Arizona’s Big Win: Brent Brennan Talks Next Challenge
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There is plenty to be excited about for fans of Arizona Wildcats football this week, from their come-from-behind victory over Cincinnati, to Noah Fifita's record-breaking touchdown pass that put him first all-time in the program's history (68), to the new $60 million deal that renamed the stadium to Casino Del Sol Stadium.
The Wildcats defeated the Bearcats in front of a packed crowd at Nippert Stadium after struggling in the first half and missing two field goals to end the game with a 30-24 victory. In that game, the defense forced two turnovers and held Cincinnati to 10 points in the second half, while the offense scored 20 points to take the lead and traversed 99 yards in one drive.
ALL THE FEELS pic.twitter.com/vqCxQQv7mP
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) November 15, 2025
Head coach Brent Brennan was full of emotion after the win and brought that energy to the latest press conference on Monday. He shared his thoughts about his team's gusty performance, the new stadium deal and going into Senior Day against the Baylor Bears in hopes of continuing Arizona's winning streak.
Here is a collection of five interesting thoughts he shared.
On the importance of having a good front office and their leadership
"It starts with consistency of leadership. I think that is so important when you're building something: consistency in leadership. Right now, I think we have great alignment, and I've said that before, with President (Suresh) Garimella, with Desiree (Reed-Francois) and with our coaching staff and the other head coaches that are here at U of A."
"I think when you shuffle that deck, or when you're swapping out coaches and leadership or athletic directors or President all the time, it's hard to build any real solid foundation to have something that is, you know, sustainable and consistent, consistently successful."
On the defense adjusting after the first quarter
"I give a ton of credit to coach Gonzalez and our defensive staff and I think they did a great job of making adjustments and settling down. Obviously, it was a big moment, It's a big game. We're on the road ranked opponent we're all the way across the country."
"When you do what we do defensively, there's always a little bit of a learning curve of how people are going to attack us early in the game. I thought our staff did a great job of adjusting to what it was and then our players did an even better job of responding."
On what Dalton Johnson and Treydan Stukes mean to Arizona
"Both those players are just everything that's right about college football. They work their tails off. They get good grades, they do the right thing. They're leaders on the football team. That part of it is really what we want the University of Arizona football players to be all about."
"When we started building this team at the end of last season, or right after last season and the start of January, those were conversations that I had with them, with both those guys and others on this team. Iit was, 'How are we going to build this?' And we said, 'We're going to build it with tough guys that love football and want to be here at the U of A.'"
On Arizona not letting close losses get to it
"This team, when we lost those close games, they never doubted. They believed in each other, they believed in our staff, they believed in our program, that never wavered. They were steadfast in their belief in what we were doing and where we were going. For us, it's always a one-week season. That's it. And so right now, we're locked into Baylor because it's the most important game of the year and that's where our headspace is."
On Noah Fifita's record-breaking touchdown and his performance
"It's really special whenever a player does breaks a record like that, just because it speaks to his loyalty. He's chosen to stay in order to do that, you have to play a lot of football at one place. I've talked about it on Saturday after the game, and I talk about all the time, just how Noah Fifita is as a human being, as a player, as a leader, and the loyalty part of him is how he was raised. He's got incredible parents, that part of it just makes him really, really special."
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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.