Roughly a year ago at Big 12 Football Media Days, Arizona coach Brent Brennan fielded questions from reporters for around 17 minutes.
This year he was on the main stage for about seven and a half minutes.
It’s not that Brennan wouldn’t have had much to talk about or say. His roster has been completely made over, he’s entering his second season with the program, hired three new coordinators and is trying to rebound from a miserable 2024 in which he and his program won just four games.
Last year Arizona was picked to finish fifth by conference media, with a number of players earning preseason All-Big 12 honors.
This year? There was no media poll, but it’s safe to assume Arizona would have been closer to the bottom than the top—or even the middle—and the ‘Cats saw all of zero players get preseason All-Big 12 honors.
Suffice to say there is very little interest in Arizona, both from a national storyline perspective and that of the college football fan base at large. No longer is Arizona a darling upstart that survived a coaching change and kept much of its top talent, including Tetairoa McMillan. Instead, Tucson’s team is just another Big 12 school competing for relevance and a low-level bowl game.
Does this make for a more fun offseason? No, especially when you fire up College Football 26 and realize your new Arizona dynasty is going to need a bit more work in building than it did in 25.
But what it can make for is more even footing for the program, which a year ago was still in the aftermath of a mad scramble to try and put together a coaching staff while retaining a roster that did not sign up to play for it. None of us gave enough attention to the challenges that all would present, which included a lack of depth, and instead focused on the excitement over who stayed.
Last week Brennan talked about the challenges of last year, noting that it felt like they spent the first six months on the job “kissing everyone’s ass, asking them to stay.”
He noted it was a horrible foundation to build things on, and he’s absolutely right about that.
This is not an excuse for Brennan, but if you want to be optimistic you can look to that chaos and believe an offseason spent looking to move forward rather than simply tread water could lead to improvement.
“The second year, we just feel much more stable in it,” Brennan said. “I think because of that, a lot of the players have chosen to stay, our retention has been high, and then also kind of the acquisition of new talent’s been really positive. So we’re in a great spot. I love that.”
You’d expect Brennan to say something like that, because it’s not like he would take the stage talking about how he’s in over his head, the roster isn’t very good and it’s going to be another long season in the Old Pueblo.
Then again, that many believe all of that to be the case does indeed put Brennan and the program in a pretty good spot. No one is looking at this season as one that must see contention for the Big 12 title, but instead progress from last year is about all anyone is asking for.
Really, is a competent-looking offensive game plan too much to ask? How about what appears to be players taking the field with joy, confidence and purpose?
Checking most of these positive boxes would likely lead to at least a slight improvement, and a slight improvement is all that’s necessary for Arizona to get back into a bowl game.
And that would be enough to deem this season a success.
Of course, winning six or seven games does not a contender make, which is why even anyone who is bullish on Arizona’s chances of improvement are not dreaming of a trip to Arlington, Texas for the Big 12 Championship in December. Plenty could go right for the team this season and it’s entirely possible that many of the program’s additions, players who are leveling up from smaller schools, conferences or roles, excel in their new spot and along with returners carry the team far beyond any reasonable expectations.
At media days Brennan said he was optimistic about the upcoming season. QB Noah Fifita said there are goals and expectations not only for him, but for the team. Safety Dalton Johnson commented that while last year didn’t go well this is “a redemption season.”
Internally that is the right approach for coach and players. Externally, little attention is being paid to what’s happening in Tucson.
And that’s fine.
Because once the games start all Arizona can do is win. If the Cats get off to a good start and pull off an upset or two, people will start paying attention once again.