Arizona ‘getting better and improving each week’ despite shaky starts

Rather than reflecting on Arizona’s comeback win over Washington State, the UA head coach wanted to spend his news conference on Monday looking forward to the Wildcats’ upcoming home game on Saturday against Cincinnati. The Bearcats, not the Bengals that Belichick was referring to in 2014.

“There was some pressure upstairs from some of the guys on our staff to come in here and hit you guys with the, ‘We’re on to Cincinnati. We’re on to Cincinnati. We’re on to Cincinnati,’ ” Brennan joked. “I was tempted.”

The Wildcats “got a big-time opponent coming to town” in undefeated Cincinnati, led by fourth-year head coach Scott Satterfield.

After losing star quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech before he was deemed ineligible to play this season following a gambling scandal, the Bearcats have one of the top rushing offenses in the Big 12.

Arizona’s next two opponents, Cincinnati and West Virginia, are the top two rushing teams in the Big 12 conference, with the latter as the top team. Cincinnati is averaging 270 rushing yards per game, and the Bearcats have the fourth-best fourth-down conversion rate in the Big 12 at 5 for 7 (71.4%).

Cincinnati’s top rushers are running backs Gi’Bran Payne and Cole Tabb, who each have over 300 rushing yards and have combined for eight rushing touchdowns. Cincinnati quarterback JC French IV, a transfer from Georgia Southern, has four rushing touchdowns and six passing touchdowns this season.

“They’re excellent on offense and have been running the ball basically at will,” Brennan said of Cincinnati. “It’s going to be an incredible challenge for our defense. Defensively, they’re extremely opportunistic, high pressure, play with an odd front, great players, well-coached, so it’s a Big 12 challenge for us coming off last weekend.”

If Arizona replicates the first quarter from the previous two games against Washington State and Northern Illinois, the chances of a two-possession comeback resulting in a win will be slimmer against a Cincinnati team coming off a win over Kansas State.

Arizona fell 10-0 to NIU two weeks ago after a shaky start from the offense and a deep-shot touchdown surrendered by cornerback Tyrese Boss.

Against Washington State in Pullman, a touchdown allowed on WSU’s opening drive, along with a pick-six thrown by quarterback Noah Fifita, the Wildcats trailed 14-0.

Some of the common offensive themes in the last two weeks: drops by receivers and the offensive line giving up a sack, like the first play from scrimmage against Washington State.

“There’s some mistakes where it’s like, ‘Don’t drop the pass. Don’t give up a sack,’ ” Brennan said. “It’s kind of that simple. We’re a rhythm offense and we need to get into that kind of momentum. For our defense, there’s always going to be a learning curve for our defensive staff, because we are different. There’s no opponent film they can watch and go, ‘Oh, that’s what they’re going to do against this,’ because no one plays what we play. That’s how we study film.”

The defense had a similar trend last season. Arizona’s unorthodox defense under defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, who defensive end Tre Smith called “a mastermind” on Saturday, goes through a feeling-out period at the start of every game. Sometimes it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. In the fourth quarter of Arizona’s 13-game season last year, the Wildcats gave up a total of 50 points — an average of 3.8 points.

In the final three quarters against NIU and Washington State, Arizona outscored both teams by a combined 62-17.

“The thing I’m excited about is how we responded,” Brennan said. “I think our team is getting better and improving each week and I thought the way we finished that game the other night was a lot of fun. To me, I’m excited about the positives that our team has put on film and what our team has put out there against opponents the last couple of weeks and I’m excited to see us play on Saturday.”

Brennan addressed other notable items on Monday. Here’s what he discussed:

Arizona is last in the Big 12 in sacks allowed (12), and left tackle Matthew Lado and left guard Rhino Tapa’atoutai have surrendered a combined five sacks and 13 quarterback pressures. Is there any consideration to making changes on the left side of the offensive line?

A: “No. This is what you have to think about: those guys haven’t played a lot. Rhino started for six games and then tore his ACL and didn’t play for basically 18 months. That’s the timeline. Matt didn’t play until Tristan Bounds got injured against Cincinnati, which was a late-season game last year. Both of those guys are improving and I’m excited about it. The way we finished that game, some of the runs we were popping early, the protection, the junk (Washington State) was bringing that those guys handled, I was really excited about that. And those guys are getting better and better.”

Do you talk to kicker Michael Salgado-Medina — who missed a field goal and had another one blocked before making two field goals in the fourth quarter, including a 51-yarder to ice the game — between kicks during the game?

