Arizona Wildcats Head Coach Proclaims Team Still Finding Identity
The Arizona Wildcats got off to a fast start in the 2024 season in the first year of the Brent Brennan era, but that start was brought to an equally quick and dramatic halt when they went up against their new Big 12 foe in Kansas State.
Though it won't count in the conference standings due to the game being agreed to be played before re-alignment occurred, it was still a taste for Arizona of what they have just walked into against a premiere Big 12 opponent on the road. After the Wildcats rushed for 205 yards in week one and 188 in week two, that number severely dipped to just 56 yards this past week.
After allowing less than 100 rushing yards against Northern Arizona following a 211 yard gashing against New Mexico, Arizona reverted back and allowed a staggering 235 rushing yards against their fellow Big 12 Wildcats.
Noah Fifita has yet to even come close to his 400 passing yard performance in week one and Tetairoa McMillan has not found the end zone after four touchdowns in that same game against the Lobos.
It's numbers like these that are so wildly different from week to week that makes fans wonder whether the Wildcats have an identity crisis on their hands. In the offseason, Brennan said he wasn't sure yet what the identity of this football team was going to be. Now in the bye week at 2-1 with an opportunity to fix some of their issues before conference play begins next week at Utah, Brennan said the team is still working on it.
"We're still finding it," he said of the team's identity nearly a month into the season. "We've had moments of really good football in all three phases and then we've had moments of not great football. I think the consistency is really what we're trying to achieve. That's up to me and the rest of the coaching staff to take advantage of the time we have this week and next week to not only prepare for a very good team on the road, but to also get our own stuff tightened up."
Consistency must be the name of the game in what Brennan preaches this week as Arizona prepares to go up against a gold standard of consistency in the sport in Kyle Whittingham and the Utah Utes. Last season, the Wildcats were able to handle the Utes relatively easily with a 42-18 victory in Tucson for the first victory over Utah in the previous five matchups.
Arizona has not won in Salt Lake City since 2014, and doing just that would certainly go a long way towards establishing an identity in this new era of Wildcat football.
MICHAEL BRAUNER