Arizona played about as ugly a game as it could possibly have, but still came out on top, beating NAU 22-10, which ties the longest winning streak in school history. The Wildcats’ nine consecutive wins are also the longest active streak in FBS, and that statistic doesn’t take into account the quality of the triumphs.

That’s kinda how Brent Brennan sounded after becoming the first UA coach to win his first two games since Rich Rodriguez and 2012.

“I’m really happy we’re 2-0 up,” Brennan said.

Our game recap can be found here, as well as the game top performers. Below is what else Brennan, cornerback, has to say Treydan Pieces and run back Quali Conley said after the victory:

Brennan on how the defense responded compared to the previous game: “I thought they responded really well, limited them to 10 points and shut them out in the second half. That really gave me courage.”

On the fact that only one side of the ball does well every week: “We need to bring it together, right? That’s what I would say.”

On the 2 of the team^nd half performance: “I was really happy with the response, especially after halftime when we were down 10-6. Good team football. I give credit to Northern Arizona, I thought their players did a great job and their coaches did a great job.”

In the attack line: “We had a couple guys that we had to bring in because a couple guys weren’t available. I think we’ll have to evaluate that on film and see what it looked like, and see if there’s anything we can do … to give ourselves a better chance. I thought they did some good things and made some plays and scored some runs and got some good pass protection. But I think the consistency wasn’t what we wanted.”

On Ryan Stewart starting at right tackle in place of Matthew Lado: “He just had a bit more experience and was a bit more stable. I think Lado is going to be a great player, he’s just still very young.”

Continued 0 for 10 on 3^rd down: “Oh my god, I didn’t know it was that bad. Obviously we’re going to have a hard time beating anyone with this.”

On the passing game and containing Tetairoa McMillan: “I think it’s a combination of both things. I think it’s a combination of our ability, or inability, to protect consistently. And then also giving Noah (Fifita) the opportunity to distribute the ball as much as he needed to. (NAU) pushed the coverage to him at times. They did a good job, they doubled him at times, they closed him in at times. Obviously we want to do everything we can to distribute the ball so people can’t just focus on him, but on the other hand, he’s our best playmaker, and we know he’s got a chance to make plays on the ball.”

On the question of whether Fifita didn’t seem well: “I’ll probably have to look at the film. It looked like the padding wasn’t clean enough, so I’ll just have to see what that was. Did he move too much? Did he have to make some moves before he could settle in and make some throws? And so we’ll look at that and get back to work. The kid’s a great player. I’m not worried about him at all, Noah.”

10 more penalties: “I was happy that the penalties tonight were a bit more football penalties and not the kind they were last night, with disciplinary penalties. But far too many penalties. We have to play the game the right way, otherwise it costs us a chance or a match.”

On Kedrick Rescano’s game-winning touchdown run: “I was so happy for him. It’s his first college touchdown, and that was just fantastic. I thought he did a really good job. He had some nice runs, he ran hard, and he gave us something in the second half, and he got going a little bit. It was awesome to see his big body turn the corner and run by everybody.”

About his message to the attack: “Offensively, I think the biggest thing we’ve emphasized to you guys is just do your job and really focus on the details of it, and not try to play outside of the box just because we didn’t get the first down, or we didn’t score every time we touched the ball. That part of it, that’s football. They have guys on scholarship too. Handle that the right way in the moment. Stop worrying about the score or stop worrying about the outcome and just worry about this game right here.”

Why Jacory Croskey-Merritt Didn’t Play: “There were concerns about his eligibility so we were just overly cautious about that, so we made that decision yesterday.”

About Quali Conley who again managed to get over 100 yards: “I have a lot of history with that young man, and he’s just a great person and a great player. It’s really exciting to see how confident Quali is playing.”

About his message during half time: “Just play. And I think that’s difficult for young people these days, they’re still focused on the result, and there’s a process to winning a football game, and that’s what we have to focus on. And that process is one game at a time. You don’t win a game in the first quarter, you don’t win a game in the second quarter. You have to finish people off and you have to shut them down. I think that was my biggest message at half-time. It was like half-time. That’s my dad’s favourite quote, he used it all the time: nothing is less important than the score at half-time.”

Excerpts from the defense’s response: “That was a great reaction. We’ve been stressing it all week, just do your job, be yourself. I thought we did a really good job. I’m really proud of the boys.”

Only on one side of the ball does it perform well every game: “That’s football. Sometimes one side of the ball does better than the other. When the defense struggles, the offense is there for us. I thought the defense did a great job today, we’re always there for them when they need us.”

About how the first two matches went: “Not bad, but there is enough room for improvement. You can see that we trust each other, we love each other. We play hard, but we have to clean up little things here and there.”

On being part of the team with the longest active FBS winning streak, after also being part of the team with the most 20 games lost: “I’m just so happy for, obviously, the guys that I came in with in 2020 and stayed, there’s only five or six of us left. And then it’s just a testament to everyone that has bought into the program over the years and just trusted the process, trusted the brotherhood. Believed in each other. We’ve had some new staff, that doesn’t matter. The guys in the locker room are high-level guys, high-quality people.”

On Genesis Smith and Owen Goss taking the second line: “I thought they both played really well. We’ve been preaching about flexibility in the position, no drop-offs when someone goes down. Owen stepped up when we needed him, Genesis stepped up the whole game. I’m really pleased we’ve got that depth at the back.”

Conley on what the team said to each other during halftime: “We just said, ‘Lean on me.’ Our brotherhood, we’re like family, we know each other and we support each other.”

On the attack: “Our line was doing great. I just felt like we weren’t aligning the drives well.”

About Reescano: “He’s just a physical downhill runner. He’s only a freshman, but he brings energy to our running back room.”

Continued 0 for 10 on 3^rd down: “I thought we didn’t play hard enough. It was the defense that took control of the game, I thought the offense could have done better.”