UW Huskies’ Jedd Fisch explains effect of traveling multiple time zones
Oct 23, 2024, 2:23 PM
(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The UW Huskies will come out of the bye week having had much needed extra time to prepare not just against an undefeated foe in the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers, but the the challenges of West to East travel. Saturday’s 9 a.m. Pacific kickoff will be the third time this season the UW has traveled two or three time zones, and the results so far have not been good with the Huskies dropping games to Rutgers and Iowa.
UW Huskies won’t see No. 13 Indiana’s starting QB on Saturday
“It’s unique and it’s harder than maybe any of us wanted to give it credit for early on,” Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch told Brock and Salk on Wednesday, noting the initial excitement of getting to play in new and exciting environments in the Big Ten has faded.
“You start realizing that they’re all victims of network TV slots and we’re all looking at ways to figure out a way to get your team ready to go when you’re waking them up at 4:30 (a.m.) their body time and asking them to go play in a competitive football game like we experienced against Iowa.”
Jumping three time zones and playing at 9 a.m. is far from business as usual. In the the five years prior to joining the Big Ten, the Huskies traveled to the Central or Eastern time zones a total of just twice, and both of those games had 5 p.m. kickoffs. It will now happen regularly, and adjustments are still being made according to Fisch.
“There’s a lot of things that I’m doing that’s different this week playing Indiana than I did against Iowa,” he said. “And to be honest with you, I didn’t do a good enough job getting our team ready for the physical demand of the travel to Iowa and for the physical demand of the game that Iowa brings you, and that’s something that we that we have to learn.”
There are adjustments for all teams involved in Year 1 of the reconfigured Big Ten. New opponents, new travel, new stadiums, new game times. It is certainly a challenge for all, although not every situation is the same, especially when it comes to travel and time zones.
“To get ready for a physical football game at 9 a.m. your body time on the road in a sold-out environment when they’ve been practicing for a noon kick their time is different and unique,” Fisch said, “so we’ve got to adjust again this week. But we are taking a totally different approach in terms of what our schedule looks like and how we were able to hopefully get our bodies right.”
Time to look closer
Much has been under the microscope for the Huskies with the extra time the bye has afforded, with Fisch pointing to examining how the team has been moving the ball between the 20s, the kicking game, third down conversions and red zone production as areas of focus with the offense, and run defense and takeaways on the other side of the ball. The latter Fisch sees as a big area of opportunity.
“We’ve only taken the ball away six times this year, we’ve only turned it over five times all year so we are sitting at plus-1. But if we turn it over five times in seven games, we need to be better than plus-1,” he said.
Will the opportunities be there in Bloomington on Saturday? While many have put 7-0 Indiana into the “2024 surprising teams” category, Fisch sees them differently.
“No. 1, they’re playing great football overall,” he said. “It’s everything they’re doing right now, they’re doing at a high level.”
Indiana’s rare advantage
Despite Indiana having a new head coach in Curt Cignetti, who spent the previous five years at James Madison, Fisch points to unique continuity in the program as being one of the keys to the Hoosiers’ success.
“I think one of the biggest things that I’ve noticed about their program is they brought 13 starters from his culture, and that’s huge,” Fisch said. “Ninety-five percent of the roster participated in spring ball with them, so they were able to really utilize the winter portal by him getting hired Nov. 30. He emphasized bringing in production over potential in the portal, and I think he did that really marvelously well. And then as I said, bring 13 starters from a team that lost one game the year before at James Madison. So altogether I think he’s really been able to get that culture going quickly and a lot of it had to do with the advocates of his culture prior to his arrival.”
Fisch, who perhaps had fewer building blocks in place upon his arrival last winter from Arizona, looks forward to having a full recruiting class in the Huskies locker room after this year. It is an element he believes is critical in culture building. That topic and a look at recruiting are addressed in the 15-minute conversation with the Huskies head coach which can be found at this link or the player near the top of this post.
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