Brent Brennan Shares Bye Week Takeaways Before Colorado Matchup
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The Arizona Wildcats are 4-3 following a two-game skid, losing games to No. 11 BYU 33-27 in double overtime and No. 24 Houston 31-28 with seconds remaining, leaving fans stunned for two consecutive weeks.
After a much-needed break, the Wildcats are back from the bye week and will be turning their full focus on getting out of their losing streak and dismantling the Colorado Buffaloes in hopes of avenging last season's 34-7 loss that occurred on home turf.
Head coach Bent Brennan had his first press conference in two weeks and shared his thoughts on all things, from improvements being made to what Arizona needs to do to come out of Boulder with a victory and its hopes of a bowl game bid still intact.
On Colorado's last game
"Any given Saturday in the Big 12 is a challenge. Any given Saturday in college football, if you're watching the games this weekend, I think every team in this conference is really good, and every time you line up, you've got to be ready to play. And so I think that part of it is, it doesn't matter where you play. It doesn't matter who the teams are. Doesn't matter if it's a first-place team or last-place team, or anybody in between, every game in this conference is a freaking battle, and we've lived that already."
On returning to fundamentals
"A big part of the bye week that I probably should have mentioned is there was a for us as a coaching staff and as a team, a big return to fundamentals and so blocking, tackling, a lot of work in those spaces, because we felt like there were a lot of opportunities missed, especially in the Houston game in terms of tackle and getting people to the football."
On his message to the team against a sub-50 Colorado team
"It didn't change my messaging because every game in this league is an absolute dogfight, and I've been saying that for weeks. You know what I mean? When I look at that, I'd look at, you know, they lost to two top 10 teams at home. I suppose those teams in the top 10 now, Georgia Tech and BYU, you know, otherwise, they've gotten after everybody at home, you know, including a very good Iowa State team. So it doesn't matter what happened this weekend."
On Cameron Barmore's evolution
"Injuries are part of the game, and that's the hard part of it, but the best thing that can happen when you have somebody get injured is for someone to step up. Someone to answer the call and go in there and play good football. And that's what Cam's done. You've seen him from spring until now, it just seemed like just this incredible arrow up development of him in terms of his run blocking, his physicality, and then how he's finishing on the football."
On recruiting in Arizona
"There are a lot of good football players in the state of Arizona. I'll tell you that I finally got to go out and watch a game, and it's just really, really impressive to be there in person how important football is in the state of Arizona. Really, really cool. Really, really enjoyed being out. It's harder for the head coach now, the rules are so different than they used to be, right...I think lots of times in recruiting, players choose people, they choose how it feels, and I think we're as good at that as anybody."
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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.