Brent Brennan's Sights Set On Toppling Cincinnati After Monumental Win
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The Arizona Wildcats' "24-hour window" is now up after beating the Kansas Jayhawks in a narrow 24-20 victory, scoring the final touchdown with less than a minute to spare and holding on to the lead to come away with the win.
Head coach Brent Brennan and his team of bowl game-bound competitors are now moving in to prepare for the No. 22-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats, who are coming off their bye week following a 45-17 defeat by the No. 15-ranked Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Noah Fifita needs to throw just one touchdown to pass Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama for the most career touchdowns in Arizona history. Arizona needs to win out amongst a plethora of other teams to reach the Big 12 Championships.
Brennan fielded questions from the media about last Saturday's win over Kansas, what Cincinnati brings to the table, and his players. Here are five interesting thoughts from that conference this Monday.
On Quincy Craig winning Big 12 Player of the Week/his performance
"I think if you're going to have a good football team, you have to have more than one (running back). I just that position, they take such a beating and having more than one has benefited us throughout the season because there've been times where players at that position have been nicked up or been dinged up in some way."
"So, it was awesome to see Quincy do that. I think that's one of those things that's also speaks to a really good evaluation of him through the portal process and a good recruitment."
On the offensive line and Matthew Lado playing big-time snaps
"When you get into a game, you go into a game with a game plan, but you don't always know exactly how that's going to show up until you start playing. And I thought those guys did a nice job of settling in and then finding some run game there in the second half was really, really valuable. And I thought Matt did a great job. I think he did a great job going in there, especially on that last drive, playing with huge effort and physicality."
On Myron Robinson playing at a high level
"I think he's got an extremely high ceiling for a player to step into that game that physical of a game. I think he tied for the lead in tackles on our team. Was really effective. Was flying around. Made some outstanding football plays. It's fun to finally see him start to come into his own. Because he's a little hurt early in training camp and wasn't really as available early on in the season. And it's exciting to see him getting more and more comfortable because part of it also when you miss all those reps is you miss all the schemes."
On not being satisfied with six wins
"When you start a season, at least in my head, the first thing you want to do is, 'How fast can we get bowl eligible?' Because when you get to the postseason, you're going to get a chance for an extra spring practice basically. Depending on when you play, how many games you win, you can get two, three, four weeks of extra practice."
"Well, that is incredibly valuable for the team, for the freshmen that just got here in June or for that part of it is so critical. And so knowing like that that that's really important. But then you don't want that to be the goal. Like that wasn't the goal when we started in the fall. The goal wasn't to just get to a bowl game."
On Cincinnati wide receiver Cyrus Allen
"He's the best receiver we played against. He is excellent. Just a great combination of speed and talent. His ability to finish. He's tough. They've done an awesome job. When you have somebody delivering the football with the accuracy and the confidence that (Brendan) Sorsby is, they present a real challenge that way."
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Nathaniel Martinez and a set of shoulder pads at 7 years old. He later graduated from Pima Community College in 2023, where he began writing for the Pima Post. He is working to achieve a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Media Studies.