TUCSON – Year 2 of the Brent Brennan got off to an electric start on Saturday, when the Arizona thumped the Hawaii 40-6. Offensively, the Wildcats compiled nearly 350 yard of total offense, including over 180 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, while defensively, the Danny Gonzales’ squad recorded five takeaways and five sacks, and held the Rainbow Warriors out of the end zone. Here is what Arizona head coach Brent Brennan, as well as running back Quincy Craig, linebacker Taye Brown, and defensive lineman Tre Smith had to say postgame after the encouraging win over Hawaii.
Brent Brennan:
Brent Brennan on how he’s measuring success in the game:
“The way I’m going to measure success is Redline. At times in this game – we talk about Redline a lot. You guys have heard me talk about it – but for us, that’s defined simply in effort, execution, and accountability. And I think on the effort side we played really hard. I think that was visible. Sure, there were mistakes, but we played hard in all three phases. The execution piece, I think we’ve got a little bit of work to do. So, I’m excited to look at this film and go to work, and we’ll be accountable for where we want to be and on the level we want it to be at. But at the end of the day, this is a win for our football team. This is a win for our fans.”
Brent Brennan’s assessment of the offense, and specifically the wide receivers’ play on Saturday:
“I think we have some room to grow there. You know what I mean? I think that part of it – we had a couple guys who were unavailable tonight who are impactful players at that position, but I think you also saw some guys do some stuff. You saw freshmen get in there and mix it up and make some plays. And I think the more people that we can get on the field and the more confidence Noah has distributing the football makes it harder to defend us.
And so, I thought there were some good moments there. I that it was really exciting to see ‘Nunu’ make a couple of nice plays, and so there was some good distribution with that receiving core. And I think there’s room to grow. I think we can continue to develop there and can continue to move the ball effectively throwing it.”
Brent Brennan on Noah Fifita as a vocal leader:
“He’s been great that way all season. Those moments where we weren’t exactly right – he’s got a great – I think the quarterback position, there’s a fine line there. They can’t be a hard-ass all the time. They’ve got to have some balance. They’ve got to know who they’re talking to. They might be able to talk to one player a certain way and another player a certain way, and Noah does a fantastic job of feeling that vibe, that energy, and knowing the right way to get to people and motivate them. And you see him doing that all the time on the sideline. You see him doing that out there on the field, the command he has out there.”
Brent Brennan on the physicality of the game, particularly from Arizona’s defensive backs and ball carriers:
“I think anytime you go 5-0 in the turnover battle, like you’re going to be in great shape in that football game. And so that was outstanding. I love the way our defensive backs were triggering and showing up physically. That’s that moment of recognition and exploding towards the football, then getting there with bad intentions, and I thought we saw some of that, which was fun. That’s Redline.
And then in the run game, I thought all three backs ran hard. Like you saw that some of that stuff they had to create because everything, or a lot of what Hawaii does is they’re always kind of plus-one in the run game. They’re always trying to outnumber you in the run game. And so we knew that some of those runs that our back was going to be one-one-one with a linebacker or a safety, and he was going to have to make them miss, or break a tackle. So, I thought there was good physicality there too.”
Brent Brennan on running back Quincy Craig’s successful Arizona debut:
“I don’t think Quincy’s success surprised any of us. I think even for you guys that have been at practice with some frequency, you’ve seen him really really be dynamic running the football. He had an incredible week of practice, really really attacked the work, and showed up on game day. And I think that’s one of those examples where preparation meets opportunity, and he made the most of it.”
Brent Brennan on Ismail Mahdi’s limited opportunities in the season opener:
“We’ve got three good backs and I promise you by the end of the season we’re going to need them all. You know, we needed them all tonight. And so, I think the world often times gets fixated on this one back, and we give this one back the ball all the time, but that’s not been my experience in football. You always need more than one, because they take too much of a pounding. And as physical as they were running the ball tonight, you’re going to multiple guys.
I thought when Ish got in there, he did a great job. He was coming back, he kind of banged his knee a couple weeks ago, and so he was coming back from that. So those other guys have been getting the bulk of the reps leading up to game time. But I thought when he got in there, he showed some stuff, which is not surprising. So we feel good about that running back room. Those guys are all going to contribute in meaningful ways this season.”
Brent Brennan on quarterback Noah Fifita’s timing and execution:
“I think he missed a couple throws. It didn’t look like timing, it just looked like he sailed two of them, the two down in the red zone. The one on the wheel route to Sam Olson, and then it looked like he floated a bang post to [Tre] Spivey or [Isaiah] Mizell maybe. I wasn’t sure on that because it looked like that under coverage, like he was trying to maybe make it a top-shelf throw because the under coverage was there and the space on the field is reduce, and so that ball needs to be placed on the back line. But, I think that will tighten up the more we play.”
Brent Brennan on the play of the offensive line versus Hawaii:
“I think it was good at times and I think it was inconsistent at times, and so that’s something that we obviously have some work to do there. But, I thought those guys showed up in a great way. We knew coming into this season that we wanted to be more effective running the football and Week 1 we ended up running the football the way we did against a pretty stout front that’s always plus-one in the run game, so we feel good about that. Those guys are going to continue to grow and continue to improve. Coach Oglesby is a fantastic football coach, he’ll get them right.”
