What Brent Brennan said at his press conference to open Texas Tech week

One of the most anticipated games of the season is on tap, with Arizona headed to Texas Tech on Saturday morning for a Top 25 showdown that will go a long way toward determining who plays in the Big 12 title game. The Wildcats began preparation for this showdown on Sunday, not long after finishing up their celebration of blowing out Iowa State on Homecoming and reaching bowl eligibility.

A celebration that included UA coach Brent Brennan popping in to Dirtbag’s, the iconic college bar on the north side of campus.

“I’m surprised that came up, really,” Brennan joked Monday. “Shocked.”

Brennan, who last week bought 1,000 tickets for the Homecoming game and distributed them to various Tucson-area youth groups, said engaging with the community has always been important to him.

“It’s been a thing for me the whole time I’ve been a head coach,” he said. “I think it’s important that, if you want people to show up for you, you got to show up for them. And it was just an easy way for me to pop in there with all of our alumni in town and everybody for Homecoming and the excitement of the game to just go in there and say hello and get out. I was there for five minutes, and it was an expensive five minutes, but it was a good five minutes. I was just trying to invest in our fans and just let them know how much we appreciate them as a football team.”

Here’s what else Brennan said at his Monday presser to open Texas Tech week:

On facing preseason favorite Texas Tech: “I think this is going to be a huge line of scrimmage game for us on both sides of the ball, and their defense is really impressive. They play incredibly hard. They have playmakers at every position. It’s one of those things when you look at it, you know that you have to play consistent football. You have to find ways to stay ahead of the chains … because both those guys inside are so effective. You have to do a good job of not putting yourself in big down and distance, that kind of stuff. The front seven for them is really really impressive. Physical, they play incredibly hard. They do a great job.”

On Tech’s ability to intercept passes: “That’s one of those things where you hope that the experience of Noah Fifita and the battles that he’s been over time, that those reps help him make great decisions with the football. We played against lots of really good defenses, and I do think this—besides BYU—I think this is the best defense we played all year. Knowing that, can we find a way to effectively run the football? And then also does that open up opportunities for Noah to distribute the ball to more people across the field? When he’s doing that, then I believe we’re really doing a nice job of you know being effective in moving the football.”

On if Tech coming off a loss changes anything: “No. We’re going to get their best shot. It’s going to be an incredible environment. It’s going to be a hell of a football game.”

On Seth Doege returning to Texas Tech: “He had a great career there. He grew up in West Texas, always kind of hoping to play there, and so it was kind of a dream come true for him to play there. So there’s a ton of respect for that program from Doege, from all of us. It’s fun to hear those stories of Coach Leach and just kind of that experience. Coach Doege, I don’t know if he’ll do it for you, but he does a pretty good Mike Leach impersonation. So every now and then he’ll throw that around in the offensive staff room.”

On if the return could be a distraction for Doege: “I look at that the same way I look at it for players that have transferred from one place and now you’re playing their old team. You can’t let it be about you. It has to be about this team. It has to be about us, and that’s hard to do because you’re so emotionally connected to the place, whether you played there, coached there, have history there, whatever it is. Obviously, Seth is mature and he’s a professional, and so I expect him to be really excited to play and really ready to play, or to coach, our team to play.”

On if Doege’s familiarity with the stadium gives Arizona an edge over other visitors: “I don’t know how you measure that. I think the thing that gives us a chance to play good football on Saturday is how we attack the week, and so that’s the simplest way I can say it. The fact that Seth has been there and he has history there and he knows about it, I think he can speak with some knowledge about what the environment’s going to be like. But he also played there 15 years ago, the environment’s changed quite a bit.

On Noah Fifita’s lack of national attention: “I think the national narrative around Noah is slow and late to the game. I think just his consistent level of play has been outstanding, and it speaks to who he is. It speaks to how he prepares. It speaks to the trust we have in him and his relationship with Coach Doege and what we’re doing schematically, but he’s obviously incredibly special, and for him to not being talked about as one of the absolute best quarterbacks, best players in the country right now, I don’t understand that. I don’t understand that, because he played really well a year ago. So there’s there’s definitely momentum coming into this season for him. Then he again makes the unselfish choice and chooses to stay and chooses the U of A and chooses his teammates and his coaches and the city of Tucson. I keep saying he’s the best story in college football, and then he goes out and throws for 300 and completes 79 percent of his passes. He’s special, and it and it should be broadcast on every station in the world about how awesome he is.”

On Michael Salgado-Medina being better from 50-plus than 30 to 39 yards: “I got a lot of belief in Michael, that’s why I keep putting him out there. And he’s frustrated with the kick he missed on Saturday. But that is a that is a unique statistic, maybe we should take a couple delay of games and get it back to 50.”

On center Zach Henning performing without fanfare: “We notice Zach. Our staff notices him and appreciates him and respects him on a super high level. He’s been a great addition to this team. He’s a leader. He has confidence. He’s tough. He’s got a high care factor. He’s playing really good football. He has a great relationship with Noah.”

On Henry Gabalis’ strong debut: “Did you see the response from the sideline when Henry made that that (touchdown catch)? I think that just speaks to how everybody on the team feels about him. When we were recruiting him, we loved his physicality, we loved his athleticism. He’s a true freshman, and so he’s been on that grind of like consistently attacking his process. It was great to see Henry get in there and play a meaningful role and make that big play there at the end of the game.”

On recruiting in Texas: “I think it obviously changed with us becoming part of this conference, I think it makes it a little bit easier. It is proximity-wise good, but then we also have multiple teams in this conference that are based in the state of Texas, and there’s also high level high school football there. So there’s a lot of good players there, and so I think anywhere where there’s a high population of high-level talent, everyone’s going to go in there and improve. It’s just helpful that there’s direct flights from Dallas and Houston, and that part it makes it more accessible for us and an important place for us.”

On how much a specific win impacts recruiting: “I can’t speak to that. I guess I’ve never had a player say, ‘oh, because you guys beat Cal Poly, and now I’m coming to Arizona or whatever.’ I’ve never, I haven’t had that. I haven’t had that experience yet.”