After dropping their first game of the season in Ames, IA last week, the Wildcats needed to bounce back in their Big 12 season opener. And on Saturday, Arizona did just that, taking down Oklahoma State 41-13 in the programs’ first meeting since the UA joined the conference. Check out everything Arizona head coach Brent Brennan, as well as wide receiver Tre Spivey, who had three receptions for 80 yards and two touchdowns, and linebacker Max Harris, who led the team with seven tackles and a forced fumble, had to say postgame following the 41-13 win over Oklahoma State.
Brent Brennan:
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s performance in the 41-13 win over Oklahoma State:
“You know, as I continue to say, we measure everything by our standard Redline. And all week we talked about being accountable for last week’s game, and when I think about today, or excuse me, when I think about this week, and how we practice and how we attack the work, you know, that part of the accountability, player, coach, all of us, everybody was all in on how we were going to get that done this weekend against a really, you know, unique opponent. I think today we saw that Redline show up because our effort was 100/100. You saw us be really, really aggressive that way, and play really hard, you know, the execution showed up, and we converted the red zone, which was excellent.
And, you know, then our defense held them to 158 yards total offense, which is just fantastic. And then also the four turnovers on top of that, right? The two takeaways, and then the two turnovers on downs. And so there was a lot of really, really good stuff in that game. It’s a Big 12 win, and I’m proud of how we came to work this week, and how we battled through that thing and closed the door on it there at the end. You know, I think when I think of our team, I’m just proud of these guys. I’m proud of our coaches and players, how they continue to work, how they continue to play for each other, how they play for the community, and how they play for this university.”
Brent Brennan on Tre Spivey’s career day and the wide receiver room’s performance:
“Yeah, it was awesome. You know, I think that’s one of those things, is that when we trust the scheme and we do what we’re supposed to do, and we do it Redline, we get good results. And so it’s great to have that validation, because that’s obviously something that we’ve been preaching as a coaching staff, you know, when we when we’re off the mark, you know, like we were at times last week, or when we met at times during wins other games of the season, right? And so I was just, you know, I thought Noah threw the ball well, and I was great to see those receivers, receivers finish the way they did.”
Brent Brennan on quarterback Noah Fifita’s bounce back performance:
“I thought it was awesome. You know? I think, you know, being a division one quarterback on this level is hard. It’s really challenging, and you get way too much credit, and you get way too much blame. And Noah Fifita handles it with incredible class, with incredible dignity. He’s a great leader. He’s a great teammate. He loves Tucson. He loves the University of Arizona. My postgame press conference, you know, I told them, you know, like everyone in the world has tried to recruit him away from here, they’d offer him money and all kinds of stuff. He’s chosen to stay because he loves it here, and he’s gonna leave his mark on this program. I thought today was a good step in that direction.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s defense keeping offenses out of the end zone three times this season:
“I think it starts the Redline. I think it starts with how hard we play. You know what I mean? I think that is a huge thing that I think it’s cliche, and lots of coaches say that, but I think when you turn on the tape, it looks out, it looks violent, it looks physical, it looks like people running to the football. And I think that part of it is, it can’t be overstated. You know what I mean?
But I also think that they’re doing a good job of settling in. I think Coach Gonzales has done a great job, and that staff, of giving those players clear understanding of what their job description is, and then helping them understand, okay, now you know what to do. And then here’s the Redline you’re going to attach to that. This is the effort you’re going to attach to it. This is the violence you’re going to attach to that job description.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s offensive line injuries impacting the running attack:
“I think that’s part of it. Also think when they’re putting eight and a half people in the box and you’re going to be outnumbered running the ball, it’s hard, and so that’s why you saw, which is great, like, that’s something we talk about all the time, like, take what they give you, right? So if they’re going to play us with no safety, or, you know, they’re going to, you know, play a bunch of man coverage, and we feel great about our receivers, and we feel great about our quarterback and his ability to deliver the football accurately, then we’ll live with that.”
