What Brent Brennan Said About WVU After Beating the Mountaineers in Morgantown

Quotes from the Arizona head football coach.

Oct 10, 2026; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez talks to Arizona Wildcats head coach Brent Brennan after the game at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On paper, Arizona was certainly the better team coming into Morgantown, but it wasn't like West Virginia was completely void of talent or ability to win the game. They had just stubbed their toe in back-to-back weeks, thanks to some horrendous defensive performances against Oklahoma State and Iowa State.

But with Arizona making the cross-country trip, having a 9 a.m. kick, and down multiple receivers, it felt like the Mountaineers had some things going their way before they teed the ball up.

Unfortunately, it was the same song and dance for WVU. Good offense, really bad defense, and another L in the loss column.

Arizona head coach Brent Brennan was fired up about the win, calling it a "massive one" for his team to take down WVU and to do so in Morgantown, which he called one of the toughest places to win.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for West Virginia, that coaching staff, that team," Brennan said. "Those guys fought their tails off against us all afternoon. That quarterback is a total stud. We knew that coming in, and he gave us problems all day, but I thought when we had to, our defense answered. Five fourth down stops and two forced turnovers. It was an awesome example of winning the turnover battle. When we needed a big play on offense, we found a way to make it, and we found a way to run the football.”

Arizona threw the ball over the yard on the Mountaineers, which is no surprise considering how good their passing attack is. Down multiple guys or not, when you have a quarterback like Noah Fifita, he is going to put up big numbers.

Coming into the game, Brennan said that he thought WVU would have some trouble with one thing in particular.

“Um, I think we thought that they would have a hard time with the speed of Isaiah (Mizzell) and Jet, but the truth is, a lot of people have trouble with the speed of Isaiah and Jet, and that’s why you recruit guys who can run. But the truth of it is that they had been so multiple; can we find some run game and settle things down? And then also, take advantage of pressure situations where you have to beat man coverage.”

WVU's pass defense now ranks dead last in all of college football, giving up 322.4 yards per game.