What Brent Brennan, Isaiah Mizell and Cam Chapa said after Arizona’s win at West Virginia
· Yahoo Sports
The RichRod Bowl went in favor of Rich Rodriguez’s former team as Arizona routed West Virginia 52-31. The Wildcats move to 5-1 (2-1 Big 12) going into their bye week and an eventual matchup against Iowa State.
Our recap of the game can be found here, as can our game grades. Here is what head coach Brent Brennan, wide receiver Isaiah Mizell, and safety Cam Chapa had to say following the win over the Mountaineers:
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Brennan on the win: “Just an awesome day for our football team. To travel out here and wake them up really early, Arizona time, and get them ready to go. I thought all week our coaching staff did a fantastic job in how we attacked our process. And our players followed that lead, and that’s been something that we know that’s where we operate the best is when we are focused on just right now, this day, this rep, this moment. I thought our team really bought into that and really subscribed to that, and that gave us a chance to play good football today.”
On Arizona making big plays on both sides of the ball: “I got a lot of respect for West Virginia, that coaching staff, that team. Those guys fought their tails off against us all afternoon, or all morning, whatever it was. That quarterback is a total stud, which we knew coming in, and he gave us problems all day. I thought when we had to, our defense answered. When you look at it, five fourth down stops and two forced turnovers is just an awesome example of winning the turnover battle. When we needed a big play on offense, we found a way to make it, and we found a way to run the football. That battle of physicality, controlling a line of scrimmage.”
On looking ahead to the bye week: “There’s stuff to work on. We know that, but the awesome thing is that we got on a plane and came out here and won a game in a stadium that’s really hard to win, and now we get to go home and enjoy this for 24 hours, and then we get to focus on what’s next. What’s next is getting healthy and getting right during this bye week, looking at ourselves, seeing what we do, seeing how we can improve over the next two weeks, and also hopefully get our bodies fresh because you know we’re two months into the season and everyone is beat to hell. So I’m really, really proud of our team.”
On wide receivers coach Bobby Wade preparing the receiving core: “I just got to say something about Bobby Wade. What a great job he did getting those wideouts ready to go, and all of them made plays and all of them performed and did a bunch of really good stuff. Holy smokes, Isaiah Mizell! I’m so proud of him. I’m so happy for him. He’s different, and that difference showed up today in a super impactful way.”
On fan support for the Homecoming game against Iowa State: “Now as we get to celebrate this and get on the plane, all I’m thinking about is let’s pack Casino del Sol Stadium in two weeks. This team has been playing their tails off. These players love the University of Arizona. They keep choosing the University of Arizona, keep choosing the city of Tucson, and it’s time for the city of Tucson to choose them. Let’s pack that thing. Let’s make that arena impossible for Iowa State to play in.”
On Isaiah Mizell’s performance: “I think it’s great. I felt like that change, in Isaiah, he made a choice last January, right? Like he’s always been talented, but he was young. You and I have talked about young players before, but he’s always been young. The way he attacked the last nine months, 10 months has really been different. Like that’s my ongoing joke with him. You know that two chain song, ‘I’m Different.’ That’s what I call him, different, because what he has been over that time is different than what he was before. He just made a conscious choice that, he knows that Chris Hunter’s a good player, and Spivey’s a good player, and Gio’s a good player, but he was going to be ready for his opportunity. He was going to attack his process of development, his own personal process, and then when he finally got a chance to do it. Goddamn, right? Like wow, and like no answer for him, right? It was really really special because it wasn’t just the big plays that he made; it was also at least I think three pass interference calls against him, those are explosive plays in my book because those are 15 yarders. So just really really happy for him and just an incredible amount of like respect for Bobby Wade and what he’s done.”
On the receivers as a whole: “Oh, they attacked it, I don’t know the exact specifics of each moment there, and I’m sure there’s going to be some stuff that we can learn from. That’s part of being a freshman, right? That’s part of being young. The toughest lessons to learn are the ones that you learn in a game. Those are lessons of experience. The good news is it happened to them, and they’ll get better from them. There was also some incredible moments from all three of those players, or those other two freshmen, and then obviously Isaiah this year. Those guys were all young guys, so I’m excited about Jet. I’m excited about RJ, and like here we go man. Now we got a couple weeks to get healthy. So like watch out.”
On the defense in the redzone: “I think that just speaks to the character of our defense and this team. It’s just like how you defend your goal line, right? Like the incredible strip by Jay’Vion Cole down there. It was just such a huge play. I thought the D line, like totally, just kind of dug out the offensive line of West Virginia and kind of just reestablished a new, and then Boog was able to come in there and rip that thing, and just what a huge play at that moment in the game. It really feels like a lot of that was capitalizing on opportunities when they presented themselves, and West Virginia didn’t always do that.”
On Arizona being opportunistic: “Well, I would say the truth is, you’re always trying to do that. You’re always trying to capitalize on the opportunities that are presented to you in a football game. I think the fact that we have no defeated quarterback offensively gives us a chance to do that because he is so efficient and he is unflappable back there. I think that gives us a chance, and then what we do defensively is a little bit different. I think that gives us a chance to be opportunistic in how we play and how we attack each opposing offense. So, you’re always trying to capitalize on those moments in the game. I thought we did a really good job of that. The biggest one to me, or one of the biggest ones, was they brought a zero pressure in the third quarter, maybe fourth quarter, and we hit Isaiah on a slant and he split and he was gone. I think that’s one of those opportunities where all those things need to work. They’re bringing more people than you can block. Your quarterback has to find a throwing lane. You got to block some of them. You got to find a throwing lane to get the ball through, and then Isaiah has to catch it and finish it. So I just thought, like the execution piece of it, like that’s Redline.”