Brent Brennan on Luke Wysong’s performance as both a wide receiver and punt returner today:
“I thought it was great. I think Luke Wysong is one of those players that is just going to continue to make plays and impress people as he continues to get more comfortable in the scheme, and make plays, and play more. We’re all excited about Luke. He’s an awesome young man. He’s a fantastic, like, team guy, and so he’s just a baller.
I know he’s gonna be upset because he muffed the punt, but he ran up on that thing and tried to preserve those yards. And those things would be hard, because you’re running up into the wash and you gotta take it, you know? But he did a great job of getting on the ball right? Like, that’s the other part of it is that he still finished the play. That’s a good example of red line. He didn’t just muff it, lay on the ground and be like, oh, feel sorry for himself because he didn’t catch it clean. He finished it, which is awesome.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s improved depth at offensive lineman over a year ago:
“I think I told you guys this at the beginning of spring ball, and I think I told you this at the beginning training camp, ‘You can’t ever have enough offensive and defensive lineman.’ You can’t, you know, I mean, so I thought the guys stepped in there and did an admirable job. And I think the guys that are got beat up today, we need them back. So they need to live in the training room. So we’ll get them a couple of rollout beds, and we’ll get them in there, and they’re living there full time, because we need them back.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s 205 yards after catch against Oklahoma State:
“I mean, I think that’s exciting, right? I think that’s really exciting because those big plays like that, you know, when you can break tackles and great thing is it, you know, we haven’t seen that kind of show up yet quite in that way this year, so we’re really excited about that. And there’s a certain physicality, there’s a certain mindset that comes with, like, playing with the football in your hands after you catch it, and so to see it show up today in a positive way was good.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s lull in the third quarter of games this season:
“Actually, I know exactly what you’re talking about, and it’s not something that, like, we’re not aware of. It’s something like, we need to fix this. This is a crisis. You know what I mean? Because we, I think we punted on the next three possessions coming out of halftime, and the defense was fantastic on those three stops here. So that’s obviously something we’ll get to work on, and we’ll get to work on it fast.”
Brent Brennan on revealing Arizona’s “Sandstorm” to the team in full uniform:
“These young men that are playing college football here, UofA, everywhere in college football, they care so much, they put in so much. And I think sometimes, because it can be a pressure life they live on this level, football has to be fun. And so how do we find ways to make it fun? One of the funniest ways, or easiest ways, to make it fun, is to make fun of the head coach looking like a jerk in a college football uniform. So it was just fun.
The funny part was that they weren’t sure who it was, because I was in a visor, so they couldn’t really see my face, and I was wearing my Scotty’s jersey. And so we’re built similarly. Scotty’s much better looking, but we’re built similarly. So when I took the helmet off, the players were shocked, because they thought it was him. So it’s fun. It was a fun moment.
I was really excited about those uniforms. We haven’t talked about them very much, but, I think that’s something fun for the players. I am a traditional football guy, and I do love our traditional uniforms. We’re blessed with the best colors in all of college sports, but a little variety is fun, and it’s fun for the players, and it’s great for recruiting. And so it was awesome that you know, Sean Keneally, our equipment guy, and the people at Nike, and everybody, Desireé helped us, you know, she had to approve it. So, like, there was a lot of really good stuff. But I think it’s fun that for us to have a change it. And I think it’s a little variation in our uniform. You know, when we play every now and then.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s momentum after matching last season’s win total with a 4-1 start this season:
“I feel like this is a huge game for us. I feel like we were playing an opponent that was going through a really complicated situation, and not knowing exactly what you’re going to get from them schematically, who’s playing, who’s not, like there’s a bunch of those rumors flying around all week, and I thought our players did a great job of winning the game. When we showed up here today, our goal was to win the game, right? And so anytime you can get a win in conference, it builds momentum, and we need that.
