TUCSON — Brent Brennan opened his press conference by congratulating Wes Johnson and the Arizona triathlon team on a third straight national championship — and then he got to the week in front of his own program. The Arizona Wildcats (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) host the No. 2 Utah Utes (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) at Casino Del Sol Stadium on Saturday night, FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff is broadcasting live from the UA Mall that morning, and the kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. MST. Arizona has not sold the stadium out this year, and Brennan, talking about what this game is the moment for, said:
“We haven’t gotten it done this year, but this is the game for that.”
The numbers say how much room there is to fill: the biggest crowd at Casino Del Sol Stadium this season was 45,477 for Iowa State on Oct. 24, the stadium holds 50,800, and Friday night’s game against TCU drew 40,501.
Utah is the model Brennan measures against — the consistency, the Rose Bowls, a conference title, the move from the Mountain West into the Power Four done right — and he said so plainly, talking about a program whose culture and toughness are worth modeling Arizona after:
“There’s lots of things about that program that are fantastic. There’s been a consistency there — they’ve played in the Rose Bowl, they’ve won the conference. They’ve done a great job since moving from the Mountain West into the Power Four, and so I got a ton of respect for what they do there. Coach Scalley’s doing a great job, they’re very well coached. Three guys that I worked with over the course of my career coached on that staff there — I love those guys, I believe in them. I’m happy for them, and I’m excited for this big-time matchup on Saturday night.”
That respect is exactly why he’s asking Tucson to show up the way it hasn’t yet. A crowd changes a game — Brennan has coached in enough buildings to know it, including nights where a home crowd got into BYU’s game — and he wants the Zona Zoo, the fans, the alumni and the whole city making Casino Del Sol Stadium that kind of problem for Utah. On what a sellout Saturday night would show the country, Brennan said:
“Let’s show everybody how freaking dope the city of Tucson is. Let’s show them what this institution, the University of Arizona, is all about, by going absolutely nuts in that stadium on Saturday night.”
The Wildcats bring their own momentum into it, off Friday night’s 29-28 win over TCU at home — a game that ended on their kicker’s foot. Brennan, talking about the faith the whole program has in Michael, said:
“It was awesome to see him get out there and pipe that kick, and there was never a doubt for any of us.”
Brennan walked through how the finish was managed: the moment Arizona recovered the onside kick, the Wildcats considered themselves already in field goal range, so the plan was to burn as much clock as they could and make TCU use its timeouts, and give Michael the chance to win it. On what that kick says about his kicker going forward, Brennan said:
“That’s who he is, and that’s what he’s going to continue to be for us.”
The line in front of Michael is part of the story too. TCU attacked one spot, and there were stretches where Brennan’s quarterback was under fire — and still, against the best defense in the conference, Arizona ran for more than 130 yards, threw for 300 and scored 29 points. Brennan, talking about where his offensive line is heading since the Texas Tech game, said:
“Coming from Texas Tech into that game last week versus TCU, I thought our line made great strides — everybody being on the same page a little bit better, finishing a little bit better, being a little bit more technically exact in their work. I’m encouraged by that.”
A team that just won a game on its kicker’s last swing, behind a line trending the right way, now gets the biggest home stage of its season — the program its coach holds up as the model, the national pregame show on campus, and a night kickoff in front of the sellout crowd he’s asking Tucson to deliver.
Kickoff is 5:30 p.m. MST Saturday on FOX; in Phoenix, the game is on KFNX 1100 AM.
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