Rich Rodriguez smiled, a rare happy moment during the worst 48-hour stretch of his season. He knew where the conversation was headed.
This week’s opponent grinds its opponents into dust with a power-run game, bruising linemen and a strong-armed, if slow-footed quarterback.
How different, a visitor asked him, is Stanford to prepare for?
“What they do is unique,” the Arizona Wildcats coach said. “What they do used to not be as unique.”
And there’s the irony.
Saturday’s showdown between the UA (3-1 overall, 0-1 Pac-12) and the 18th-ranked Cardinal (3-1, 2-0) will be a challenge in part because Rodriguez made it so.