Brent Brennan weighs in on direction of Arizona football program entering bye week

For the second time this season, the Arizona Wildcats are limping into a bye week and have to stew on a loss for two weeks.

Then, Arizona was 2-1 and ended its nonconference schedule with a blowout loss.

Since then, the Wildcats have won just once in six games and are now riding a five-game losing streak following a 56-12 defeat to UCF in Orlando, the largest margin of defeat for the UA since the 70-7 loss to rival Arizona State during the pandemic-influenced season in 2020.

Arizona’s season that once had Big 12 championship — and College Football Playoff — aspirations are now on the cusp of not even qualifying for the postseason. With three games left in the season, the Wildcats (3-6) need three wins for a bowl berth. First-year head coach Brent Brennan said, “This is an important bye week for us coming off a really, really tough outing on Saturday.”

“I love how our players showed up for meetings today and for (weightlifting). We definitely have work to do,” Brennan said. “We’re going to practice this week, we’re going to make corrections, we’re going to go to work on what we saw in that game that wasn’t executed right and continue to build skill and improve our football team. ... Now we’re moving forward.”

During his Monday news conference, a week until the Wildcats prepare to host Houston on Friday, Nov. 15, at Arizona Stadium, Brennan discussed the current state of UA football and critical moments from the loss to UCF, among other pertinent topics. Here’s what he said:

Since this is the second bye week of the season, is there anything useful you learned from the first bye that you can apply to this week?

A: “For our football team, I think it’s critical we attack practice and meetings like we did over our first bye week. I think that was really, really good. We spaced out the days off, so our team had a chance to recover a little bit, but really just keep our foot on the gas pedal on the improvement of our football team.”

One of those most glaring developments in the loss to UCF was Arizona’s offensive and defensive line getting dominated at the line of scrimmage. The Wildcats had 5 net rushing yards, the lowest since 2006, and a season-high 17 missed tackles. What have you done to address that?

A: “That’s been a huge conversation Saturday night and (Sunday) — and it’s still ongoing today. On the offensive side of the ball, finding things that we can execute at a high level, that we can execute in our sleep, where we can play with a proper physicality and give us a chance to move people and run the football effectively, which we obviously didn’t do on Saturday.

“How can we game-plan that better? How can we put our players in better positions? And accelerate the growth and improvement of the new players playing in our offensive line. As we looked at the film, we felt like the defensive line played well in that game. We missed tackles on the perimeter. ... With the bye week, it’s going to give us a chance to return to some of the fundamental work that is hard to do 10 weeks into the season. ... We’re going to get a jump on the Houston game plan, but we also have to attack the fundamentals that didn’t show up on Saturday.”

After reviewing the film, what’s your assessment of the Hail Mary play UCF had at the end of the first half that extended its lead to 35-6?

A: “I think we can play that better. Did (cornerback Tacario Davis) get pushed in the back? That looks a little funny. I think those things are a mosh pit and there’s never going to be any calls on that, so we need to be boxed out on that and make sure to not play behind that and play in front of it and literally getting our backside on people and boxing them out. That’s a collision play. We need to try and not play that ball with two hands, it’s gotta be knocked down. The hardest part about that play is you can’t (replicate) that play in practice, because you’re going to take six players and have them all leave their feet in a 3-yard box. You try to avoid situations like that in practice, because you don’t want people spraining their ankles or getting caught up.”

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After every loss during this skid, you’ve mentioned how you and the staff need to do a better job of coaching the players. What’s not working with the coaching that’s contributing to Arizona struggling?

A: “Whenever we don’t play well or aren’t executing at the level we’re capable of executing at, that always falls on me. That’s always on me. That’s where I start and that’s where the constant evaluation every day — practice, film, game, postgame, all of that stuff is in constant evaluation in what we’re doing in all three phases. These conversations are ongoing for us. ‘Why did we do this? Why do we have this guy block this (player) this way?’ Just continuing to dive down into the deep, deep details to try and figure out why we’re not executing at a higher level.”

After coming over from San Jose State in January, is there anything you’ve learned about the job that could help turn the tide, both short-term and long-term?

A: “I think college football is rapidly changing. The world we’re in is rapidly changing. I think we’re in a great spot with our athletic director in terms of where we’re going with revenue sharing and ways that are going to give us a chance to have the caliber of talent and football teams we want to have here. I’m excited about that. We’re building a program.

“It’s hard to come in with the expectation, because everyone is like, ‘The program is already built.’ But there’s also pieces there from a year ago that aren’t a part of us this year, so we’re still actively developing those other parts to try and get them up to the level of the Big 12 conference, and that’s an ongoing thing.”

During the last bye week, you changed offensive play-calling duties from offensive coordinator Dino Babers to tight ends coach passing game coordinator Matt Adkins. Do you envision any changes to the staff this week?

A: “There’s not. Not for me. I don’t think that serves us. I don’t think that serves this team right now. I think the most important thing in what we’re trying to do is keep this team together and keep us moving forward and build the best plan we can to play good football against Houston, and I also think every person in this building is having a big impact on our recruiting process. That part of it is ongoing. There’s constant evaluation of where we’re at in terms of how we’re coaching, how we’re teaching. Every aspect of the program is evaluated on a daily basis by me.”

Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois attends every football game and is on the road with the team. What have those conversations been like with her regarding the direction of the program?

A: “They’ve been positive, because she’s super-committed to us building a championship football program here, and I really appreciate that about here. As we’re talking about building out a plan and our process for revenue sharing and what that looks like and how it will play out over time. She’s aggressive, she’s really smart and she’s really committed. I can’t ask for more from a person in that seat than what I’m getting from her.”

Extra points

• Brennan, on Arizona’s 10 penalties for 100 yards against UCF: “In terms of the penalties, the biggest issue for me is the penalties that are in our control. The pre-snap procedure, like (when) we lined up offsides one time, those ones drive me absolutely freaking nuts. That stuff is unacceptable.”

Brennan said a “critical piece of this bye week is our coaches are going all over the country recruiting.” Added Brennan: “We gotta go find the next great Wildcat and do everything we can to keep our recruiting class intact and also find the pieces that we know will make us better in the future.”

• Brennan, on Election Day: “I don’t weight in on either side of the coin. But I do think, as young people, it’s important for them to understand how fortunate they are to have the opportunity for that. If there’s someone who likes to complain about where we’re at or what’s happening in our world, they should let their voice be heard by showing up to the polls.”