Bear Down Wildcats

Newportcat wrote:Can someone explain to me how this even happened I think that is a major potential issue for us and never heard a team not having one

Merkin wrote:Someone said it was due to the traditional PAC rivalries with Notre Dame and such scheduling, and every team has to rotate through not getting a buy week.

Joining Arizona with 12 straight weeks of games will be Massachusetts, Florida International and North Texas.

ANGCatFan wrote:The only other power 5 conference team besides Arizona that does not get a bye week is Colorado. They chose to add a 13th game and play Hawaii on their bye week. This did not have to happen, something that is not mentioned in the espn article. We are getting screwed because of P12 concessions to the California schools.

I'm bringing this subject back up because the reason we play 12 straight games gets forgotten. USC and Stanford have to play Norte Dame outside of the normal first 3 games, so someone else in the P12 has to get screwed in a short year.

When we went to 12 teams the other 8 teams gave in and allowed the California schools to play each other every year so they could maintain their (recruiting) traditional rivalries.

I think it is time for a re-negotiation. Stanford and USC get special scheduling consideration for Norte Dame. Stanford, USC, ucla, and Cal get to play each other every year. In the future, when there is a short season, one of the 4 schools and preferably Stanford or USC has to take the 12 week no bye season.

When Arizona safety Will Parks described his rigorous offseason training regimen three months ago, he was set on establishing a shatterproof mentality.

"I want to be like a machine," Parks said. "Kobe is a machine. LeBron is a machine. All those dudes -- Tyrann Mathieu, Patrick Peterson -- they're machines."

Now, as Parks' combination of boxing, weightlifting and sprints in the 110-degree desert heat wraps up and Arizona's Sept. 3 season opener approaches, it's time to find out if he and the Wildcats have indeed attained that desired machine status. They have a harsh test in front of them that'll help us find out: 12 weeks and 12 games, with no byes in between.

"Twelve straight games is tough -- you'd like to have a break in there -- but it's what we have to deal with," Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said. "I'm not happy about it, but that's how it goes."

Due to a later start to the season, six teams nationally will play at least 12 straight weeks without a breather. The Wildcats, whose open date technically comes on Nov. 28 and would only practically come into play if the team returns to the conference championship game, are one of them.

Colorado is the other Pac-12 team that won't get a break this year. The Buffs, however, set this up on their own volition, as they exercised an option to schedule an additional game because of a season-opening trip to Hawaii.

Arizona, then, got the short end of the stick this year, and they've spent the offseason bracing for a less-than-ideal slate. The Wildcats ripped off wins in five of their final six regular-season games after last season's open date, but they're accepting the fact that there will be no midseason break to circle the wagons, lick the wounds and right the ship this time around.

"We'll have to make a few adjustments because we've used that open week as a good chance to get some of the younger players ready and to get a good four-day rest period," Rodriguez said. "We can't do that now, so we're going to have to plan to make sure we're ready for that."

The beating heart of that plan lies with Arizona strength and conditioning director Chris Allen, who designed the Wildcats' offseason regimen with the regular season marathon in mind. Receiver David Richards has appreciated the training staff's emphasis on Fusionetics, a daily 15-20 minute program geared toward flexibility and injury prevention. He believes that physically, his team is a well-oiled machine.

"We're at the point now where not having that bye week will actually help keep us in a rhythm," Richards said. "It'll help us stay on task."

Parks agrees with that sentiment.

"In high school, we didn't have bye weeks," he said. "And most of us played both ways then too."

The Wildcats are also much more comfortable with their depth. Three years ago, Rodriguez bemoaned Arizona's "razor thin" defense, a unit that was prone to breakdowns late in games, especially on hot afternoons. Now the Wildcats feel they have the horses to roar at full throttle for 60 minutes and 12 straight weeks. When it comes to endurance, they believe they've developed a psychological edge.

"We'd even want to play some day games [in the desert heat]," Richards said with a smile. "Because other teams would break down in that heat. I know they're not used it."

All Arizona is missing is proof, and they'll have a chance to deliver that during an uninterrupted three-month stretch starting in less than two weeks.

"Twelve weeks is cool," Parks said. "We're ready for it. Give us 12 weeks. In fact, give us 13 weeks."

Only a machine could be such a glutton for punishment, right?

Gladiator Cat wrote:Ted Miller is wrong on this one and its not even close.

There is not one team that would give-up their bye week........Not one.

It is completely illogical to not think and know that a week off in the middle of the season to allow rest and recovery is not advantageous to the teams that have them.

To say otherwise is just a talking point to allow someone to argue that loves to argue just the fun of it.

10 out 10 times, RR and every other coach wants a bye week......End of story.

Gladiator Cat wrote:Greg, Colorado did what?

Gladiator Cat wrote:OK Colorado gave up a bye week, good lord, you guys win........for punishment I'm going to go and jam a ******* razor sharp stick in my eye and forget I ever heard of the subject.

F**k bye weeks their completely worthless by all accounts so there no need for me to worry about them anymore.

dc4azcats wrote:I keep reading about how we're going to lose a game we shouldn't and the only way that happens is if our offense has a bad day and I don't think Anu lets that happen TY. I really don't. Losing to BS in the Fiesta Bowl sucked big time but the flip side to that is we get a super motivated Anu because of what happened in that game. All the kid does is win and I think it's super important to him TY because of how the end of the season played out. Can't wait for Thursday.

CalStateTempe wrote:No bye week is detrimental to player safety.

GB, RR, and UofA should sue the Pac-12 for all medical bills and indirect costs for our players incurred this season.

Would never happen, but it should.

UAEebs86 wrote:Well even if we had a bye week we might not have even hit it yet, so you can't really blame the current injuries on that.

CalStateTempe wrote:the purpose of a bye week is not for "ease of scheduling", but more so for player safety.

ASUHATER! wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote:No bye week is detrimental to player safety.

GB, RR, and UofA should sue the Pac-12 for all medical bills and indirect costs for our players incurred this season.

Would never happen, but it should.

Actually it would make more sense to sue Notre Dame, Ucla, Usc, Stanford and Cal.

azgreg wrote:

CalStateTempe wrote:the purpose of a bye week is not for "ease of scheduling", but more so for player safety.

Says who?

Tempedevil wrote:How would a bye week prevent Scooby's meniscus tear or foot sprain? How would it have prevented Anu's concussion? Injuries happen at any moment and without warning. A bye week will not prevent most of them.

A bye week does give an extra week to regroup, refocus, and implement new things. It does not have much to do with player safety. Scooby was not going to be any fresher than he was during the first game and he still got hurt.

Merkin wrote:There is only one reason for a bye week, and that's to extend the season bringing in more money.

Don't even recall any bye weeks when I was watching college and pro games in my youth.