The Arizona Wildcats showed poise and grit on Saturday, rallying back from a 10-point deficit in a comeback win over the Kansas Jayhawks. The Wildcats are now bowl eligible for the first time under Brent Brennan, while quarterback Noah Fifita is tied for first in program passing touchdown history all-time. See what Arizona head coach Brent Brennan, as well as linebacker Taye Brown and running back Qunicy Craig said postgame following the 24-20 win over Kansas on Homecoming.
Brent Brennan:
Brennan on the 24-20 win over Kansas:
“What an awesome, awesome day in Arizona Stadium. I just want first of all, thank you all for being here. Really, really appreciate it. Really, really special day. It was awesome having Antoine Cason being our honorary Captain all the football alumni that came back, all the all the alumni, the students, everybody that showed up for Homecoming and showed up to cheer on this team. It was just an incredible day, it was an incredible day in there.
The impact the crowd had on the opponent late in the game was significant. Like, don’t think that kid didn’t, like that field goal late in the game. And I know I’m jumping ahead, and everyone’s like, going to be mad at me for doing that, I don’t really care, like that crowd mattered in that moment. That crowd impacted that moment. And that’s what we’re talking about building a real, just challenging, hard home field advantage at Arizona Stadium.
This team is really, really special. It’s an awesome group of people. All week I talked about what a physical game was going to be. I said it over and over again, because we have a ton of respect for Kansas, and we knew who they are. Super well coached, outstanding in all three phases, right? They’re the best special teams unit in the Big 12 statistically. So we knew that it was going to be incredible battle, but our players just kept responding. We just kept finding ways to respond in some really tough moments. Down 10, we respond with a touchdown right before half.
There were so many good things that we could be so excited about, and I know it wasn’t perfect, and that’s okay. We’ll fix that. We’re accountable for that. That’s what Redline is. The accountability piece is a huge part of it. But we’re going to enjoy this. We’re going to enjoy every part of this, the excitement in that locker room, the joy coming off the field, the joy on the field at the end of the game, that last moment when it hit zeros and everybody got to experience that was magic, just absolute magic. So shoot, I’m fired up.”
Brennan on some calls going Arizona’s way after tough breaks against BYU and Houston:
“Well, I think the three things you mentioned were all facts, like, one was definitely a penalty. One was definitely not an interception, you know? What I choose to believe is that we learned from the BYU, the Houston experience. We went into this game absolutely respecting the hell out of Kansas, and we knew that we were going to have to keep swinging, keep standing up, like they were going to land punches, and we had to keep answering the bell, and they did, and that’s what I’m excited about.”
Brennan on the emotions in the locker room after clinching a bowl game:
“So the thing that I think about with your question there is that lots of people chose to be here and lots of people chose to stay, and they either chose to be here, they chose to come, or they chose to stay, because they believe in the University of Arizona and they believe what we’re doing with our football program. And I don’t think you get that if you don’t have good alignment from your president, your AD, head coach, like, you have to have it from the top down.
And when you think about the decision to elevate Coach [Danny] Gonzales, Desireé, all for it, right? The decision to bring in Seth Doege, Desireé, all for it, you know, like that matters, right? Like you have to have support, and you have to have everybody rowing in the same direction.
And then on top of that, 41 new players joined us at the mid year and 62 I think, joined us by the start of summer, and they chose because they believed in the players that were here, the staff that was here, and the program that we’re building, and that’s what we’re excited about. This is a stepping stone. Like, yay, we got to six. That’s not good enough for me. That’s not good enough for these kids, right? We want to keep playing good football. How can we continue to improve? Continue to find ways to elevate Arizona Football? That’s what we’re doing.”
Brennan on showing up to the game in bowling shoes?
“It’s funny. That is a common question I get about my shoe choice, but those are saddle shoes, and they’re swaggy as hell, and that is my jam. I’ve been a saddle shoe guy for a long time. But, I mean, you only notice after we win our sixth game, I’ve been wearing those same shoes every game this year. You know what I mean. But it was disheartening because I used to get custom made spike-less golf shoes FootJoys in the school colors where I was coaching, everywhere I’ve been. And then once I got hired here, FootJoys went out of the saddle shoe design and stopped doing it, so now I can’t get the red and blues, or otherwise I’ll be rocking those everywhere. And you can call them bowling shoes if you want, but I know what I’m doing.”
