After another noncompetitive conference road loss, this one a 49-28 defeat at TCU that eliminated Arizona from bowl eligibility, Wildcats football coach Brent Brennan displayed some emotion in defending his players and the direction of the program.
“We talk about it in terms of playing this game and playing your ass off with everything you got in this game. That’s all that matters.”
Moments later, Brennan added, “We’re building a championship football program, and it takes time to do it the right way, and we’re going to do it the right way.”
As Arizona heads into rivalry week against surging ASU, Brennan expressed awareness of the importance of finishing the season on a positive note. Here’s what he had to say after Arizona’s loss to TCU.
Brennan on his takeaway from the loss: “Congratulations to TCU, Coach Dykes and that team. They had a great plan. They beat us in all three phases today. I think I knew coming down here that we were going to have to play clean. We were going to have to kind of answer offensively and defensively, and we were unable to do that consistently enough. So many close plays that we needed to keep that within striking distance, and we weren’t able to do that.”
On what positives Arizona can take with them: “I think there’s some guys that played well for us tonight. I think obviously T-Mac breaking Bobby Wade’s record for the all time leading receiver at the University of Arizona is really, really special. Dalton Johnson had a heck of a day coming back to Texas and making a ton of tackles. And there were moments there where I really thought that we were going to be able to stay in and continue to apply pressure, but it just it wasn’t enough.”
On the mood after the game and outlook to the Territorial Cup: “Everyone’s disappointed. It’s hard when you go through a season like this. It’s challenging on every level. I love these players. I think they’re amazing. They come to work every day. They don’t complain, they just continue to bust their tails for each other. I think that’s really, really special. And then now we have a one week season, and we’re playing ASU, and obviously that’s a huge football game, and it’s the biggest game of the year. And so you know, the only way you know to get where we want to go is by putting in the work. And I’m confident this team will show up on Monday ready to go.”
On the most challenging part of the season: “Overcoming the injuries.”
On fighting back from an early 14-0 deficit: “Rally back, yeah, I thought it was great. I thought it was a great fight, obviously, we missed the play on the first play of the game, and we throw a pick and so then. But I thought it was great how the team battled back there, And I think even late in that game, we were fighting our tails off. We just couldn’t get that one stop. We couldn’t get that one extra first down. We just couldn’t answer that one when we needed to.”
On Chris Hunter’s growth: “I’m just excited about the development of him, and I think he’s making great progress. I think Coach Wade is doing a fantastic job with him, and it’s excited. It’s exciting to see him playing with confidence and making the plays he’s able to make.”
On McMillan breaking the program receiving record and his attitude this season: “I think to his credit, he shows up every day. And I think that’s one of the things that speaks to his character and who he is. He’s an incredibly hard worker, he’s a high level competitor, and that shows up every week. And I think the beauty of of that is here you have a star player, and the season’s not going the way he wants it to go, but that’s not changing how he approaches the work. That’s not changing how he competes on game day. You see him fighting for extra yards, making plays off his feet like that. That is what an absolute stud is. And I’m just so impressed with him, and I’m so appreciative of the effort he gives us and gives our football team.”
On whether Brennan envisions McMillan playing next week: “I do. It would shock me if he had anything else to say, but if that’s a conversation we have to have, then we’ll have it.”
On TCU’s success on big third and long conversations: “I think those are momentum plays. You know what I mean. I think that that one play, I think we’re going to wish we had attacked the football more just when we look at it on film. I think all those are hard lessons to learn that we allowed drives to get extended and we didn’t get off the field, because then we knew they’re getting the ball coming out of half. And so we would have felt a lot better if it was 14 to 13 going into halftime, right? But I thought our defense played their tails off. It just wasn’t enough. It wasn’t good enough, right, on either in all three phases. It wasn’t good enough.”
On what the message was to the players as the game got out of hand: “We talk about it in terms of playing this game and playing your ass off with everything you got in this game. That’s all that matters. And that’s what we were talking about in those moments. It didn’t matter if it was the fourth team guy out there or the first team guy out there. That’s all we were talking about.”
On not getting TCU off the field: “I thought there were multiple opportunities for us to finish some of those things, and we just, the player, (Savion) Williams, like, ‘Where’d they find that guy?’ Oh my gosh, what a stud. I mean, he’s so powerful and so strong. I thought we had him dead to rights on that fourth and one right, and he was able to fall forward for first down. We’re just close. And you know, I think that’s one of those things that we can look at that and we can be encouraged, but then also pissed off that we didn’t make the play, that we didn’t finish it.”
On approaching the ASU game: “Well, I think this is, this game is the biggest game of year for this football program. Every year, right? ASU is playing good football right now, and this is an incredible challenge for us. I think everybody in the state of Arizona looks forward to this weekend, Thanksgiving weekend, U of A ASU game. It’s it’s the biggest thing happening, right? It’s something that every player that comes to U of A dreams about and thinks about, and so for us, we have to show up on Monday doing the work. We don’t get to feel sorry for ourselves because we’re not bowl-eligible. We don’t get to feel sorry for ourselves because we didn’t get it done today at TCU. It’s all about what’s next, right? And I think these players will do that. I think they’ll show up ready to work. I think they’ll be pissed off about how today went, and they’ll be excited about the opportunity that’s happening next weekend.”
On the significance of T-Mac passing his receivers coach for the program record: “Well, I think the first thing Bobby Wade said when he got over here, is that he wanted T-Mac to break that record. T-Mac has been such a great player here for so many years, and lots of people have had a hand in his process and his development, but I think Bobby has too, and Bobby’s had an important part of that. They have a great relationship. And I think watching him play is really special, and it’s something that it’s not every day a player like that comes around, that plays that hard, that competes like that in games, that finishes on balls the way he does it’s able to separate and create and explode. like I said, like the thing I love the most about him is that guy loves football. He loves to play, and it shows up every Saturday.”
On what Brennan would say to those doubting the direction of the program: “We’re building a championship football program, and it takes time to do it the right way, and we’re going to do it the right way. We’re going to recruit our asses off. We’re going to bring good football players and good people into this program, and we’re going to do it the right way. And I can’t wait.”
On the challenges Arizona has faced on the road: “Every game is different. You know what I mean? Every game is different. I think today, today, there was opportunities for us to make that a football game. And we didn’t, whatever phase of the game we were in when that happened, you know, we just didn’t, we didn’t answer at the moment that we needed to other games with some, you know, some of the other games, we turn the ball over too much, and that led to that result. But obviously that’s something that we got to look at as a staff and as a football as a head coach and as a coaching staff, we’re constantly evaluating every part of the program, every step of the way, and that’s something that we’ll continue to do as we as we come down this last home stretch of the season.”