What Brent Brennan, Tyrese Boss and Michael Salgado-Medina said after Arizona’s comeback win over TCU
It sounded like coachspeak when he said it on Monday, but Brent Brennan knew what he was talking about in previewing the TCU game. He was certain it would be game decided late and sure enough it was.
Arizona pulled out a 29-28 win over the Horned Frogs on Friday night thanks to everything going right down the stretch, something that didn’t happen in either of its losses this season.
“All week I’ve talked to you guys about it being a 4-quarter game,” Brennan said. “That is something that we talked about throughout the week. We talked about it with all with the team. We talked about it last night. We talked about it today. And I think that’s what you saw. And I think what you saw was a great demonstration of Redline effort, execution and accountability.
“And it’s November. These games are just battles, and that’s what you expect when you get into this month. Knowing it was going to be a 4-quarter game, I think anytime you have Noah Fifita pulling the trigger, you have a chance. And just the incredible plays. He is such a warrior, and it was just fantastic to watch him continue to make plays in that game.”
It was the 7th straight win at Casino Del Sol Stadium, the longest home win streak since the 1990s, and sets the stage for a big showdown next weekend against Utah.
“If there was ever a time for the city of Tucson to show up for the U of A and for this football team, and for Noah Fifita, and these awesome kids, Saturday is the day,” Brennan said. “Saturday is the day that we need to pack The Sol. I mean, I’m serious. Like this thing needs to be on fire because all of us have gone up to Utah plenty of times and had to deal with that one, and it’s a tough place to play. Let’s make our place a nightmare for Utah on Saturday.”
Our full game recap can be found here. Below is what Brennan, cornerback Tyrese Boss and kicker Michael Salgado-Medina said after:
Brennan on TCU: “I give a lot of credit to Coach Dykes. He’s a fantastic football coach. They are a good football team. We knew we were playing the best defense in the Big 12, and we knew that was going to be challenging.”
On staying positive when down: “I think about the battle of belief, and we talked about that all week. We talked about it last night. We talked about it today, and that never wavered. It never folded. The players kept believing. The sideline was electric. Even in the tough moments of the game, everybody kept finding ways to support each other, to love each other, to pour into each other, and it was just magic the way that thing finished.
“I think our crowd had a lot to do with that. I think the Zona Zoo, I think our fans staying till late in the game, making that environment really awesome, really, really special late in the game. And then I also think that speaks to what I talked about the battle of belief. We kind of did this exercise where the guys kind of wrote down the battles they thought we had to win, because there’s six battles that I talk about every game that you need to win to win the game, and that was one of them, and it was a battle of belief. That was something that all of them, a big portion of the team, felt like that was really important this week, and it just never wavered. It didn’t change. And even though we were down, it didn’t look good. We didn’t get a 2-point conversion, some Wildcat made a play, and that’s what special teams do.”
On the special teams play overall: “I think everybody in our building knows what a fantastic football coach Craig Naivar is. There’s the amount of detail, the effort, the energy he puts into it, and it was awesome to see those moments happen. I know Michael’s been up and down on the field goals and lacks some consistency, but we believe in Michael, and that’s why we keep putting him out there. And when it mattered, he nailed it. And then (Ian) French … continues to be a great weapon with his kickoffs. And then the (onside kick) he hit was just perfect. And then Tre Smith is just a stud, just a total stud. After the first field goal attempt. Naivar’s like, hey, Tre was was clean in the A gap, and I think that’s why the kicker pushed it. And so, sure enough, a couple situations later, Tre was there. But just like we knew this was going to be a team effort, we talked about this was going to be a great team win, and it was because all three phases found a win.”
On Salgado-Medina: “Being a kicker is the hardest, one of the hardest positions to play in sport. Because you don’t know when you’re going to get an opportunity, and then everyone expects you to make it. And if you don’t, they just dog cuss you for weeks. It’s just such a hard job, right? But we’ve seen his consistency in the practice environment. We’ve seen how strong his leg is. We’ve seen how mentally tough he is, and so running him out there, I had full confidence he was going to nail it. And sure enough, he did.”