Brennan on Kansas’ defense giving the offensive line some issues:
“That’s one of those things that you know about playing in this Big 12 conference. Everybody can play, everybody’s good. Any given Saturday, just look across the conference. And we knew these guys were really good up front. I said that all week. I said that to you guys on Monday, I said to guys on Thursday, that front seven we knew was going to be a challenge for us. The thing I’m excited about is how we responded late in the game. That last drive. We ran the ball to win the game. Like, how fantastic is that? Right? That offensive line answered the call, Q [Quincy Craig], Noah with his legs. Like, just incredible.”
Brennan on telling his running backs to stay ready for opportunities in the game:
“Like, five touches, two touchdowns, something like that. I think that speaks to the unselfish nature of this team. I think it speaks to how one of the really special things about this team is how they celebrate each other’s successes. Like, there’s not jealousy there. I’ve been part of teams where inside the same position group, guys were like, literally hoping someone fails so that they can get a chance.
It’s not like that with this team. Like those guys were so excited. You should have seen all the running backs with Q in the locker room. You know what I mean? Like that part of it, I think, is really, really special, but all of those guys contributed today. And I think if we can look at it through the lens of we are trying to win as a team, we’re not trying to win individually, because that doesn’t work, at least not in this game. And so the way those players support each other and with the rotation at running back, receiver all those guys, but the fact that they can all find ways to contribute in a winning effort makes it special.”
Brennan on the defense allowing three straight scoring drives before tightening up in the second half:
“I think number one, every good football coach makes adjustments in game. Like that has to happen. But on top of that, the alignment we have on this coaching staff, the way those conversations go in game, just with like, either side of the ball, or sometimes it’s on the headset and it’s me Doege and Danny decided if we want to go for it on fourth down, or like, you know, a clock situation, or how we want to handle a timeout or penalty or whatever, just the communication is so high level.
And I think also for the players, it takes a little bit of time to figure out what is this opponent’s game plan? There’s also a learning curve in game for that because what we do defensively is a little bit different. So you’re not going to watch a bunch of a bunch of opponent film and say, this is how they’re going to attack us defensively. And so we have to figure that out on the fly. And then once they did, I thought they were awesome. I think there were four stops and the missed field goal in the second half. I think that’s right. Which is outstanding defense. That is outstanding defense.”
Brennan on Noah Fifita tying the program’s all-time passing touchdown record:
“Noah Fifita is everything to this program. You all know Noah. You guys have all spent time with Noah. He is an incredible leader. He’s an incredible human being. He’s an incredible person in this community. He cares about the U of A. He’s loyal. He’s chosen to stay. The whole world tried to buy him the last two off seasons. He chose to stay. Like, he is so special, and it’s funny because you rarely see him get emotional on game day, and it’s happened a couple times in the last three games where you’ve seen that kind of, that fire, that energy, but he’s normally just like, calm and dead even.
He’s the leader, he’s the voice. On that last drive when everyone’s going crazy, like we’re huddled right after the missed field goal, and everyone’s going crazy. There’s lots of emotion, lots guys talking blah, blah, blah. He looks like he’s fishing at the lake, like he’s just calm. He’s totally focused on what’s ahead. And because of that, the guys feel that from him. He’s just a really, really special player and an even better human being.”
Brennan on making it to the postseason with this roster:
“It’s interesting. We talked about it a lot this week as a team. This is a really special group of guys. I give the players and our assistant coaches a ton of credit, because they built this team. It started in December and January, and it’s been now 10-11 months of finding ways to get connected with a bunch of, over 50 percent of our team is brand new. Like, that’s not something normal in college football. So it might be normal now, but it wasn’t normal (or) what all these players are used to, right?
And so those guys did the hard work of getting to know Max Harris, who was just an absolute savage tonight. Like, what a baller, right? Goes out with an injury, comes back in. I think he led us in tackles. But how amazing is that? But the way they have just continued to come together, and the reason I say that is there’s real love on this team. They truly care about each other. They don’t care who gets the credit. They’re willing to support each other with the success. And the beauty of it is that this team now gets a little bit longer lifespan and that’s special.”
