After Saturday’s double overtime loss to BYU, quarterback Noah Fifita said Arizona has a 24-hour rule during which it will assess the good and bad from the previous game before moving forward for the next
one. That period ended late Sunday, but some losses can linger more than others.
“We were devastated, and we still are,” UA coach Brent Brennan said Monday. “The only thing we can do is go to work and learn from it, and learn what we didn’t get done and what we have to do in those moments. Give ourselves a chance for the outcomes we want. So I’m not spending time looking backwards. I’m not moving forward, moving forward with this team.”
After consecutive weeks at home, Arizona is on the road for its next two games starting with Saturday at Houston. The Cougars (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) have already surpassed their win total from last season, when the UA beat them 27-3 in Tucson.
“This is a huge week for us,” Brennan said. “This is a huge opportunity for us to aggressively attack the work, give ourselves a chance to play the kind of football we believe we’re capable of playing, and to go playing in a tough environment against good football team on the road.”
Below is what Brennan said at his presser to open Houston week:
On Houston: “We’re playing a very good football team, they’ve been very well coached. Coach (Willie) Fritz does an outstanding job. They’re 5-1, they’re playing with a lot of confidence. Their offense has moved the ball against everyone they play. The QB is a dual threat guy, he is talented can make throws. I’d expect that we’ll see some quarterback run game after the other night. Defensively, they’re really multiple. They’ve got a really active defense front, you can tell they’re well coached, and so we got a lot of respect for these guys.”
On not letting things snowball after a loss like in 2024: “I think the good thing is that we saw that not happen after Iowa State. And so the important thing to me is how we show up (Tuesday). Today’s the players’ day off. Do we have guys trickling in today, looking for extra opportunities to improve that on their own. But tomorrow, how we show up, what kind of energy do we show up to that meeting. We put that BYU thing behind us, and are we ready to attack this next opportunity or not? I’m confident in this team. I love how we’re playing, I love the effort, the intensity, how tough our kids are, how we responded the other night. But just like you guys, just like everybody else in Wildcat Nation, I’m pissed off we didn’t get it done. But we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves about how that ended, because we have an incredible challenge this week, and it’s on us, and so we have to go work attacking this next thing.”
On losing 4 straight road games, all by 20-plus points: “Every every road trip is different. I think for a lot of us, players, coaches, a lot of us haven’t played in all these venues, in the new Big 12. That was the first time I’ve ever been to Iowa State. This will be the first time I’ve ever been to Houston. But I think the biggest thing that is we just have to not turn the ball over. Let’s start with that. It sounds so simple. And I think that was the thing that Iowa State did that really hurts. We came into that game saying we had to win the turnover battle, and we turned the ball over four times. And so against a really good team on the road, that’s really, really hard to overcome.”
On if he’s sticking with his decision to kneel at end of regulation: “I do, and I’ll tell you why. First of all, I’ve been extremely aggressive this year on fourth down, and I was extremely aggressive on Saturday night. We went for our fourth down six times, and we converted four. To me, in that situation, you know you’re playing against an excellent defense with an active front. They’re going to play some sort of big coverage which is going to make it challenging to throw the football, and their kicker has already hit from 60 this year. Their kicker is a surefire NFL Tyler Loop-type guy. So to me, I felt like we were playing with confidence. I liked the way our defense was playing. Let’s go win it.
“And I think it’s complicated, because I know there’s people that are pissed off that I went for it on fourth down in the third quarter, and then they’re mad I didn’t there. Every situation is different, and we have to make those decisions in a really short time frame. But I felt good about that decision at the time. And I felt like going into over time, when we scored the touchdown, I thought that was it. Now it got called back, but I thought that was the game, we got it. And obviously it didn’t turn out that way, that’s how I felt about the time. That’s why I made the decision I made.”
On the conversations that go into deciding when to go for it or not: “It’s with Seth (Doege) and Danny (Gonzales) on on the headset, just talking through it. Like hey, what do you think we get here? What do you think? Those conversations happen all game. I think we have great communication with our staff. I think we have great alignment. We’re on the same page with how we’re going to move forward in that.”