A: “No. That’s like talking to a pitcher during a no-hitter. … I’m just there to support Michael and let him know that I have confidence in him and I’m putting him back out there and ‘You go end this game for us.’ That’s we did and that’s what Mike did. … It’s my inner dialogue. It’s like your son is playing little league and he’s going up to bat and you’re like, ‘Hey, got hit a home run.’ It’s so unfair. I was really proud of Mike for the way he handled that.”

You’d rather have wide receiver Giovanni Richardson healthy and playing, but do you view his absence as a blessing in disguise considering Tre Spivey has a combined 13 catches for 219 yards and three touchdowns the last two games?

A: “Yes and no. We expect Spivey to go when Gio is going. This offseason, we have talked about this receiver group ad nauseam and I think any kind of negative conversation about that was really out of the BYU game, when we were playing against a really good team and the margins were really tight. … Some of those things are game-to-game. I think we’re at our best when the run game is going and Noah has all of those options and Noah is distributing the ball to nine, 10 or 11 people and I think that makes us much harder to defend. Spivey is a threat, because he’s a big-play guy. He’s strong, can play the football, can run and there’s some good pieces with that. … We’re getting good production out of that room.”

Arizona-West Virginia game set for early kickoff

Arizona will face West Virginia in Morgantown on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 9 a.m. on TNT, TruTV and HBO Max, the Big 12 announced.

It will be West Virginia’s first matchup with Arizona since hiring head coach Rich Rodriguez, who coached the Wildcats from 2012-17. It’s also Rodriguez’s first game against the Wildcats since he was fired following the 2017 season.

In his first stint at WVU, Rodriguez went 60-26 in seven seasons at West Virginia from 2001-07 and led the Mountaineers to four Big East championships. Before West Virginia’s win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl to end the 2007 season, Rodriguez left for the same role at Michigan, where he was 15-22 in three seasons.

Rodriguez replaced Mike Stoops and was hired by Arizona in 2012 and led the Wildcats to five postseason appearances and three bowl victories — and a Pac-12 South championship in 2014.

Rodriguez was fired by Arizona following the 2017 season, but quickly returned to the sidelines as an offensive coordinator at Ole Miss and head coach at Louisiana Monroe and Jacksonville State in Alabama.

Following a 27-10 record at Jacksonville State, along with West Virginia firing Neal Brown, the stars aligned for Rodriguez’s return to WVU last season, his first Power 4 head coaching gig since his stint at Arizona.

Arizona also has two players connected to West Virginia: wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III played three seasons for the Mountaineers, including last season under Rodriguez, and punter Chase Ridley was previously committed to WVU’s 2026 recruiting class.

The Mountaineers have a Tucson connection on their roster this season: former UA fullback and Canyon del Oro High School product Kayden Luke, who led the Dorados to a Class 4A state championship, is in his first season with the Mountaineers after two seasons with the Wildcats.

The Wildcats lost their only game against West Virginia, 31-26, in Tucson in 2024.

West Virginia (3-1) is facing Iowa State (2-2) in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday.

Extra points

— Brennan, on the three defensive penalties at the end of the first half, including two personal foul calls: “We can’t do that in Big 12 games and expect to have a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. We have to be smart about that. … That was one of those things in our battle of discipline that day that we did not handle well. … That’s something we have aggressively addressed and continue to do so.”

— Boss and Dwight Bootle II were listed as co-starters at cornerback on the latest depth chart. Bootle returned from injury against Washington State, but Boss started his second straight game. Cam Chapa, who recorded his first interception against Washington State, and Quinn Olson are co-starters at free safety.

— Former Arizona tight end Brandon Manumaleuna will be the honorary captain for the Arizona-Cincinnati game, which is also Pacific Islander Night. Manumaleuna played for the Wildcats from 1997-2000 and played for the 12-1 team that won the 1998 Holiday Bowl. Manumaleuna played for the St. Louis Rams, San Diego Chargers and Chicago Bears from 2001-10.

— The Fox broadcasters for the Arizona-Cincinnati game are Jack Kizer (play-by-play) and Mark Helfrich (analyst).

— Three-star Dallas-area linebacker Rome Ewell decommitted from Arizona’s 2027 recruiting class and flipped his commitment to Louisville. Arizona has 17 commits for 2027, including eight players from Texas.

— Brennan began his news conference on Monday by honoring the legendary UA swim and dive coach Frank Busch, who died at 75 on Sunday. Said Brennan: “Our thoughts and prayers are with Coach Busch and his family. Just such a legend, such a good guy. He’s been such a nice guy to me in the limited time that I got to see him and be around him since I’ve been back here. It was really a sad day (Sunday).

“Just an absolute legend and loved by so many and respected and cared for by so many. Our thoughts and prayers are with that family and everybody that knew and loved him during their process at the University of Arizona.”