Brennan on not playing the cleanest game and finding a way to win:
“Absolutely. And I think the reality is, one of the things that I’m most excited about is that we are playing meaningful games in November. The University of Arizona, we are playing meaningful games in November, and however we get it done, doesn’t matter, right? Would I like it to be prettier? Sure. Would I like to be more turnovers and more sacks, or less sacks, or whatever? But at the end of the day, when we came out here today, the goal is to win, and that’s what we did, and we’re excited about that.”
Brennan on the play of younger players like Myron Robinson and Matthew Lado:
“We’re excited about those guys. Those guys are young players. I think there’s a lot of young players that, as we build our program, we want to do an incredible job of evaluating and developing and recruiting talent. And so those are two. It’s a second year player. It’s a first year player. Gio [Richardson] made some plays today. So I think that part of it is something that’s really excited about the future of Arizona Football.”
Brennan on the crowd at Arizona Stadium:
“I think when you have who is going to be the leading quarterback, or leading touchdown thrower in the history of the school, like it’s worth watching. When you see a team that fights their ass off every game, every game ’til the end. That’s worth watching, that’s worth supporting. And today was an awesome indication of that. We had a great crowd, and that crowd impacted the outcome of the game late in the game, whether that was those stops in the second half, or the missed field goal, or the clock drive to win it. And how incredible was that when that thing split and Quincy housed it, and the way the stadium just erupted, the way the sideline erupted. And if you don’t like college football there’s something wrong with you, because that was incredible.”
Taye Brown:
Brown on a low-scoring game putting more pressure on the defense:
“I mean, as a defense, I feel like we just got to hold them to less points than the offense. I feel like that was our mentality.”
Brown on Arizona qualifying for a bowl game:
“It’s great. It’s exciting. You know, we’ve worked very hard since January to just accomplish this. But this isn’t where we stop, just trying to keep going, win out the rest of the season.”
Brown on the work Arizona has done since January to get to six wins:
“It’s been great. I mean, like I said, we’ve been working so hard since January and just build the team chemistry. Because, we’ve had a lot of new transfers coming in, probably like half the team, something like that. So it’s just been great, building the chemistry and just showing up on the field.”
Brown on the message from Danny Gonzales at halftime to fire up the defense:
“He’s a passionate guy, so, he’s always gonna come with something. He just said we gotta stop the QB run. We gotta stop the run. That’s been our mantra all year, stop and run and just make them pass the ball.”
Brown on the defense not forcing a turnover and still coming away with the win:
“Kind of like how coach has said, we knew it would be a dog fight. You know, they had a great offense. We just went out there and try to stop and run, stop the pass and just come up.”
Brown on the culture Brent Brennan has built in his two years in Tucson:
“It’s great. It’s definitely a culture change this year. The culture is more like physicality this year. That’s what he’s been preaching a lot. And I think we’re out there proving it.”
Brown on the play of Dalton Johnson and Treydan Stukes:
“It’s great. They have that tough performance every week. I feel like they’re elite guys that I feel like can play at the next level. So I’m happy that they’re on my team.”
Quincy Craig:
Craig on his game-winning touchdown:
“Yeah, I saw the O-line open up a nice hole for me to get through. And, I mean the rest was simple, I found my way to the end zone. That was definitely one of my favorite touchdowns I’ve experienced, because it was definitely a comeback win, and we needed a full team win.”
Craig on the vibe in the locker room after securing a bowl game berth:
“Yeah, it’s great. It’s definitely not over though. We’re definitely going to get back to it. It’s another day, 24-hour rule. You know, experience it. Be great with it. And then get after the game.”
Craig on Noah Fifita tying the program’s all-time passing touchdown record:
“Yeah, it’s been great. He’s very hard working guy, and he’s very humble. He’s always working to the craft, and I’m just happy to see that he accomplished something like that.”
Craig on the Arizona’s offense struggling to move the ball consistently:
“They’re a good team. We knew it was gonna be a dog fight. It was gonna go back and forth, throwing punches, but it was just, how can we finish the game? We start fast and just, how can we finish the game, finishing the game. How can we do it with this next play, this next drive? So, we got it done in the end and that was the goal.”