Brent Brennan is ready for Arizona to shift its focus to Northern Illinois after a difficult loss against BYU on Saturday. The Wildcats took a 17-14 lead into the locker room at halftime, but were undone by a pair of aggressive fourth down calls, inconsistent focus, and the discipline of a “good football team.”
The Wildcats are going to have to do it without their leading receiver, Giovanni Richardson, who suffered a “lower extremity injury” and is “going to be out for a little bit,” Brennan said. On the flip side, Arizona believes linebacker Max Harris and running back Ismail Mahdi can contribute on Saturday against the Huskies. Harris played 29 snaps on Saturday against BYU.
From breaking down BYU, to previewing Northern Illinois, see everything Arizona head coach Brent Brennan had to say during his weekly press conference.
Brent Brennan:
On the loss to BYU:
“Like I said on Saturday afternoon, congratulations to Kalani and the BYU team. They finished the game, and I think when I look at that, we went toe to toe. Our kids played physical. There were a lot of good moments in that game, but when it came down to it, the last eight and a half minutes, we didn’t finish, and that’s on me. And so we got work to do.
I think when I look at this week, this is about us – not Northern Illinois coming in here – but this is about our team, our team attacking the work, attacking our process, diving into the things that we think stopped us from getting it done on Saturday afternoon. But I was proud of our kids, the physicality, the toughness, going on the road, tough environment. I thought they did a great job handling those things. Obviously, I’m disappointed that we didn’t finish.”
On shifting his attention to the Northern Illinois game:
“When I turn my attention this week, this is a big game. We got a lot going on, right? This is the Hispanic Heritage game for us here in Casino Del Sol Stadium. We have our partnership with the Davis-Monthan, the DM50 group here. Also, we have the our partnership with NASCAR coming down here, which is a really cool thing that we started a year ago.
And for our fans, to me this is a Redline game for our for our team. This is a Redline game, like how do we respond from what happened Saturday, and how do we attack our process this week going into it? So fans wear red, right? This is that one of those deals where we want people to pack the stands, and the ZonaZoo – our first home game, they were fantastic, and we need their help. I think last week being at BYU and seeing the environment they create, that’s something that we want to duplicate here in Casino Del Sol Stadium, and our students and our fans and our alumni, we need you to Redline.”
On Giovanni Richardson’s injury and his expectations from the rest of the wide receiver room:
“Gio Richardson has a lower extremity injury, and he’s going to be out for a little bit. That’s all I know today. The rest of the receivers, I love that group. That group is deep. There’s talent there. I think playing a good team on Saturday. The balance of running the football and throwing it effectively. I think there’s some plays to be made for some of those guys, and I think when we look back at that, at how it went on Saturday, we know that we want to get the ball in the hands of Tre Spivey and Chris Hunter.
I thought Rodney [Gallagher III] went in there and made some good plays and did some good stuff in the slot, and B-Phelps [Brandon Phelps] made some good plays in that game, and we feel good about the depth in that room. So I’m excited to see those guys attack practice tomorrow. I’m excited to see what they do on Saturday.”
On the offensive line’s performance against BYU:
“The first thing that I need to remind myself is that we were playing a good football team, right? That’s a good football team, and the first half, I felt like that was a tale of two halves, which is our ability to effectively run the football. We ran for 100 yards in the first half. Effectively, really did a great job moving the football in the first half.
And then there were some things that stalled drives in the second. Some of those penalties were were timely and costly for us, and that put us really behind the chains and made some of that stuff a little bit different. But I got faith in that group. I got faith in Coach O. I believe that they’ll come back this weekend and attack the work, and I think we’re going to like how they look on Saturday evening.”
On the possibility of Ismail Mahdi playing against Northern Illinois:
“Yeah, we’re going to see how that plays out in practice this week. That group is deep, and we feel good, really good, about Ked and Q, and Wesley and Antwan, right? I know that we’re going to need all those guys. I know the physicality and the nature of that position, the amount of hits those guys take, and really, with how involved Ked and Quincy are also in special teams and the impact they’re having there. So we’re going to need all those guys to play and how the rotation works out, we’ll develop that as we go this week.”
On how Max Harris looked against BYU after re-joining the team in during fall camp:
“Yeah, I think we’ve talked a lot about those guys. The best part about Max and Izzy coming back to this team is the human beings that they are, and how and how much the team loves them. How much their energy, their practice habits, and the juice they bring to this football team, is such high value to me, and so we’re glad they’re here. Obviously their roles are going to increase as we go.”
