Arizona is coming off its first loss of the season, and it wasn’t a narrow one. The Wildcats fell 39-14 at No. 14 Iowa State on Saturday, marking their fourth consecutive road loss by at least 21 points.
A season ago, first-year coach Brent Brennan may have tried to sugarcoat the defeat and focus on what (if any) positives occurred. Second-season Brennan is taking a different tone, both immediately after the loss and with his comments Monday.
“For me, the biggest thing there was just our lack of execution,”
he said. “That part was frustrating and disappointing. Yesterday was a good day for us to assess everything, get back to work, reset. I think a huge part of red line is accountability and own and fix it. And that’s what we got to do as coaches and as players, and that’s what we dove into yesterday.”
Noah Fifita threw his first two interceptions of the season but Arizona also had two turnovers on downs and missed a field goal on the first possession of the game.
“When you’re playing a top 12/15 team on the road, you can’t turn the ball over four times,” Brennan said. “You can’t not execute on third down on either side of the ball at a level that’s good enough to give you a chance to win. You have to play clean. And we didn’t do that right. Our penalties were better, but it still wasn’t good enough. In that game, there was just huge momentum swings and opportunities for us to respond, and we did not respond collectively in the right way. We didn’t answer, we didn’t support each other. And so that part was really frustrating.”
Asked if he thought his players reacted differently to this loss than ones in 2024, which he has previously said “devastated” the team, Brennan preferred to look ahead to Saturday’s home matchup with Oklahoma State.
“I’m not looking backwards,” he said. “I’m thinking about this football team this year at the University of Arizona, and so are the players. That’s where they’re at. This is a much different team. I’m excited to see how we respond for practice (Tuesday). That’s what I want to see. That’s what I want to see.”
Here’s what else Brennan said at his Monday presser ahead of the OSU game:
On learning from a loss: “There’s absolutely lessons that you can learn. I think the simplest thing that you can learn from that is when you play the top one of the top teams in your conference at their place, you cannot turn the ball over four times. You can’t do that. Just start with that. It’s the simplest one to point to, right? But then the other things that are big is third down on both sides of the ball was not good enough. Not nearly good enough.
“And then also the big plays, our lack of explosives on offense, and then their explosives on defense. The big plays that they made? The trick play, great execution, great call, tip my hat. The plays that Rocco (Becht) made, the throws at Rocco made outside, down the field, were big time, fantastic football throws, and we’re right there. We’ll finish those plays, we just missed them that night. Those balls dropped in the absolute perfect place, and we just didn’t finish them in the defensive back position. But we will.”
On Fifita’s inaccuracy: “A little bit of him at times, him getting moved off the spot, and then I think he missed a couple throws. That was frustrating and disappointing. And knowing Noah Fifita, he’s going to dive into the process and give him a chance to hit those, because no one cares more about his football team, and this football program than he does.”
On Fifita’s footwork: “I think he’s moving around a little bit too much back there. And I think he would tell you the same thing. And I think that’s one of those things that him and Coach Doege will get cleaned up starting (Tuesday).”
On his chemistry with the receivers: “I think chemistry is an ongoing thing. Those guys invested a ton of time this off season, in terms of throwing and doing a lot of that work on their own. But there’s nothing that simulates the speed of the game.”
On the line play: “There was some good stuff in this game up front. Our O-line, no false starts, we were disciplined in a hard place to play. I was excited about that. I thought our effort was good, on the O and D line, When they run the ball 47 times and average 2.4 a carry, like that’s a hell of a day against a good football team on the road. It’s the other stuff that I mentioned. It’s the turnovers, it’s the big plays, it’s us not responding to those momentum swings where we had to answer and we didn’t.”
On Tristan Bounds: “I saw Tristan play with the most physicality he’s played with all year, and I was excited about that. The good news is that we have some depth on the offensive line. We feel good about playing all those guys. And so that part is, is really important. It’s a long football season. We’re four games in, we got a lot of football left to play, and so all of those guys are going to be incredibly, incredibly important as we continue to go.”
On Iowa State preventing YAC while Arizona allowed it: “They play with a lot of defensive backs. They do a good job of keeping a roof on things, not as much aggressive pressure as we are. Anytime you add somebody to the front, if that ball gets out, there’s less people in the back to tackle. The play I think you’re talking about coming right out of halftime, our best player, Genesis Smith, misses a tackle. Genesis will make that tackle this week. I believe in Genesis as much, if not more than any player on his football team.”
