It got tense down the stretch, but Arizona is sitting at 3-0 for the first time in 10 years after holding off Kansas State on Friday night. The good Wildcats came out on top thanks to a strong rushing performance and several big defensive stops, which helped negate some special teams miscues and several costly penalties.
“What you saw that out there tonight, that effort, that execution, that accountability, I know we got work to do, but that is what it’s supposed to look like,” UA coach Brent Brennan
said afterward. “That is exactly, in moments, what it’s supposed to look like. Not the whole thing, but in moments, that’s what it’s supposed to look like.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Brennan, running back Ismail Mahdi and safety Genesis Smith said after the victory:
Brennan on bouncing back from the rough start to the 2nd half: “When you’re playing against a program that’s as good as Kansas State, there’s going to be back and forth. Back and forth. Those guys have won a lot of football games for a really long time. They’re extremely well coached. They have good players. And so there’s going to be back and forth. What I loved was, I loved the response, because we had two really ugly plays back to back, and then we responded. We responded in all three phases there, and that’s that is what good teams do, is when something goes wrong, you respond, and that’s red line, and you saw it, and you saw it in the effort, you saw the execution, you saw the accountability. Because we screwed something up, and now we own it, fix it, and let’s play the game.”
On his message to the team after that rough start: “Respond. Respond with red line. Keep the message clean. Keep the main thing the main game, like they know that. What can we do in this moment? Something bad happened, what can we do? How can we respond. I think that’s one of those things, it’s all part of our journey as a football team, and learning how to do that with consistency. Because every team you play is good enough to make a play, every team you play is good enough to beat you. And so how are you going to respond in the tough moments? That’s what gives you a chance to be a good football team, is your response in the tough moments. Do you respond with red line? Do you respond with effort? Do you respond with execution? Do you respond with accountability?
On the offensive line: “When we went to dinner tonight, I always choose different groups to eat first. So at the pregame meal tonight, I told the team this game is going to be won upfront. So I said, O-line, D-line, you eat first. Which is dangerous, because we don’t know if there’s going to be anything left. I saw that group continue to answer and answer every time on both sides of the ball.”
On Mahdi: “I’m so proud of that kid. Like, what an awesome human being is. I don’t know much time you guys have spent with him, but just his energy, the smile on his face, the way he makes you feel when you’re around him, he’s really special. He doesn’t make those plays without that offensive front blocking the way they had to against a team that’s normally hard to block. I’m really excited about just how they responded and how Ish just kept showing up and kept ripping off big runs with physicality and finish, and receivers blocking downfield. There’s a lot of good there.”
On if there was a consideration to make a change at kicker or punter: “No, there was not. I got faith in Michael (Salgado-Medina). And he had two bad plays, but then he responded to hit the field goals after that. I believe in that young man, and he’s going to be a great player here for years to come.”
On going with 4 linebackers: “I think Coach Gonzales and that staff did an awesome job with the plan. I think it was a mixture of that and other stuff, different personnel groups trying to match their personnel groups. I think anytime you hold any Division I team to under 200 yards in total offense, that’s a special night. Like that is a hell of a football night. And so our defensive staff and those players should be ecstatic, and we’re ecstatic for them, because that was big time. Because when you think about it, the one big run, I don’t know how long it was—75—so I’m not a math major, 193 minus 75, you guys do it. There you go, 118 of total offense. I mean, come on, that is incredible. And we gotta give the defense their flowers, man. like that was awesome.”
On Noah Fifita’s running ability and its impact on the offense: “I think it’s tremendous. And I think that’s one of those things about Noah that we’ve known is and that we get to see on display every day, like the kid is a competitor. He is a Class A, big time competitor, and he wants to win, and he doesn’t care how it looks. He doesn’t care if he has to throw it, hand it, or run himself, but he’s going to orchestrate it. That adds another element to us that makes us dangerous, and I think Coach Doege has been doing a good job of putting him in those situations, and Noah’s doing a good job. He’s now played a lot of football, so he’s settling in and he’s finding his moments where those opportunities present themselves and he’s taken advantage of it.”
On Rhino Tapa’toutai getting 3 holding penalties: “Rhino’s still coming back from his thing, from his injury, so he’s on a pitch count. We’re being smart about that, we’re listening to the medical staff, and we’re doing whatever they think we should with those reps. And I thought Tristan (Bounds) did a good job at coming in there and playing.”
On the O-line play so far: “I think in terms of the offensive line, I know we have some work to do, but I’m excited about the progress. I really am, and I think that has shown up in first three games in both running the ball and throwing it. You always need more than five. It’s not the same five every week in college football, it doesn’t work that way. And so I’m excited, I think Coach Oglesby has done a nice job of developing those positions, and I think those guys worked their tails off. And I’m excited about the multiple guys that can step in and play good football and give us a chance to win.”
