After playing the first two games in the friendly confines of Arizona Stadium, the UA hits the road for the first time when it visits 14th-ranked Kansas State. It’s a Friday night game, which means the time to prepare for a top-15 opponent on the road has been condensed.
“We kind of essentially lost Monday, so this is a Tuesday practice,” UA coach Brent Brennan said. “There’s not a huge difference that way. I think just the biggest difference will that we’re going on the road playing an excellent team.”
To prepare for the environment at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, which holds 50,000 but drew 51,240 for K-State’s first home game, Arizona is piping in crowd noise at practice.
“That’s the only thing can do,” Brennan said. “The good news is that this team and these players do have experience playing in some tough venues over the last few years. Playing at Oregon or Washington or Utah, those places are all places that are really, really rowdy. I think that you gotta lean on some of that and try and be smart with what you do, in terms of how you huddle, how you communicate. Working through that in practice because that’s how it’s going to be on game day.”
Here’s what else Brennan said at his Monday presser:
On Kansas State: “I think we’re playing an excellent football team. They’re really good in all three phases. They had a nice win on the road last weekend against Tulane. Good players, they’re extremely well coached, they play with real physicality. Obviously it’s gonna be a great game day atmosphere in kind of that venue. Coach Kleiman is a fantastic football coach. I think those guys have done a really nice job everwhere they’ve been. Obviously the results speak to themselves, and when you turn on the tape I think it’s really impressive about how they play in all three phases.”
On how the players feel about this game: “I think they’re fired up. We just had a great practice, and I’m really excited about that. I think that’s a good indication of kind of where they’re at in their mindset in terms of attacking the practice environment. We’re off to a good start today. Obviously, we’ve got a lot of work to do because of the short week. It’s heavy gameplan conversations and some long days. But that’s the nature of this time of year, especially on a short week so. But the players are fired up. I think everyone’s excited. I’m sure Kansas State is, too.”
On the offensive line: “Like I mentioned the other night, there was some good stuff, too, done by that group. And did have some guys, some new guys, playing in there. Grayson (Stovall) had never played before. He had to snap every ball, and that’s a eye-opening experience, and so I give him a lot of credit. I thought he handled it really well. There’s a couple simple mistakes here that we can clean up easily, which we’ve already worked on starting yesterday. I think hopefully, as time goes, we’ll be more and more healthy, and some of the people that are not available right now will come back to us and get in the mix. But after watching the film, I think we were encouraged, because there was some better stuff that we were able to get done that we realized in game.”
On missing veteran center Josh Baker: “I don’t think anyone on our football team undervalues Josh Baker. He’s an excellent player and an excellent leader. He’s team captain, he’s awesome. Everybody knows exactly how special he is and how important he is to our football team.”
On when decisions are made about if injured players will be available for a game: “Those are always decisions made by our medical staff, not by me. And so if they tell me that so and so can go, then so and so can go. Coaches will never make those decisions. That’s all medical people, doctors and training.”
On Jacory Croskey-Merritt’s status, and what the issue is: “It’s where it was when I talked to you guys on Saturday. We’re still trying to find out exactly what went on. We’re working through it.”
On switching punters and if that’s permanent: “That’s going to be something that’s going continue to play out over time as we watch it. I don’t know if that decision’s been made yet.”
On failing to convert a 3rd down: “I think it’s a couple things. I think it was a couple of missed throws, missed opportunities, that part of it is really, really frustrating. And sometimes when you’re in those situations, you kind of try and press, and we just gotta relax and let the game come to us and execute the details of our assignment, and we’ll have higher level execution.”
On penalties: “I spoke on Saturday night (and a) week ago, my concern was what I considered the self-imposed, negatives. The after the whistle nonsense that can really, really hurt you. Some of the other penalties that happen when you’re playing football, you know, we’re not coaching holding or whatever. To me, I tend to focus more on the controlables. That conversation has been ongoing. It was ongoing really, really aggressively last week with just the stuff that happened kind of after the whistle. It’s all the stuff that’s either after the whistle or before the whistle that really, really gets me fired up. Offside, false start, and then any nonsense after the whistle, whatever that is.”
On the defense vs. NAU: “I thought the defense was outstanding. I thought we did a great job of getting population football. There’s just some really, really good effort. I thought the D-line did an outstanding job, and obviously that helped the linebackers put up some big numbers in terms of their tackles. It’s exciting to see them respond, because I know they were frustrated from the week before.”
On if Tetairoa McMillan had bad body language, as ESPN+ reported during the broadcast: “No, I actually thought T-Mac handled it pretty well. I think everybody was frustrated for stretches in that game, and I think it’s important for every player on our team, but more importantly for the leaders, to understand that their body language has influence. Guys feed off of that, whether it’s positive or negative. Again, that’s something that’s in our control, and something that we coach really hard.”
On whether to return kickoffs out of the end zone or take the touchback: “It depends week to week. There’s games where we’re going to be really aggressive that way and there’s games where we’ll make a determination whether or not we’ll bring those out. So it just depends on lots of factors: who were playing, where we’re playing, what kind of kickoff guy they got, what kind of kickoff team they have. There’s a bunch of components that go into this, those decisions are made game by game.”
On Noah Fifita’s freedom to change the play: “Sometimes there’s stuff that we double call, but then also sometimes there’s stuff that would probably be more (about) protection. He does it every game.”
On Kansas State QB Avery Johnson compared to New Mexico’s Devon Dampier: “I think the difference is, is that I think Avery’s more of a complete player. He’s got arm talent, and then he’s faster. Like he’s ridiculously explosive.”
On being excited in locker room after an uneven win: “I’m not going to let anything on the outside take away from the joy of winning. Those moments are special, and they need to be celebrated and enjoyed by everybody. We can fix the stuff we need to fix later, but in that moment, with the team in a locker room, there’s nothing like it. There’s nothing like a locker room after a win. It’s a really, really special place, and so we’re going to enjoy the hell out of those when they happen.”
On Jeremiah Patterson: “I’m really encouraged by him. I think he’s going to be a really good player for us, and I think he’s just going to get better the more he plays. The way he approaches practice and workouts, he’s definitely dead serious about his process and improving every day. He was raised by good people at College of San Mateo, those guys did a great job. I’ve been watching Jeremiah since he was in high school, because he was right down the street from us (at San Jose). It’s awesome to see him doing the things he’s doing.”
On the debut of the red helmets with ‘Cats’ in script: “I think anything that the players get excited about is good. I love it. I think that’s fun. I think that’s part of college football. Some people may or may not agree with it, but for me, it’s all it’s about the players.”
On his history with Kansas State: “The only time I’ve been out there was when I was an assistant with Coach Tomey at San Jose, I believe we went out there in 2007 and we’re still trying to tackle Jordy Nelson.”