On Noah Fifita’s distribution of the football:
“Well, I think that first game he threw it to 11 different players, right? He completed balls to 11 players in the first game. So I think that part of it was a little bit different. We were playing a different group this weekend, and with BYU, and I think that the ball goes to where the defense tells it. I mean, that’s part of Noah going through his progression and delivering the ball to the right player.”
On differentiating between BYU being a good football and identifying opportunities to improve on:
“I think it’s both. I think you respect what the game was, knowing that we stood toe to toe with those guys for three and a half quarters, and then we aggressively attack what we didn’t get done in that last eight and a half minutes, right? And I think that’s something that we can definitely build into our practice environment. I think there’s also things in every game that you look at and you say, ‘Hey, we need to fix this. This isn’t exactly what we want it to be.’ And I think when looking at that tape, we know that there’s some lessons in that game that are some tough lessons, but we have to learn from and we have to improve on.”
On the pair of 4th down decisions in the second half at BYU:
“I think that’s an interesting one because when you are aggressive and you don’t get it, then it’s all bad, and I understand that. That’s the nature of making those decisions in those moments. The first one, the defense had just pinned them back there on a down and punt situation, and then we had stopped them and forced a punt, right? And so I was thinking, let’s get Noah another short field. Let’s go for seven, and that was my thought process. 53-54-yard kick, I’m like, let’s give our defense another chance to stop them, give them a short field, and let’s go get seven. That was the first one. Kind of the field position decision of that.
The next one was I was being aggressive. We had gotten down there, and the way we’d gotten down there was a big play. It was a scramble play from Noah to Cole, up the seam that ripped down there. And so once we got that that first down, I told Doege, I’m like, ‘You got four here,’ because I felt like we needed a score. And in my head, I was thinking, momentum, game, take the lead, and they made a bang-bang play. They made a great play, and we were short. And that’s the hard part about making those decisions is it was an aggressive call. We went for it, and we didn’t get it. And I got to live with that.”
On Tre Smith’s quiet start to the season:
“He played his ass off on Saturday. Physical, violent against a really good team. Really tough. All those expectations, that’s all coming. You’re going to see it show up.”
On playing Max Harris despite potential “five-for-five” reversals and changes:
“I think everybody is just worrying about what we control, and I don’t control any of that. If I’m told he’s cleared to play, let’s go.”
On the secondary’s performance through two games:
“I think they’re making progress. I think that group is. You got to see Dalen play a little bit the other night. We’ve gotten good reps from all of those safeties back there. I think Malcolm continues to show up with some physicality. I thought Gavin did some really good stuff in that game. Jay’Vion Cole is a good player, and Bootle played his tail off. He got beat on a couple plays, but with what we do, he’s on an island out there. That’s kind of how we’re built a little bit, right? But he played his tail off, and I know he’s disappointed. He slipped on one of those plays, but I’m encouraged by all those guys.
Those guys are playing their tails off. They’re doing a great job coaching them. And I think when you look at the fourth quarter, the frustrating part is in that last eight and a half minutes, both our offense and our defense had opportunities to help us win that game, and we didn’t. That’s on me. And that’s what we’re going to work on.”
On the toughest lesson Arizona learned from the loss at BYU:
“I think it’s a lesson we know, and that is, you got to finish. Championship football is played in the fourth quarter, and when you’re playing one of the best teams in the conference on the road, you have to finish. You have to play your best football in the fourth quarter, and we didn’t do that the last eight minutes.”
On Caleb “Jet” Smith and the possibility of increased action with Giovanni Richardson’s injury:
“I think it’s great, and I think that’s one of those things for all those for those young players that come in highly recruited. There’s always these massive expectations that they’re going to show up and they’re going to be Jerry Rice on day one, or whoever you know, and he’s doing great. He did a great job back there returning punts. He had a nice kick return, and he’s going to keep building more reps into that thing.
It is unfair, in my opinion, to throw a freshman out there and say, ‘go do it.’ The game is moving fast, and now Jet’s fast, so that helps. But the game moves fast, and there’s a lot more scheme. You have to know side adjust and coverage variation and way more volume and all that stuff. And so I think Bobby’s doing a great job with his process of developing those young players and how their role is going to continue to grow.”