We know that we’re playing a team that is established, that has been excellent for a long time with BYU this week, they’re ranked, you know, they’re 23 this week, I’m sure they’ll be ranked higher because they won big last night. I have an incredible amount of respect for Kalani Sitake and that coaching staff. We know these guys really well, and they have a great program. And so anytime you have a chance to play a great program coming off a win, let’s go. It’s gonna be a big time football game, and I’m excited to see the city of Tucson show out. I know it’s Parents Weekend. It’s gonna be awesome. We’re looking for Arizona stadium to be the number one game day venue in college football in the whole country next Saturday.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona staying ahead of the chains and its 6-13 combined performance on 3rd and 4th down?
“I think Coach Doege’s done a great job of that. I think there’s a process to – it’s not just what you think will work against your opponent, it’s also what can your team execute at a high level when you’re trying to put those ideas together. But the offensive staff works incredibly hard to put together those game plans, and then our players did a good job of executing them.
And I think that’s one of those things I know coming out of last week, we were really frustrated with our execution on third down, and I thought it was better today, and I think that’s one of those things, that it’s hard because everybody’s trying to do good on third down, on both sides of the ball, right? At the end of the day, whatever we call, the players have to make it work. And I thought they did a good job of that today.”
Brent Brennan on Michael Salgado-Medina’s response to his missed field goal attempt with a 57-yard field goal:
“I love it. That’s why I put him back out there. And that field goal was an extra 15 yards longer than the first one he missed. I said, ‘Let’s go, Mike. Money Mike, we got you. Go out there and rip it.’ And he did. That thing was good from 65. It hit the middle of the Allstate sign. Like, we got faith in that kid, and it’s hard, because anytime you’re going through a struggle like that, it’s frustrating, and you got to deal with it, right? But to his credit, talk about responding. We’ve been talking about responding this whole season. The next kick, he goes out there and hits a 58-yarder. Let’s go.”
Brent Brennan on the team’s execution on Noah Fifita and Luke Wysong’s scramble play for a touchdown:
“That’s kind of Redline, you know, that’s in the Redline category, right? Competing, playing your tail off until the whistle. And that’s what that was, right? Like Noah’s running around all over the place. Linemen are running, continuing to block, right? Luke Wysong runs a drill coming all the way across the field, Noah finds and delivers an accurate ball. That’s execution, right? And then, if it was Gio, not sure it was, but I’m trying to remember it was Gio, what a great job. Like we call that closing out. And so instead of standing there and watching Luke get tackled, right, he immediately took his eyes to the next dangerous defender, and Luke was able to get out and score. So I thought that was a great play.”
Tre Spivey:
Tre Spivey on the mindset and determination to fight into the end zone for both touchdowns:
“I feel like my mindset always, whenever I get the ball, is just be violent. Be violent the ball, and always get to the end zone by any means necessary. So whenever I catch the ball, I’m locked into the end zone trying to find my way through contact, through physicality or agility, find some type of way to get to the end zone. It’s the most important thing.”
Tre Spivey on the response from Arizona’s receiving core after a tough week at Iowa State:
“I think the week of practice for us, you know, as receivers, you know, it was all hungry, like every single one of us. You know, it wasn’t just me to make plays. Luke Wysong, Gio Richardson, Chris Hunter, all these guys out there. Kris Hutson, you know, every single one of us was out there, hungry, ready to make plays. And, you know, just losing is a bad taste in anyone’s mouth. I think that we got great leaders. Our leadership council did a great job of just continuing to harp on responding and being ready for the moment now, not getting too high or too low.”
Tre Spivey on his career game in his home state of Arizona:
“It’s huge. You know, I take a lot of pride in being from Arizona, like, genuine pride. I always talk about Arizona, just, you know, I love, the state, so coming back here and being able to make plays and, you know, have a game like this, just makes me hungry to keep putting on for the city. It’s huge for me.”