On Fifita bouncing back from throwing a pick-6: “They’re the best defense in the Big 12. They made a play, but I know our quarterback is also the best quarterback in the Big 12, and he answered. How about the throw to Quincy (Craig) and the play Quincy made? I mean, in that moment, like how many quarterbacks can make that play? That’s what makes him special. He keeps answering the bell every single time, no matter what happens.”
On playing for a field goal: “We didn’t want to give them any time, and our defense was playing well. Running the football, squeeze the time they have to get anything going offensively, and not have something crazy happen. We knew Mike was good the moment we recovered the kick, right? That was our belief. Mike was good the moment we recovered the kick. So let’s see if we can pop a run.Even if we popped a run and it opened up, we were still going to down it the 1-yard line. We weren’t going to give them any chance.”
On the choice to onside kick: “That’s when I grabbed Naivar, I grabbed Danny G, and I grabbed (Aaron Knotts), and we talked through it because we had the time out there, and we just talked through it. And basically, what we determined was, hey, like we’re not going to kick this ball. We don’t want to give them the ball midfield. If anything, it’s either like let’s do what we did, or let’s kick it out of the end zone and give them no chance to return it. And so we said, let’s put it in play and give us a chance to play. To Naivar’s credit, Ian French was on point, hit a perfect kick and Zuri, like perfect technique, putting his face on that ball and going fetal position and covering it up was magic, man. It was awesome.”
On if there was talk of benching Dwight Bootle during the game: “No. I told you on Monday that (Jordan) Dwyer’s an NFL player. I told you he’s the best receiver we played all year, and he is. And so that’s going to be a challenge for us. But I’ll tell you what I liked: I like the resilience of Bootle and Tyrese. How about the play Tyrese made at the end of the game? So, is that a tough matchup? It is. And did we have some pass interference calls? We did. But we will keep coaching him, and he will keep improving, and he will learn from that experience today. And we still won the game.”
On Quincy Craig: “Quincy Craig is a really fun player to have on our football team. He’is a tremendous leader, and he just has this really great like combination of really good player and kind of emotional leadership. And he was one of those voices on the sideline all game. Those guys that like never wavered, and when he got the opportunity to make that play, it was an incredible play.”
On Giovanni Richardson’s big game: “It’s awesome to have Gio back. Gio is just a tremendous kid. He’s an incredibly hardworking kid. He’s a playmaker, and he’s got an awesome confidence and toughness about him. That’s one of the reasons we liked him so much in the recruiting process.”
Boss on not getting down with the struggles defending the pass: “We have a real big statement on going to the next play, never folding under that one play, because it’s still a whole game to go. The football game is not just all one play. You can have a bad play, and then the next one be a great play.”
On his game-sealing interception: “He (the receiver) sat down, and I seen the quarterback running, so we call that plaster. We gotta stay on our man, so I stayed on him.”
On the onside kick recovery: “I want to give huge props to Zuri Watson because for somebody not coming in the game and coming in at one of the biggest times in the game, knowing his job and still sticking down to it, he went and got that. As soon as this opportunity came, he took full advantage of that. He made it happen. All I see is Zuri coming down full speed, he put his face right on the ball. It was perfect. Good execution. He was ready for that moment.”
On being able to come back: “We got this thing called Mortal Kombat right now, too. We’ve got to finish them at the end, that’s kind of like what we’ve been really big on.”
Salgado-Medina on his game-winning kick: “We go out there with a routine as specialists, and I follow my routine and trust the process, and I trust my routine that I’ve been having. So just follow it and execute it. It’s a great feeling, being able to execute on it and work so hard for a moment like that, and being able to do it and doing it on stage like this is an amazing feeling.”
On knowing the game might come down to him: “Us specs, we’re all ready for our name to be called. So any situation me, Drew (Nicolson), Carter (Schwartz), we’re always ready.”
On Ian French’s onside kick: “He’s been doing a great job on kickoffs and doing his job and doing his part. He executed well.”