Brent Brennan on the play of Arizona’s defensive line versus Hawaii:
“I think that was exciting. We had 10 different players have a tackle for loss in the game, which is exciting. I think Brett told me it’s the most sacks we’ve had in two years, so I think in terms of where we’re at, it’s a great start. Now I want to put my foot on the gas pedal, like how great can we be? So I think when we look at that tape and evaluate what went well and what didn’t, I think we’re really going to be excited about that stuff that was good. And then we’re also going to be really demanding on the stuff that wasn’t quite good enough.”
Brent Brennan on Michael Salgado-Medina’s debut as Arizona’s place kicker and punter:
“I was excited. It was great to see him drill that 52-yarder. That was so exciting for him, right? You know, this is his first time kicking field goals in a game and I thought he did a great job. And he also did a nice job punting. I think we had one of those ones on the punt that I think we’ve got some work to do. We need to fix that on a protection piece, but otherwise he hit the ball well.”
Brent Brennan on Gavin Hunter’s interception after getting called for a defensive pass interference in the end zone earlier in the drive:
“Yeah, I’m really excited for Gavin. He’s a young man that’s had a tremendous amount of growth in the last year since the end of last season. He’s a super hard worker, he’s a well-liked guy on the team, he’s a tough guy, he’s a physical guy. But to see him respond that way, that’s just been such a huge message with our team is responding.
Like, you get a holding penalty, like respond, because it wasn’t just the holding penalty. He got beat on the corner on third and long two plays before that. So I thought he did a great job of responding there. And for him, that’s the most plays he’s ever played in a game. So I’m sure there was a little fatigue that wore in, that settled in on that, but give him credit. He made that pick, it was awesome to see him do it. Had good ball security. It’s like fantastic.”
Brent Brennan on Arizona’s biggest opportunity following the win versus Hawaii:
“I think we missed some opportunities in the red zone. We got that ball down there at least twice where a penalty pushed up back and got us behind the chains and we had to settle for a field goal. That’s more what I’m talking about. It was great to see Isaiah Mizell play and Gio Richardson, those two freshman receivers, and Isaiah got a holding penalty. Like, he’s busting his ass trying to block a guy. It’s hard. But, I think there were some execution pieces there that we’re going to wish we had back, and the good news is that we came away with a win so that we can learn from those and improve this week.”
Brent Brennan on wearing a lei postgame, but not on the sideline during the game:
“Before anyone asks, this was given to me postgame by Ka’ena Decambra, our center, who is from Hawaii. And that was a very nice gesture. Also, T-Mac’s grandmother gave me one before the game that I was wearing in pregame. So I think in honor of Pacific Islander Heritage Night, that made it pretty special.”
Quincy Craig:
Quincy Craig on scoring a 54-yard touchdown on his first carry of the game:
“Yeah, it felt great. Our O-line’s been opening up holes. We’ve been practicing that exact play so many times this whole week. You know, just to be able to have a hole like that was great. Once I saw that open, I had to go get in there.”
Quincy Craig on Arizona’s opportunities to execute better in Week 2:
“Execution is definitely something that we always try to harp on. I think offense left a couple plays out there. I think as we go back out there and watch it, I mean, I think we should have put up at least 60.”
Quincy Craig on the running back room’s performance overall:
“I think the running backs performed great. We all found our way into the end zone which is absolutely exciting. We all bring great versatility and I think being able to feed off each other, getting hype for each other, I was so excited to see them boys get in there as well.”
Taye Brown:
Taye Brown on his first-career interception as an Arizona Wildcat:
“It was definitely exciting. Just out there playing ball. Sticking to the scheme that Coach G laid out for us. He laid out a great scheme for us for this game against a great opponent, and [I] just went out there and it just fell in my hands.”
Taye Brown on facing an opponent for the first time this season, and the momentum a 40-6 win will give Arizona heading into next week:
“It felt great to get out there and hit somebody else. I feel like every day at practice going against the best. So, it’s definitely prepared us for this moment out here, and I feel like the momentum will carry us into next week. We’re going to celebrate it tonight, but tomorrow we’re just going to come back, get ready for Weber State.”
Tre Smith:
Tre Smith on Arizona’s five takeaways building momentum for the team:
“Yeah, it’s huge. It’s something that I would say not everyone thinks about in the game of football, is the battle of momentum and that can really change the game. So, it’s really just about stacking positive responses.”
Tre Smith on Arizona’s opportunities to execute better in Week 2:
“Just the execution pieces, right? You want to suffocate the opponent. So, the lack of execution kind of allows for hope that battle of momentum I was just talking to you guys about. And we just got to be on top of it, make all these errors right.
[…] I think that was visible. Sure, there were mistakes, but we played hard in all three phases,” said Brennan on Saturday night. “The execution piece, I think we’ve got a little bit of work to do. So, I’m excited to […]