On dealing with dropped passes: “I think it’s really simple. I think the old school way, when I was playing … the coach would just yell at you and say ‘catch the effing ball.’ That was the coaching point. It’s like the worst coaching point of all time. So for me, just having played the position, I’m more of trying to talk to the player, where did you miss it? Like, what in your technique was (bad)? Were your hands behind your eyes, were your eyes late to it. Did you pick it up late? Did it hit the lights? Did you not find it through the lights? Did the sun hit it? Like, just trying to help them be better about, like technically the catch. Eyes to tuck, like eyes to securing the bowl.
“Catching that ball and then seeing yourself lock it away is the lightning rod moment in all of college football for me right now. Because it cost Florida State a game, if you watched that game the other night. It’s a fundamental thing. And so many of our young people spend so much time watching the NFL, and all those guys do all kinds of this crazy stuff with the football. And those guys can do that crazy stuff with the football when they get to the NFL, but not what they’re playing from University of Arizona. That ball, we’re supposed to take that ball out of the air and get it on our body right now, just like Spivey did on the touchdown, where he’s going to get smashed, but the reason he was able to possess the football is because he plucked it out of the air and he snatched it to his body, where he’s strong and powerful.”
On the bad snaps on field goal attempts: “I think that’s of those things that we need to clean up. Avery (Salerno) is a great kid and a super hard worker, and I know he will get that fixed, but that’s something that we need to clean up.”
On Jeremiah Patterson fair catching punts inside the 10: “That’s not good. We’re not coaching that, and that needs to be fixed. We’re going to flesh that out in practice. Sometimes that’s hard, as a punt returners, when you get driven back and you’re tracking the flight of the football. It comes down to a feel for where you are on the yard line.”
On Isaac Lovison’s punting: “I think Isaac did great, I think that’s where we need to be. We need to be over 40 yards, in terms of net punting. And I thought that was a really good battle. That competition is ongoing. I mean, I think that’s one of those things that sometimes gets lost when you get in the season. We’re still pushing everybody in practice. We’re still trying to improve every day we step out there. The best way we can do that is by putting those players, whether it’s our punter, doesn’t matter who it is, with pressure in his position group, to continue to press and continue to excel in the practice environment.”
On Arizona punting (from own 13) in 4th quarter down 3 scores: “I thought Iowa State was incredibly efficient in the red zone, especially in the low red and I was not going to give them the free opportunity there.”
On the possibility of sitting players to retain redshirt after 4 games: “If you’re helping this football team win games, you’re playing.”
On Kedrick Reescano dressing but not playing: “Ked was a just in case situation. I also think Ismail Mahdi has earned the right to play.I think he’s 300-plus yards in the last two games of total offense, he’s proven to be an effective runner, a really strong pass catcher and also an effective past protector. We can’t wait to get Ked back, we hope that happens, and then he’s ready to rock Saturday.”
On Riley Wilson’s play in limited action: “It’s awesome to get Riley back. I have this conversation with players a lot, the best thing you can do is make the most of the opportunities you get, whether that’s in practice or on game day. If you get 10 plays, those 10 plays need to say that you should get 20. I thought Riley did a fantastic job on Saturday.”
On Treydan Stukes playing a full game: “I thought he played great, and we’re so happy to have him back. He’s a leader, he’s an excellent player. He’s played a ton of football, so his experience and his leadership are going to be critical for this football team as we continue to play.”
On Oklahoma State: “I think the quarterback is a dual-threat guy that can be a problem with his arm and his legs. They’ve got a really, really good group of receivers, and they’ve done a good job of putting together guys that are explosive, and then also some big body guys. The running back is a good player. On defense, they have a lot of experience, especially in the secondary guys who’ve got a ton of snaps, and then the defensive front is big and long.”
On facing a team that recently fired its head coach: “With all the stuff they’re going through, we’re going to get their best shot here on Saturday. Every team is different. What they’re going through is gonna be different than what UCLA is going through.”
On his expectations for a noon kickoff in Tucson: “I’m hoping (50,000) Arizona crazy-ass fans are in the stands going nuts. That’s what I want. I want the city of Tucson to fall in love with this football and show up and show out and make it hard for our opponents to come in here.”
