Wildcats ‘pissed off’ by shortcomings to finish games, focused on fundamentals out of bye week

After back-to-back losses in the final possession, the Arizona Wildcats are using their frustration as fuel to right the ship and focus on fundamentals.

BY ERIC MATSUMOTO

Oct 28, 2025, 8:16 AM Updated: 11:41 am

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In Week 7, the Arizona Wildcats led the BYU Cougars by 10 points in the fourth quarter. They lost in double overtime.

The next week, the team scored 14 points in the fourth to tie a game against Houston at 28. They lost on a walk-off field goal.

Those losses took their toll on the Wildcats. But as the team’s bye week turns to preparation for their Week 10 matchup with the Colorado Buffaloes, head coach Brent Brennan sees his players using that anger as fuel.

“They’re pissed off about Houston,” Brennan said. “They’re upset about not finishing against BYU. To me, the fact that they’re more passionate or that they’re angrier or attacking the opportunity to improve, I’m all for it. Let’s go.”

During the bye week, Arizona focused on doing the little things right, as both losses had moments where the team was hurt by poor fundamentals.

Notably, three Wildcats were unable to tackle Cougars receiver Amare Thomas on his 52-yard touchdown in the first quarter of Week 8.

“There was, for us as a coaching staff and as a team, a big return to fundamentals,” Brennan said. “So, blocking, tackling, a lot of work in those spaces because we felt like there were a lot of opportunities missed, especially in the Houston game.”

In Week 10, the Wildcats will be going up against a Colorado team coming off its worst loss of the season, falling 53-7 at Utah last Saturday.

The Buffaloes are 3-5 this season but have had one of the more difficult schedules in the Big 12. None of their five conference opponents so far this season came into the game with more than two losses.

The game will take place in Colorado, and the Buffaloes are 3-2 at home. Their two losses have come in one-score affairs against the current No. 8 and No. 10 teams, Georgia Tech and BYU.

“They lost to two top 10 teams at home,” Brennan said. “Otherwise, they’ve gotten after everybody at home, including a very good Iowa State team. So it doesn’t matter what happened this weekend. What matters is what happens next weekend.”

Arizona (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) will kick off against Colorado (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) on Saturday at 4 p.m. MST on FS1.