cyclones are tied with Florida State for the eighth-fewest penalties in college football this season; Arizona is tied for 81st. 

The Cyclones don't beat themselves. In every season under 10th-year head coach Matt Campbell, Iowa State has been in the top five of the least penalized teams in the Big 12. Including this season, Iowa State has led the conference five times in penalty yards under Campbell.

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Reminder: this is an Iowa State program that has appeared in two Big 12 championships and seven bowl games under Campbell.  

Arizona cleaning up holding penalties could result in the Wildcats establishing a run game against an Iowa State rushing defense that's allowing 121 rushing yards per game this season, which is ninth in the Big 12.

Running the football, especially on the road, hindered Arizona's offense last season. In five road games, Arizona averaged 74.8 rushing yards and totaled 374 yards. This season, Arizona is averaging 189 yards per game behind running backs Ismail Mahdi, Quincy Craig and Kedrick Reescano and Fifita. 

"If you want to attack Iowa State, you better be able to run the football," Doege said. "If they can make you one-dimensional, it's going to be tough. We gotta be great at how we're attacking them. ... Their M.O. is how hard they play and how physical they are.

"They have a tradition that we're striving for at the University of Arizona. We want to have sustaining championship runs like they do. We want people to turn on the tape and be like 'These guys play incredibly hard and they're tough and they're physical and they tackle well, they block well, they're efficient. Those guys have what we want and they do a great job." 

Doege added Iowa State is "very disciplined and very detailed in what they do."

"They play extremely hard and they tackle really well and they're really good at forcing turnovers, so we gotta be extremely disciplined and detailed in what we do to be able to attack them," said the Arizona offensive coordinator. 

Arizona's defense, which held Kansas State to a combined 3 for 17 on third and fourth down two weeks ago, enters Saturday as the second-best third-down unit in the Big 12 at a 9-for-40 clip (22.5%). Iowa State is fourth in the Big 12, converting 50% of its third-down plays; the Cyclones have the best fourth-down offense in the conference, too. 

"It's going to be the difference of the game," Gonzales said. "The team that doesn't turn the ball over and wins the third-down battle is going to be the team that has the best chance to win." 

Playing away from Arizona Stadium for the first time this season, Brennan is challenging his team to approach Saturday with the "right discipline." 

"Any time we go on the road trip, do we handle it like a pro?" Brennan asked. "Do we handle it like guys that understand why we're getting on a plane and exactly what we're going to do? I've said this ad nauseam, every stadium on the road in this conference is a monster. Every road game that we play is sold out, the crowd is all over your ass the moment you get off the bus.

"It's just part of playing in this conference. We know it's going to be a rowdy crowd. ... We know how passionate they are about their football there — and they've got a really good football team. For us, it's how can we lock into handling every piece of our process with the right mindset, with the right discipline as we get ready for game time."