I asked both head coaches what stands out to them preparing their offenses for the Fiesta Bowl.
Q. Looking at this matchup in the Fiesta Bowl tomorrow, your two defenses very strong but in different ways. When you're preparing your offenses to face these defenses, what has stood out to you?
COACH CAMPBELL: From my end, I think when you look at this defense that we're about to play, I think the physicality, the length, and the explosion of the secondary in terms of their ability to break on balls and their ability to make plays on balls, I think, are really evident.
Their front seven, or front six at times, are just really impressive in terms of their ability to win at the point of attack and their ability to create pressure on the opposing offense. So really great challenge for our offensive football team and a lot of respect for what we see on the defensive side of the film.
COACH CRISTOBAL: Again, what stands out right away against Iowa State is physicality. They get to the ball in a hurry. They get there with bad intentions; and they force a lot of issues, negative plays, force the ball to come out. Very disciplined and not just with eye discipline, in terms of knowing where your help is. So when they get there, they get there in packs and in bunches.
They not only prevent explosive plays, they create explosive plays on their side. Again, forcing negative plays. You have a lot of power up front that collapses the pocket from the nose tackle. It's a different front. We don't face the odd front very often in our conference, not like this. And it's something that's very different for us.
But it works because it's coached really well and because of the explosive players. And up front, that front seven causes issues, because it closes the gaps. It knocks people back. Tremendous technique. Feet on the ground. Flat backs. Hands inside. Knocking people back. Again, collapsing the pocket. Those are things you have to be at your best against, and you have to play your best physical and have your best mental approach to have success.
Q. Looking at this matchup in the Fiesta Bowl tomorrow, your two defenses very strong but in different ways. When you're preparing your offenses to face these defenses, what has stood out to you?
COACH CAMPBELL: From my end, I think when you look at this defense that we're about to play, I think the physicality, the length, and the explosion of the secondary in terms of their ability to break on balls and their ability to make plays on balls, I think, are really evident.
Their front seven, or front six at times, are just really impressive in terms of their ability to win at the point of attack and their ability to create pressure on the opposing offense. So really great challenge for our offensive football team and a lot of respect for what we see on the defensive side of the film.
COACH CRISTOBAL: Again, what stands out right away against Iowa State is physicality. They get to the ball in a hurry. They get there with bad intentions; and they force a lot of issues, negative plays, force the ball to come out. Very disciplined and not just with eye discipline, in terms of knowing where your help is. So when they get there, they get there in packs and in bunches.
They not only prevent explosive plays, they create explosive plays on their side. Again, forcing negative plays. You have a lot of power up front that collapses the pocket from the nose tackle. It's a different front. We don't face the odd front very often in our conference, not like this. And it's something that's very different for us.
But it works because it's coached really well and because of the explosive players. And up front, that front seven causes issues, because it closes the gaps. It knocks people back. Tremendous technique. Feet on the ground. Flat backs. Hands inside. Knocking people back. Again, collapsing the pocket. Those are things you have to be at your best against, and you have to play your best physical and have your best mental approach to have success.