On using analytics vs. feel: “We work with a company that just goes deep into the math of all that stuff. And the analytics thing is an interesting thing. I think it’s a good tool. It’s not something that we would like live and die with every single day. Some people do. And if it works, everyone’s like, oh the analytics are so great. And if it doesn’t, everyone’s like, what are you doing? There’s so many moments in every football game that come down to the backside of it is like, whether it worked or not. Whether you trusted your gut, you trusted a play call, you trusted a player, or you trust the analytics. And if it works, we’re like, oh, thank God they put the ball in his hands. If it works, well, thank God they trust in the analytics, whatever it was. If it doesn’t work, it’s like, oh, why’d they do that? So I think there’s always part of that with football games, and that’s fine. We understand that, but we feel good about our decision making, about how we’re going about those situations in game.”
On the final full drive of regulation: “We knew we had to run it right. And so we ran on second down, we ran against a light box, and we just didn’t block it well. For the first time all night we were trying to get into a situation where we were running into a box where the numbers were fair. We finally got it, and we just didn’t block it well. And so then on third down, okay, let’s throw for it. Let’s put the ball in Noah’s hands, and let him throw for it. And we got beat on a stunt, interior stunt. They did a good job executing it. (Ka’ena Decambra) is one of our best linemen, that thing came across his face, and all sudden he had a pressure, Noah had people on top of him, and he had to get out. And so then when we did, I would have preferred that he just run it and force BYU to burn a time out there. But he’s also trying to make a play, and so I understand that too, because we’ve also seen the magic of Noah when he’s off schedule.”
On if he’s happy with Doege’s scheme and play calling: “Absolutely. I think Coach Doege has been an awesome addition to our program, his leadership, his play calling, his organization. I understand everyone’s upset about Saturday night, I also know that we had (almost) 400 yards of offense and scored 27 points against the 8th-ranked defense in the country that had been previously giving up 12 (points). I believe in him and I believe in his play calling, and I think we’re just going to continue to get better. We’re in the first year of this thing, and it’s going to keep getting better as we continue to progress.”
On the receivers: “Nunu (Whatley) is one of those kids are just so competitive, and no one wants to make that play more than he does. With those guys, that’s a talented group. They have made plays for us this year. And I think Bobby Wade does an incredible job of coaching that group. When we have an opportunity to make the plays in the pass game you have to make. That’s the nature of that position. And I was encouraged, because I felt like we had the best game out of Kris Hutson that we’ve had all year. And that was improvement. I feel like he’s healthy, we’re starting to see his speed again, his playmaking, and that was encouraging. And so I still have a lot of confidence in that group. Those kids are good players, and they’re busting their ass. He dropped the ball, and you wish he would have finished it.”
On the running back usage: “That rotation ends up being a little bit also how much pounding somebody’s taking. The great thing is it you need multiple running backs that can really do the job and make plays, and all three of those guys have demonstrated that they can. So that part’s exciting for us, because it is important to have guys that are fresh in the game. And then also the amount of pounding that position takes, whether it’s from carrying the football or it’s in pass protection, those guys take a lot of shots. You want to make sure those guys are as fresh as they can be. And so sometimes that’s in the middle of a drive. And we tell those players to tell us when you need to (come) out. We don’t want the player to make the selfish decision to stay in the game if he’s not at his best, if he’s just got the wind knocked out of him or he’s gassed from the previous eight plays. Let’s give somebody else in there and let them, let them help us do the job.”
On Kedrick Reescano: “It was great to see him get going. He’s obviously a guy that’s been dinged up a little bit in the last five weeks. And so it was great to get him back, and great to see him run that confidence and physicality that we know is capable of.”
On playing a morning game on the road: “The only difference is that we’re going to practice Thursday morning. All season we’ve been practicing Thursday night because we play so many night games, and because we’re going on the road. I think for our team and for our program, that’s the time of day we practice every day, so I like it in terms of what the players are used to, their body clocks, all that stuff. I think that’s a positive.”
On recruiting the Houston area: “It’s impressive. When I was coaching at Oregon State, I had to go recruit down there quite a bit. And so I’ve spent a good amount of time in Houston and Central Texas. We’re going to be going to Texas to play games, so I think it from the recruiting part of it, a lot of those kids are interested in maybe living somewhere else, being somewhere new, or they like a different staff, or either they’re interested in something different. Knowing that they’re going to play games in the state of Texas, I think, gives us a good chance to recruit all those areas.”
