Arizona has won five straight games at home, including all four since changing the name to Casino Del Stadium. The results have been more mixed on the road this season, losing at BYU before winning at Washington State.
Now comes the Wildcats’ first trip to Morgantown, both for the team and coach Brent Brennan, for a Saturday morning battle against West Virginia.
“The environment’s going to be on us, like all the stuff that you would expect going on the road in the Big 12,” Brennan said Monday. “And
so we’re hard at work putting our plan together and attacking our process, and I’m excited to get the guys back tomorrow in the building and and go to work.”
Arizona (4-1, 1-1) will be taking on a former head coach in Rich Rodriguez, who was in Tucson from 2012-17. It’s the first time the UA has faced an ex-head coach since Larry Smith at USC in 1992.
Here’s what else Brennan said at his presser to open West Virginia week:
On the receivers stepping up following injuries: “I thought they did a great job, and I think that the biggest thing that showed up to me was how they blocked. You see all 100—I don’t know—pounds of Isaiah Mizell running in there and crack a safety, and block on the perimeter the way they did. RJ (Mosley) also had some great blocking. You don’t run the football like that without the receivers doing a great job down the field. It just doesn’t happen. So I thought they responded great.”
On which young receivers can take advantage of more snaps: “There’s been a lot of conversation with you all about RJ, and I think RJ Mosley is one of those guys. Jet (Smith) has started to push into that picture a little bit more and make plays for us, and so I’m excited to see him. But we we talked about this a lot about that group, about the depth of the room, what they all bring to the table, and so I think this is a great opportunity for a few of them to step up and really find a way to contribute positively.”
On Quincy Craig: “Quincy Craig is is an awesome football player. He’s heavily involved in special teams for us. He’s great runner. He’s a great pass protector. We can line him up at wideout. He can play out there. He’s just a really complete player. And I think sometimes that happens where you get a little bit of momentum and he finds a crease and gets a little confidence and starts getting downhill. He’s someone that I continue to expect big things from.”
On Antwan Roberts learning from his mistakes: “I think those guys do a great job of really supporting each other and really being excited for each other’s success, which you need on any good football team. That’s a critical component of guys being not being selfish and guys really supporting the other guys in the room. And all those guys ran well on Saturday night and ran physical. Antwan’s been a great addition to us. I think he’s going to continue to make plays, as I think Ked will and Quincy.”
On learning of Tre Spivey’s diagnosis: “Those situations are so difficult. We were both crying in the X-ray room in the training room. We love Tre, and he’s been such an awesome addition since he came over here a couple years ago. He’s obviously an important part to what we do offensively, and so we want to support him every way we can. It’s really that simple. He’s one of us. He’s our brother. How can we all support him on this new journey and help him get everything he needs in his process. Because that’s those things are hard. It’s the same injury team I had during spring practice in spring of 24. So we have some history with this.”
On changes to the weekly schedule with an East Coast trip: “The only difference is our Thursday routine is going to change. We fly out Thursday, so we’ll practice Thursday morning.”
On the 3-hour time change: “This is what I think: I think if you let that be an excuse, it will be. I think if you let going on the road be an excuse, it will be. So we’re not in the excuse-making business. We’re in attacking the challenge ahead of us, which is playing a good West Virginia team at their place on Saturday at 9 a.m. Arizona time.”
On West Virginia: “A really offensively explosive, crazy tempo team. A lot of plus run, plus one run game at the quarterback. They want to run the football, and they do a great job of that. The running back is a total stud, run for a ton of yards, lots of explosive plays. The quarterback is a stud, is a total badass, so that’s going to be a great challenge for our defense. And defensively, they’re a multiple high-pressure team. They’re tough to plan for because there’s a lot of variation there, and so you’re not always sure what you’re going to get, and they’ve been really stingy in the red zone, and they’ve been pretty good on third down.”
On comparing Michael Hawkins Jr. to past mobile QBs Arizona has faced: “This one’s different than those. This one’s way different than those. This one is super twitchy, powerful acceleration. He’s way different. This is a whole different challenge for us.”
On Rich Rodriguez: “He’s a football guy, and he’s obviously a great coach. He’s won pretty much everywhere he’s been. And really creative offensively. I remember watching those teams with Pat White at West Virginia, and just how different it all looked and how fast they played. He’s always been really good to me. Really, really friendly. He loved his time in Tucson because every time I see him, we talk about it. This was a great experience for him. I got a ton of respect for him.”
On using the transfer portal to rebuild a program: “I think every program is different, and every coach’s staff is different. And I think there’s philosophical things that go into that, and then there’s also institutional things that impact that. Do you have access to that kind of people? Do you have the money to pay for it? Can they get into school? Do their credits transfer? Like, there’s so many pieces of that, so everybody does their own thing. West Virginia and and Oklahoma State were both first and second year situations where they’re trying to figure out, kind of overhaul the rosters and what they want them to do, and so in those circumstances, I think you see bigger numbers of turnover when there’s a coaching change.”
On a player that’s done the dirty work this season: “I would say Brandon Craddock is one of those guys, a veteran player for us has been a staple in our kicking game. He’s one of the best teammates on this team. Just an unselfish leader. He’s the he’s the captain, slash, coach of our front team, but he’s been awesome.”
On T-Mac’s big Sunday Night Football performance: “It was awesome, wasn’t it? It was so fun, and I just got to see the highlights on SportsCenter late. But what a night! Incredible night. None of it surprises any of us that watched him perform here every day in practice.”
