There’s one week left of nonconference play before Arizona dives back into the Big 12 schedule for the rest of the season, but in some ways this week’s trip to Pullman is an unofficial league contest.
The Wildcats are headed to Washington State on Saturday, renewing an old Pac-12 rivalry that went away with the UA moving to the Big 12. This is the first of a home-and-home series, with the Cougars coming to Tucson next season.
“That was the conference that I grew up with,” UA coach Brent Brennan said
of the Pac-12, which has reformed after a 2-year hiatus with a mostly new lineup of schools. “It’s the conference that I played in, I coached in it, so I had a lot of fond memories of that. I think the travel was easier. There weren’t any cross-country trips. If you think about travel from here, I guess this trip that we’re making this weekend would have been the most challenging travel in the old Pac-12.”
Washington State sits at 1-2 after beating Duquesne last week, which followed road losses to Washington and Kansas State.
Below is what Brennan said at his Monday presser to open game week:
On the upcoming test: “This is one of those games where I know the focus for us is just going to be heavy on what sounds basic, but turnover battle, tackling, special teams execution, and just penalty avoidance, avoiding those sins. They hurt your chances to win in a tough environment on the road.”
On the run game vs. Northern Illinois: “I felt like some of that execution wasn’t where it needs to be in terms of the run game, and some of that was just missed assignments. Cleaning that up is an absolute priority for us this week. That’s something that we have done a really good job of, and I felt like the week before we ran the ball, against a really good BYU team. So that’s something that we are aggressively attacking right now.”
On playing 6-foot-3 Brandon Phelps in the slot: “If you want to put a good football player inside or outside, they can make it go. Some of the stuff we ask those guys to do is different, some of the play calls. The one thing for me with receivers, just being an old receiver guy, is I don’t want to have all the same type of body types at receiver. I don’t want a bunch of speed and space guys. I don’t want a bunch of monsters. I want to be able to mix and match that. And BP is one of those kids that’s a tough ass kid, and he can make plays. And that’s shown up the last couple weeks.”
On Tyrese Boss being listed as starting CB on depth chart: “(Dwight) Bootle was banged up last week, and then Tyrese played well.”
On who’s responsible for Noah Fifita taking hits last 2 games: “I think it’s everybody. I think everybody has a piece of the execution, and obviously we don’t want Noah Fifita getting hit at all if we can avoid it. Protection is O-line, tight ends, backs. It’s the receivers getting open on time.”
On Cam Chapa’s play at safety vs. NIU: “I felt like watching him Saturday night was the most confident and physical I’ve seen him play since he’s been here. So maybe that’s just him settling in, him getting used to the speed of the game, him getting used to who he’s playing against, or he’s getting used to the scheme and being able to play. I think that’s one of those things for players, you guys asked me last week about young players and them getting their chance. But when players get a new scheme and they learn know what to do and they really know it, to me that’s when you see their talent show because they know what to do. They’re no longer processing or thinking. For Chapa, I think like all of a sudden it’s like let’s go, and he’s he’s confident playing fast. You saw him trigger. You saw him play physicality. I was really excited for him.”
On injury updates: “I don’t have any updates on Cole (Rusk) right now. Daylen Austin has a season-ending injury, which is really unfortunate. He’s a great kid. He’s going to be a great player here, but he’s got a little bit of a mountain to climb, so we’re supporting him on that journey right now.”
On facing friend and former colleague Trent Bray: “Trent is a really good friend of mine. We spent a lot of time together when we were coaching at Oregon State, and we spent a lot of time together since then as his friends. He’s Uncle Trent to my kids, and we had a lot of fun together. Trent is an outstanding football coach. That defense is physical. They’re sound. They fly to the football. He’s going to have those guys ready to play. I know that.”
On WSU’s game atmosphere: “They did a really good job, kind of redoing that stadium. I think that was during my time at Oregon State where they did all upgrades to the stadium. They got good fans. People show up for that team. I think this is going to be for them a big game because we’re the first Power Four team to be going in there this season.”
On past experiences in Pullman: “I’ve coached a bunch of games there. We went up there with San Jose State, I think my second year, and got drilled pretty good. Mike Leach and that gang. It was always fun when he was there, just because his his pregame comments or his postgame comments were always so so interesting, so entertaining.”
On WSU regularly running the ball with 3 different players: “I think they’re all a little bit different, and they do a good job based on personnel packages, which is something that I think is really, really challenging. Just making sure that you’re right matching personnel when they’re bringing in heavier sets or big tight ends or you know going back to 11 personnel or whatever. So I think that’s going to be something that our defense is going to be on point with. Obviously Kirby (Moore) is a smart coach, and so he’s going to be really creative with what they do offensively, with what his background is and where he’s been and people he’s been around and what he’s grown up in. And so we’re expecting to be really challenged at with different running backs, they also have a really good tight end. They have good receivers. You know they got a playmaker. It’s just one of those things where we’re going to have to be ready for a lot of stuff.”
