After the offensive line was called for four holding penalties, gave up a sack and forced senior quarterback Brett Basanez to scramble most of the game, its senior leader blamed poor practices for the inadequate play.
Coach Randy Walker blamed a bad week of practice for the loss to Arizona State on Sept. 17, and senior offensive lineman Zach Strief did the same after the loss to No. 22 Michigan (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten).
“We had a meeting as an offensive line on Wednesday about how practices have not been going well,” Strief said. “A lot of mistakes we made tonight we made in practice.”
The offensive line’s apparent struggles in practice led to Michigan’s defensive line earning seven quarterback hurries, which forced Basanez out of his rhythm and slowed the offense most of the game.
But Basanez said he thought the offensive line played well against an above-average Michigan defensive front.
“We had those big holding calls, obviously, which can go either way,” Basanez said. “I mean, you can call holding on any play, and they decided to go on those.”
The Wildcats (5-3, 3-2) were called for holding in each of their first four possessions of the second half, three times by redshirt freshman Joel Belding.
Basanez said he talked to Belding after one of the holding calls to try and “keep him in it.”
“He takes it harder than anyone else,” Basanez said. “He had big Gabe (Watson) on him. Gabe might be one of the best defensive tackles in the country. It’s something that Joel can learn from. I just wanted to keep him focused.”
Walker said penalties played a major role in the offense’s inability to move the ball effectively Saturday.
“It’s difficult to begin seemingly every possession 1st-and-20,” Walker said. “I think we have a pretty good offense, but we’re not that good.”
Strief said the line did not prepare as well as it should have for the game and had done a much better job in previous weeks.
Because positions are more solidified now than they were earlier in the year, Strief said the offensive line may have changed its outlook.
“I think a lot of those guys are getting a little bit complacent,” Strief said. “There’s not really anyone pushing them anymore.”
He said he came into the game with an uneasy feeling about how his line would perform because of the practice week leading up to the game.
“If your feet are bad, if your set’s bad in practice and you’re going against a scout team defensive end, you very well may not get beat,” Strief said. “But in a game when you’re going against a Michigan D-front, that’s not going to get the job done.”
The offensive line, which features four new starters from last season, had played above expectations before facing Michigan.
The Cats have given up six sacks, which is third in the conference.
“Bottom line, the offensive line just didn’t get the job done tonight,” Strief said. “There were things there for us. Yeah, they got good athletes up front, but I think it was just as much us killing ourselves as them being a good D-line.”
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
