The University of Arizona football team (3-0) clawed their way to victory over Kansas State University 23-17 on Friday, Sept. 12, at 6 p.m. at Arizona Stadium. While Arizona passed one of its first real tests of the season, there are many areas the Wildcats need to focus on in the upcoming bye week before going on the road and facing No. 14 Iowa State University.
Redline
Arizona football head coach Brent Brennan’s motto ever since taking over in January of 2024, has been ‘Redline.’ A way to measure success by effort, execution and accountability.
Arizona had a rough start to the second half after going up 17-3. KSU scored 14 unanswered points, tying the game early in the third quarter, but Brennan’s squad responded when it mattered most.
“We responded in all three phases there and that is what good teams do, is when something goes wrong you respond. And that’s redline […]. You saw it in the effort, you saw it in the execution and you saw it in the accountability.” Brennan said.
Pound the rock
Arizona dominated the ground game, walking all over KSU with a season-high 234 rushing yards. Senior running back Ismail Mahdi was responsible for 189 of those yards. Redshirt junior quarterback Noah Fifita scrambled for 48 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The battle of the trenches
Mahdi’s performance was in part due to the great work the offensive line put up against a struggling KSU defensive line. Arizona’s defensive front had nine tackles for loss and held KSU quarterback Avery Johnson to seven rushing attempts for -16 yards.
“I told the team, this game’s going to be won upfront […]. I saw that group continue to answer and answer, every time on both sides of the ball,” Brennan said.
Third quarter adversity
Arizona had a cruising 17-3 lead going into the second half. On the first play of the quarter, KSU scored a 75-yard touchdown off a misdirection play to cut the deficit to seven. The KSU defense forced a quick three-and-out and tied the game on the ensuing drive in under 3 minutes.
Brennan and the Arizona offense tried a trick play of its own following the scoring drought, but it ultimately backfired when Javin Whatley, redshirt senior wide receiver, threw the first interception of the season.
“Respond with ‘Redline’ […]. Keep the message clean, keep the main thing the main thing […]. Something bad happened. What can we do? How do we respond?” Brennan said.
Lockdown defense
Through the first half, KSU’s struggling offense put up 44 total yards, 29 of them being on the ground. Arizona’s defense held them to just four first downs and forced KSU to turn the ball over on downs, going 3-for-17 on third and fourth downplays.“I like the confidence our defense is playing with […]. They’re all doing their job and when they do their job with redline, you’re seeing fantastic results,” Brennan said.
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