On what he’s learned about his team through 3 games: “I’ve learned that this team loves to compete and they care about each other. I think lots of people say that. I think it’s real here, and I think it matters. I think that’s why you see that kind of effort. That’s why you see that kind of celebration. I don’t know if you saw our sideline in the fourth quarter when our defense was out there, it was on fire. It was awesome. And so this team really cares about each other. It’s important to them. Every day, they show up to work and they work their tails off, and they do it for each other. It’s an unselfish group. I’m excited, because we’re 3-0 and we have a bye. We can do some self assessment, we can dive into some situational football. We can work on some stuff, and we can also get ready for an extremely good Iowa State team on the road, which we know is going to be an extremely tough game. So I love where we’re at. I know we have work to do. There’s a lot more of the good stuff that I want to see happen, but I’m going to be excited about what happens tonight.”
On Genesis Smith: “Genesis Smith is a straight up baller, like he is an awesome football player. He’s still pissed off because he dropped the two interceptions, they both would have been just miraculous, incredible catches, but that’s what kind of competitor he is. He’s one of those guys. I call him the CEO of our football team. He’s the chief energy officer, because he is always with the juice, always. He’s the energizer bunny. He doesn’t stop. But the guys eat all that. And to his credit, he misses a tackle and then shows up consistently late in the game, in the moments that matter and the moments when it has to get done, Genesis is there.”
On Chubba Ma’ae starting at left guard: “Chubba is one of those young men that I think if you spend any time with him, you’re blown away by just his charisma, his intelligence. He just is one of the really, really special young people. He’s a leader of our football team. He’s had a tough fall. His dad passed away about a month ago, but wow, did he show up tonight. And I’m just so proud of him and so happy for him. He stuck to it. He played D-line for us last year and got hurt. He’s just he’s one of those guys that everything is right about college football.”
On holding K-State to 3 for 17 on 3rd and 4th down: “Coach Gonzales has this kind of mantra that third and medium is a championship down. And we showed up on a lot of those third and mediums. I like the confidence our defense is playing with. They trust coach Gonzales and the staff. They’re all doing their job, and when they do their job with red line, you’re seeing fantastic results. And so I’m just encouraged to look for that thing to continue to develop and evolve over this next couple of weeks of practice and over the course of the season. Three for 17 is an awesome number for a defensive football team on third (and fourth) down.”
Mahdi on winning a close game: “I think that’s the best thing that could happen to us, is getting adversity early on in the season and just responding. I think it’s great that the way that the outcome went out, obviously we want to blow the team out, but I think that’s good preparation for us to just to feel that adversity when we’re now down, the situation won’t go our way, and we’ll go out there and just respond, respond with red line.”
On rushing for 189 yards: “It felt like the games at Texas State when I was getting the ball. I’m used to it. I played a lot of snaps in my career, so I’m used to what I just displayed out there. Players get hurt, you’ve got to step up.”
On the team’s mood after giving up the lead: “Everybody’s telling everybody, keep your head up. We’re good. We got each other’s back. And coach Brennan always emphasize that, just respond.”
On his 27-yard catch on 3rd and 15: “I had a check D on that, had protection first. My protection didn’t come. Had my chip, and I just got out and just leaked out from nowhere. It’s 3rd and long, just whatever happens. He threw the ball to me, and I got it and I got vertical, and I made plays.”
On the offense: “We play fast. We believe in each other, Coach Doege believes in us. He’s doing a great job putting skill players in a great position to make plays. And we just, we’re staying together. I feel like this is the most committed offensive group that I’ve been with. Player wise, we’re player led. We push each other. It’s just great to be with this offense.”
On Fifita being able to run: “That’s lethal. They gotta account for him, he’s a baller. I love that guy, he plays great. He’s able to use his feet, they’ve got to read him.”
On the bye week: “I think it’s very important to get out there and just take care of our bodies and mentally. Rest, recover, and then just focus on everything mentally.”
Smith on responding to giving up the lead: “Just getting back to red line, whenever adversity strikes. That’s Coach Brennan’s emphasis on this team. He knew adversity was going to strike, so just get it back, effort 100-100, execution.”
On the key to the defense: “I feel like just living and dying by our mantra. Know what to do, how to do it. Keep the team out of the end zone. I feel like just doing that every single play puts us in the best position for success.”
On playing 4 linebackers: “I feel like just getting our best guys out there at all times, mixing and matching different personnel is great.”
On being effective on 3rd and 4th down: “I feel like just how we emphasized it through the week, knowing what’s coming before it happens, with down and distance. And then just get off the field.”
On if this was a game Arizona would have won last year: “I feel like there’s definitely been a lot of growth this year. As far as responding, it’s showing out there. All you can do is compare games, if we responded last year or not, and then see how we’re responding this year.”
