5 Key Takeaways From Brent Brennan's Press Conference

Brent Brennan talks about Arizona's last win and improvements being made during the bye week.

Nov 30, 2024; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Brent Brennan against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the Territorial Cup at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Head coach Brent Brennan was excited for the way the Arizona Wildcats performed on Friday when they rolled through Kansas State and displayed Red Line in front of a rowdy Zona Zoo and fans.

His and Arizona's attention is now fully turned towards the bye week and ironing out any mistakes that were made on Friday night's game before it heads to Ames to take on the Iowa State Cyclones at Jack Trice Stadium on September 27 at 6 p.m. (MST).

Brennan talked about where his team is currently and how it can improve over the next two weeks of practice in the latest press conference.

Here are five key takeaways from the conference.

On how his defense performed in the first three games

Sep 12, 2025; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats linebacker Jabari Mann (11) tackles Kansas State Wildcats quarterback Avery Johnson (2) during the fourth quarter of the game at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

"Coach Gonzalez and the defensive staff have just done an awesome job preparing those guys, building a mentality, the way they attack, the way you see Red Line show up with them every game we play. There's still work to do there. There's still some things that aren't exactly what we want them to be, but in terms of those guys being Hunter Hunter and seeing that effort on the field, it's fun to watch. And so I think we're making progress there."

"I think we've got work to do there. I think there's some coaching that needs to be detailed up in some of those spaces. I think that coach Naivar is an outstanding special teams coach in terms of the detail, the energy, the time, the effort he puts into it. And I think that's part of that red line that hasn't shown up as a total execution special team space. So I think the buy is coming at a valuable time, because I think some of the challenges we've had there are fixable, and we need to get to fixing them."

On fixing penalty issues on the offensive line

Noah Fifita running through a lane created by his offensive line. | Mike Christy Arizona Athletics

"I think that's obviously something that is a huge thing we need to fix. Starting tomorrow in practice. The good news, I got faith in coach Oglesby. He's an awesome coach, and those players trying their hardest, that's not an effort problem. So guys have to be smart about hand placement, they have to be smart about when a defender gets outside the framework of their body, to let go.

Let us know what you think Arizona needs to fix during the bye week in the comments of our X account. Just click the link to find our page and make sure to follow.