On the offensive line and if West Virginia was timing the snap cadence: “I think a couple times it did. Sure. This is what I’ve learned being in this conference for a couple years. Every game is hard. Every team you play is good. Road games are twice as hard. So, for us to find the run game that we found in that game, and to finish the way we finished, that was something for us as a program to be really excited about, and that’s progress.”
On scouting West Virginia’s secondary during the week: “I think we thought that they would have a hard time with the speed of Isaiah and Jet, but the truth is, lots of people have a problem with the speed of Isaiah and Jet. So that’s why you recruit guys that can run. The challenging thing coming into it is that they have been so multiple, and so can we find some run game and try and settle things down, and then also take advantage of pressure situations where you have to beat man coverage. You like that’s just what it is. They’re bringing one more than you can block, and so you have to win at the receiver position outside, and I thought Bobby had him really prepared. I thought Seth called a great game, and we played complementary football when we needed to in that game, and that’s how we got the dub.”
On the program’s best start since 2014: “I feel great, but I feel great because of what happened today. I’m not worried about what happened in the last month. I’m excited about what happened today with this football team. This was a big time win for us on the road, huge crowd, tough travel like all that stuff. Like road wins are incredible in conference, and so we know that this conference is one of those deals where every road game is a battle, and I thought our players just kept answering it, and found a way to shut it down at the end and get it done. So I’m just excited for today and proud of our team.”
Mizell on the receivers stepping up: “I feel like we stepped up. Obviously, we’re playing the quote-unquote worst defense in the country, or something like that. I feel like we’re on assignment. Not many MAs. When we had the ball in our hands, we did the most we could with it, the opportunity.”
On his performance: “My motivation was Gio, Chris, and Tre. Obviously, they weren’t here. They all sent me text messages last night saying how much they believed in me, and it just gave me a boost today.”
On how the injured receivers helped out with preparation: “You pick up little things from everybody, but those are probably the three people in the receiving room I’m tightest with, those my brothers and just BearDown Brotherhood.”
On Brandon Phelps’ performance: “Phelps stepped up too. Phelps was a big time receiver for us. I feel like a lot of people downplay him because of the other three receivers in the room, but Phelps is just as good as them.”
On the young receivers in the room: “Talking about the two freshmen we have, R.J. and Caleb. Obviously, y’all seen more of Caleb than R.J., but R.J. is probably the biggest body receiver in our room besides Tre, and his ability to go up and get it is like no other I’ve ever seen. Obviously, Caleb, the Jet, he beat you downfield real easy, but I feel like there’s no set one in our group. Everybody given an opportunity, everybody will shine.”
On responding to West Virginia keeping it close: “Just never getting comfortable. Always got to finish the game. Game ain’t over till it zeros and you hear the whistle. So every after every touchdown we made, regardless of what the defense was doing, obviously defense was stepping up for us. I feel like there was no like getting satiated or just wanting to stay still. I guess you could say, but it was always go out there and finish the game.”
On going into the bye week: “Yeah, just attack the bye week. Get our bodies right. Be smart over the bye week. Really, just celebrate this for the next 24 hours. Then after that, bye week, and then just get ready to play again.”
On the rushing attack coming on late in games: “We got a three-headed monster. I don’t know how to say it. You got Antwan, obviously breaking tackles, making big plays. Same thing with Ked. Same thing with Quincy. I feel like out of three of the backs, can’t no defensive front in the country stop us, especially when the passing game opens up for them and gets the running game going hand in hand. It’s unstoppable.”
Chapa on the defensive performance “I think we played really well. We played a great offense. Credit to them, but really little mistakes here and there. Our motto is just flying to the ball with violence, bad intention. So I think we did pretty good with that.”
On keys to stopping the run: “Really, just stop three and four. Fly to the ball with bad intention the whole time. I started up front with the d-line, so really just followed them.”
On defending third down plays: “Just trusting our defensive staff. Coach G has a great scheme game plan. Just trusting him and just knowing that we could get a stop and trusting in our training throughout fall camp and all these weeks, all the preparation.”
On Jay’Vion Cole’s forced fumble: “It was a big momentum killer. I feel like, just flying to the football with bad intentions, getting the ball whenever it’s on the ground. So I think it really helped us.”
On Lee Molette III’s scoop and score:“I was making fun of him. He looked slow, but it was good. Good to see him scoring.”
On being able to perform on the road: “Really, just coming together as a group, just being the one, not worrying about the crowd or anything else. Really, just trusting my training and just being together on the road is the biggest thing.”
On capitalizing on opportunities presented in-game: “I think it’s really big. Once again, just trusting in our training and the coaching staff. It definitely switches the momentum in the game, so it helped us out today.”
On responding to West Virginia keeping it close: “Really, just fighting till the end. We always preach about playing to the last whistle in the fourth quarter.”
On getting settled into the starting role: “Really, just doing it for my brothers, relying on my training, doing for the offensive guys, the guys to the left of me and the right of me. Really, just doing it for them.”
On going into the bye week: “Obviously, we’re playing with an upward trajectory, but like I said, don’t get comfortable. Obviously, we want to attack this bye week. Get a couple guys that are banged up, rest up, and are ready for Iowa State.”