⚡ CFB Dashboard

* There was an article in The Athletic that stated Arizona has one of the lowest payrolls in the Big 12 and college football as a whole. "I don't have a lot of time to read articles right now," Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. "My focus is on our football team and our consistent development and our process. That being said, I will say that our administration has been great about investing in our program. I think across the country you're seeing people make massive investments in college football. "It's the world that we're living in right now and I think for us to continue to build the championship football program that we want to build at the University of Arizona, we have to continue to be in alignment and invest at scale so that we can be competitive and play for conference championships and do the things that we want to do here at Arizona." * The Protect College Sports Act looks like it will be approved by the Senate before moving to the House and Brennan believes it's more positive than negative. "I think it's a step in the right direction although I would not say as a football coach I am all that politically inclined," he said. "I do think it is important that we have some sort of structure that re-levels the playing field of college football and I think that's important. I know parts of the act and what that means or what it could mean for college football. "I think those things are still in process and have a long way to go, but I know that as we try to build it here and as we continue to build it here, having some structure that makes it competitive across the board and levels the playing field is valuable for the game of college football. How we keep the game of college football at the highest level if interest, viewership, and excitement in America." * Northern Illinois is up next for the Wildcats and even though Arizona is heavily favored, Brennan does believe there is some skill there. "They're a really interesting group," he said. "Coach Harley will have this team ready to play. This team plays hard. Defensively, they are multiple and kind of an even front, but they will play a little bit of odd. They will bounce around and bring pressure. That part of it is something that is easy to see. "Offensively, they play two quarterbacks and their run game is really solid. Their running backs are good players and they have a big offensive line. In the kicking game, they are really aggressive. You know that they're coming off a disappointing game, but shoot, so are we. This is about us attacking this opportunity in front of us. This is about us doing what we have to do to get the outcome we want." * Noah's Fifita is 320 yards away from passing Nick Foles for the all-time Arizona passing record and Brennan is more focused on having it come naturally as opposed to forcing the issue. "I don't ever think of things in terms of that and I don't think Coach Doege does," Brennan said. "To the honest with you, I don't think Noah Fifita does either. Noah Fifita is always about what is best for the program and what's best for the program is for him to be our quarterback for every game of this entire football season. The decisions we have to make in game or with he game flow, whatever that is, we'll make those determinations as we go." * Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig were the only backs to get carries against BYU, which came as a bit of a surprise after Antwan Roberts played well against NAU in the season opener. "The biggest thing is those two other guys ran their butts off and those other guys ran with such physicality in that game," Brennan said. "Also, we were playing a little bit of a different front than NAU. That's not disrespecting them, we just know that BYU's front is a lot bigger and more physical than the NAU front. Antwan will get his opportunities. That position, they take so many hits and it's so physical that we're going to play a lot of guys. We're going to need all of them throughout the course of the year and all of them are going to make plays for us." * Ismail Mahdi is another back that did not get carries last week and while there is an expectation that will change against Northern Illinois, Brennan wants to make sure everything remains strong in the room. "It's more by feel how the game is playing out and also we believe in those guys that played last weekend," he said. "Ked and Quincy are really good football players, so that is going to evolve as we go. The hard part when you have a lot of good skill players is that there is only one football. "What you need from those guys is you need those guys to be unselfish and do the right thing for the greater good, which is the football team getting that win on Saturday whether that's pass protection, running a great route, blocking down field. I want our skill guys to want the ball in their hands. At the same time, those guys also have to be great team guys and willing to do the dirty work that gives you a chance to get the win on Saturday night." * Tre Spivey and Chris Hunter have not played well to start the season and wants to see both excel when given the opportunity. "I think you have to make the most out of the chances you get," Brennan said. "That's kind of the nature of playing receiver. That's a hard part of it. You know my background, I was a receiver coach for almost 20 years, and sometimes the ball finds that guy and sometimes it doesn't. "No matter who the ball finds, everybody has to be running routes full speed. They have to understand that the pattern and concept is intact when you do the right things and you do it with redline. If you don't, you collapse the coverage and that leads to all kinds of bad stuff and missed opportunities, which we can't afford."