Arizona Wildcats not overlooking NAU with BYU showdown approaching

Gonzales wasn’t preparing for Arizona’s season opener against Northern Arizona. He got a head start on the Wildcats’ Big 12 opener next week against 14th-ranked BYU in Provo, Utah.

Gonzales is out for revenge against BYU, which beat the Wildcats in double-overtime fashion last season, when Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier powered his way to two rushing touchdowns.

“Those guys had to have BYU broken down before we went on vacation,” Gonzales said.

Arizona has been in NAU mode for the last two weeks and went through the cycle of practices leading up to the mock game on Saturday.

“When you have 50 new guys on the team, they’ve never been through a game week with our program, so we were just trying to get them to see what it looks like, what it feels like,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

Arizona went so far as to replicate the game on Saturday, when a monsoon storm interfered with practice at Casino Del Sol Stadium; rather than moving the practice to the Davis Sports Center, they waited for the storm to pass.

“We waited it out just like we would on game day,” Gonzales said. “If we were going to be here until midnight, we were going to stay in there until midnight to get this thing done. That’s what happened against BYU last year. You have to act and prepare for every situation, so the kids don’t overreact. It was great. It was awesome. … Hopefully we don’t have to deal with that on Saturday. If we do, we’ll be ready for it.”

As for BYU, “there is no focus on them (this week),” Gonzales said.

“There was plenty of focus on them in the offseason, but that’s what we get nine months for,” Gonzales said. “Now, it’s about choosing violence. Every single week, you have a faceless opponent if you want to be good, because your own worst enemy is yourself. … (The Lumberjacks are) going to come down here with the expectation that they’re going back to Flagstaff with a win. … It doesn’t matter if it’s NAU, BYU or whoever it is. Your own worst enemy is yourself. It doesn’t matter what logo is on that helmet. It doesn’t matter what they look like.”

NAU is ranked 20th in the FCS rankings and comes to Tucson fresh off a come-from-behind win over Big Sky rival Eastern Washington to start the season. The Lumberjacks trailed 24-3 and rallied to beat the Eagles, 34-27.

NAU star quarterback Ty Pennington completed 15 of 27 passes for 164 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. NAU running back Quran Gossett had 21 carries for 103 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Lumberjacks had 201 rushing yards as a team; Pennington had 61 rushing yards. Kick returner Lindsey Graves had two kick returns for 116 yards, including a 100-yard return for a touchdown.

“Those guys are good,” said Arizona slot cornerback Malcolm Hartzog, who is making his Arizona debut after transferring from Nebraska. “They’re hungry. Watching their past game and their film from last year, those guys are really good. They got some good players on offense. … I feel like they have a good team overall.”

Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey said NAU’s defensive backs — led by safety Shoes Brinkley and cornerback Jahaad Fort — “aren’t afraid to hit, they’re highly competitive and they have a lot of heart.”

“That’s a real squad and a real team,” Spivey said of NAU. “I’m excited to play against them. I know they’ll be excited to play against us, so we have to be ready for anything.”

The Lumberjacks are in their third season under head coach Brian Wright, who led NAU to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the program had four straight winning seasons from 2012-15. The 15 victories in Wright’s first two seasons are the program’s most since 2013-14. NAU produced eight first-team All-Big Sky players in Wright’s first two seasons at the helm.

Wright was previously a head coach at Pittsburg State, a Division II power in Kansas. Wright had a 33-8 record between 2020-23 and won back-to-back Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) championships before taking over NAU’s program.

The foundation of Wright’s success in Flagstaff is Pennington, a quarterback who followed Wright from Pittsburg State to NAU. In two-plus seasons at NAU, the 6-2, 203-pound Pennington has 5,598 passing yards, 34 touchdowns and seven interceptions with 691 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns.

“Ty Pennington, that dude is a savage,” Gonzales said. “He’s a bad-ass. He’s tough, he refuses to slide. It’s my goal to make that sucker slide. He refuses (to slide), which is freaking awesome. … He doesn’t care, because he’s a freaking bad-ass. … Ty Pennington will crush you with his legs if you give him alleys to run. We gotta compress the pocket, especially because he’s elite with breakaway speed and, like I said, he won’t slide.”

Arizona is favored to beat the Lumberjacks by 30-plus points on Saturday. Even though history is on Arizona’s side, as the Wildcats enter this season with a 17-2 all-time record against NAU, Gonzales is keeping the two slip-ups in 1932 and 2021 — five years ago on Sept. 18 — in the back of his mind.

“We have a lot of advantages that they don’t (have),” Gonzales said of NAU. “We have more scholarships. We have more resources. That means absolutely nothing at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night when they blow the whistle — as they proved in 1932 — as they proved in 2021. How can we get our guys ready to play? The good thing is, we’re going up against somebody else, finally. Our guys are tired of running into each other.

“They’re getting grumpy and they’re not allowed to fight in practice, but they’ve come really close. I cannot wait. The opportunity to chase a Big 12 championship starts on Saturday. … I am so excited to watch these guys play against somebody and go gut some human flesh on Saturday.”

Extra points

— Gonzales, on 5-7, 190-pound freshman Dash Fifita being a co-backup middle linebacker behind Taye Brown: “Dash Fifita is going to play. He’s going to be a menace for people on special teams, and he’s going to be a menace for people on defense, because he’s a really, really good football player. He’s super explosive. … I love (former UA linebacker) Jacob Manu. I think Jacob Manu is a really good football player. I think Dash is as good or better at naturally playing football; there’s just a 50-pound difference. Dash is as every bit as explosive as Jacob.

“The problem is, when one of those 6-5, 340-pounders get their hands on Dash, he’s done and is going to get smashed. That’s just the law of averages. But that happens to every football player on our team. If you don’t attack somebody the right way and you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, odds are it’s going to be a one-on-one loss. On defense, a one-on-one (battle), we lose.

“Dash is really good and has had to play this way his entire life. He’s used to it. Dash Fifita is going to play — and play meaningful reps in the ‘26 season. The Fifita name is going to live for four or five more years. Noah is going to be the winningest quarterback in school history and have every freaking record. … Noah Fifita is the greatest thing that has ever happened to the University of Arizona football program. … Dash Fifita is going to create his own legacy here, because he’s a freaking bad-ass. I can’t wait to watch these dudes play on Saturday.”

— Arizona’s scout-team members wear green practice jerseys to honor the school’s previous colors of sage green and silver, according to Gonzales.

— NAU announced it’s donning all-white uniforms for the game on Saturday.