Arizona football coach Brent Brennan had a lot of good to sort through after a 40-6 win versus Hawaii on Saturday to start the 2025 college football campaign.
His defense had five takeaways, running backs gained 185 yards and new kicker in the stead of Tyler Loop, Michael Salgado-Medina, was a perfect 6-for-6 (including a 52-yard field goal) and punted a ball inside the Warriors’ 20.
Coming out on a positive foot after a flat 4-8 record in Year 1 was encouraging for Brennan, but the point differential wasn’t the indicator of the Wildcats’ performance for the coach.
“The way I’m going to measure success is red line,” Brennan said postgame. “For us, that’s defined simply in effort, execution and accountability. On the effort side, I think we played really hard, I think that was visible. Sure, there were mistakes, but we played hard in all three phases. On the execution piece, I think we got a little work to do.”
Among that work includes cleaning up the penalites, as the Wildcats committed eight for 54 yards.
Without the clear WR1 presence of Tetairoa McMillan, who is preparing for his rookie season on the Carolina Panthers, Arizona is in the early stages of figuring out what receiver by committee really looks like. McMillan was physically present in Tucson, however not with pads on this time, as he was inducted into the Arizona football Ring of Honor.
Legacy cemented. ?
Congratulations to Tetairoa McMillan, Ring of Honor inductee! pic.twitter.com/ocSAxpfU9v
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) August 31, 2025
Eight different players registered at least one catch, led by redshirt freshman and Gilbert native Brandon Phelps’ two receptions for 50 yards. Transfer Javin Whatley had 38 yards on three catches and transfer Tre Spivey, whose dad is former Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Junior Spivey, had one burst for 27 yards.
“I think there’s room to grow. I think we can continue to develop there,” the coach said, acknowledging they were missing a few contributors such as redshirt senior Kris Hutson (undisclosed).
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Quarterback Noah Fifita didn’t turn the ball over in a passable outing of 13-of-23 passing for 161 yards and one touchdown. On eight attempted rushes (one of which he took for a 10-yard score in the third quarter), Fifita amassed a net -14 yards. For a signal caller who doesn’t hesitate to use his legs (66 carries in 2024), the negative output wasn’t completely unheard of, as he produced three such games like that last season.
Due to the successful running game — 32 total carries for those 185 yards — he didn’t have to force the issue through the air. Fifita threw at least 30 passes in all but two games in 2024.
Brennan said Fifita’s timing wasn’t necessarily off in their opener, but that the QB simply missed a few throws and that it will work itself out.
Arizona running backs, O-line moving effectively for Brennan
Hawaii, despite pulling off a 23-20 win in Week 0 against Stanford, was susceptible to the Cardinal rush (177 yards on 43 carries) and Arizona exploited that, particularly Quincy Craig with 125 yards and 17.9 per carry. Craig broke free in the second quarter for a 54-yard touchdown on the second play of drive to give Arizona a 14-3 lead.
“We knew that some of those runs, our back was going to be one-on-one with a linebacker or safety … and I thought there was good physicality there, too,” Brennan said. “I’m encouraged.
“I don’t think Quincy’s success surprised any of us. … You’ve seen him be really dynamic when running the football. He had an incredible week of practice. Really, really attacked the work, and it showed up on game day. I think that’s one of those examples where preparation meets opportunity, and he made the most of it.”
Craig said his offensive line, with new center Ka’ena Decambra at its middle, had been consistently “opening holes” in practice like the one he ran through for his big score. And the O-line performed for all three backs, each finding the end zone once.
“We all bring great versatility,” Craig said. “Being able to feed off each other, getting hype for each other. So, excited to see those boys get in there as well.”
Though Texas State transfer Ismail Mahdi didn’t get a big share of the carries — six for 23 yards — Brennan said the team will need him down line this season and he wants to preserve as much energy as possible, while possible.
The Wildcats open with five of their first six games at Arizona Stadium, with Big Sky’s Weber State and a struggling No. 17-ranked Kansas State, who squeaked past North Dakota 38-35 to move to 1-1, up next.
Brennan has been named as a coach on the hot seat going into 2025, but a 3-0 start certainly may help the cause and quiet the outside noise a bit.
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