Tre Spivey on Noah Fifita bouncing back from the goal line fumble:
“Everybody knows Noah’s a dog. He’s extremely focused, and he’s hard on stuff. He’s hard on himself more than anybody, more than any critic, more than any fan, you know. So that was tough for him, but he’s also one of the most you know, when it comes to mentality, being locked in. He’s big on that. He’s super tedious about his process, and he trusts himself. He trusts the team, and we all trust him so we knew he was gonna bounce back.”
Tre Spivey on Arizona matching it’s 2024 win total after a 4-1 start:
“Talking about earlier, response. And one of the biggest things about responding is being able to respond after a big game. You know, not getting too high up. So I think that, you know, we just got to stay level headed and hungry and continue to attack each and every day of practice. We got a lot of dogs. We got a lot of guys that just want to go out there and play. So, you know, you just got to take the coaching.”
Tre Spivey on Arizona’s “Sandstorm” uniforms against Oklahoma State:
“It’s funny because I was talking to a couple teammates, like, literally, a few weeks ago, like, bro, if we some like white uniforms, like bro, that would be so fire. So we popped out with him this week. It’s funny how Coach Brett introduced them. He came fully suited, you know, and he looked like his son, Scotty. We all thought it was Scotty, it was hilarious. But it’s awesome and pay homage to Tucson, so it’s always great to put on for the city.”
Max Harris:
Max Harris on the heat being an advantage for Arizona with today’s 12:00 PM kickoff:
“It helped a lot. We’re always, we have indoor facility, but we still practice outside most times. Coach G’s whole thing, especially, like the defense, but as a team, it’s not just embracing the heat, it’s not just dealing with the heat, we love the heat. Coach G always talks about it like, I wish it was hotter. We wish it was hotter. Because today I didn’t really feel any anything crazy.”
Max Harris on Arizona’s bounce back performance on defense this week:
“The biggest thing, especially, like I talked to the team about, is that between the whistles is the most important play of the game, and then after the whistles, it’s done. So as a defense, we just want to focus and play-by-play, play-by-play, making sure that we locked in every single play, keeping our eyes disciplined. You know, we knew that we’re going to come out with a lot of trick plays and things like that, and just staying detailed and down on our process.”
Max Harris on his forced fumble that was recovered by defensive lineman Tre Smith:
“You watch the ball tape before every game you know, just focusing on getting the ball out, tucking the ball, you know, ball security, things like that. So, I mean, my process and my thoughts, like during this game, was like, I gotta get the balI out, I gotta get the ball out. So running back came through. I saw ball, put my helmet on the ball, and just for my helmet on the ball, and just, get ball pretty much.”
Max Harris on the versatility Arizona’s linebacker packages bring on the field together:
“I believe that start having, like, Week Three, you know, where we start putting, like, all these linebacker packages, things like that, but you know, when you can play, when all the linebackers can play, we gotta find a way to get them on the field. And so, you know, like having, having all the things like the versatility that we got in the room, I think it just makes us better as a defense, and I’m glad we got it.”
Max Harris on the creativity of Arizona’s defensive scheme under Danny Gonzales:
“I’ve been around a bunch of different defenses and philosophies, and I think Coach G is definitely, probably the most unique that I’ve had, and he’s very experienced. You know, he’s done his thing at previous schools, so I just trusted him. You know, once I saw what he had to offer when I was in the portal and come in here, he told me a little bit about his defensive philosophy.”
Max Harris on Arizona keeping opposing offenses out of the end zone in three of its five games this season:
“Goes back to our manta. Keeping them out of the end zone is our very last line. So keeping them out of the end zone is the most important thing. Take a lot of pride in that. You know, it’s everybody knows what to do and how to do it, all eleven to the ball in bad humor, and keeping them out of the end zone, so just every day we say that before our meeting, and every day we practice that, and every game, we try to execute that.”
Max Harris on Arizona’s “Sandstorm” uniforms against Oklahoma State:
“I love it. They pulled me to the jersey reveal a couple weeks ago, and I saw the uniforms and was like, ‘those are hard.’ So seeing them and getting wear them today, it’s kind of like, it’s a sandstorm in Arizona.”