Arizona Football Notebook: Wildcats Blocking Outside Noise, Focusing On One Opponent At A Time

Arizona is about to start the second half of its season with a home matchup with Iowa State. The Wildcats are looking for revenge after a 39-14 blowout loss to the Cyclones last season in Ames.

Brent Brennan’s squad is also looking for a bowl eligibility clinching win on Saturday which would be the first time Arizona is bowl eligible in consecutive seasons since 2014-15. Of course, the team has bigger aspirations in mind.

Sights on a spot in the Big 12 Championship and a possible spot in the College Football Playoffs are realistic goals as of right now. However, the Wildcats have had a mindset all season of one week and one opponent at a time.

For any and all goals to become a reality, it starts with dialing in on Iowa State. All the outside noise, all the future aspirations need to be put aside until at least Saturday night.

No outside noise

After the win over West Virginia, the country took notice of how impressive the second half performance was by the Wildcats. It’s part of the trend of more and more people taking note of how good Arizona is.

For Seth Doege, it is all just outside noise. He needs his team to tune out all the praise and compliments and focus on what has been going into the execution of the game plans.

“We appreciate the positive comments, but we got on to the next one,” said Doege. “We’re doing our job, and that second half we were executing at a high level. That’s kind of expected from our side of football. We want to keep getting better, and that was for the West Virginia week. That doesn’t mean anything about this week.”

It’s not just the offense that has to keep the outside noise out of their minds. Danny Gonzales’ defense was on the opposite side of the praise as the Wildcats did not have its best day defensively at West Virginia.

Even with the bye week, Gonzales’ defense did not have time to dwell or think about what happened in Morgantown. It also does not have time to think about how many meaningful games are on the horizon, because the only meaningful game in their minds is Iowa State.

“I think our process is win today, win Wednesday tomorrow to give us a chance to beat Iowa State Saturday and not worry about whoever it is we have after Iowa State,” said Gonzales.

What lies ahead for Arizona is four out of six games being played in Tucson. One would think that playing at home for a majority of the final stretch of the season is a big deal. That’s not the case for “Team 123.”

Home sweet home?

It’s not that there’s no appreciation for playing at Casino Del Sol Stadium from the Wildcats. It’s more so a mindset of they don’t care who they play, where they play, what time they play, or what conditions they play in. 

All the players and coaches want to do is win and whether that’s in their home stadium or someone else’s stadium is not what is important. It’s about what happens in between the lines and Arizona finishing with more points on the scoreboard than its opponent.

It’s hard to think about the other three home games and even the two away games when all the attention is on the Cyclones’ visit to Tucson. Taking care of business one Saturday at a time is the most important thing for Doege.

“I mean, I guess great for us,” said Doege. “I think my mindset is on a process right now, and it’s beat Iowa State. So it’s kind of hard for me to even jump ahead and answer that question.”

Playing a home game in the Big 12 has become a big deal. Arizona is one of eight Big 12 teams that have not lost a home game this season. For the superstitious people out there, since the name change from “Arizona Stadium” to “Casino Del Sol Stadium” last season, Arizona has a 4-0 record.

“I think the Big 12 was 33-6 at home on the season,” said Gonzales. “If you’re on the fence, jump the fence and get your tail over here, and bring a friend with you and bring your kids. We’re on the verge of having an opportunity to continue to build something because of what Coach Brennan’s done with this program. So let’s double down on that with the city of Tucson and get your tail to Casino del Sol Stadium on Saturday.”

Fifth year running back Quincy Craig acknowledged how important the crowd is for home games and knows that he only has limited days as a player inside Casino Del Sol Stadium. While winning at home is always a goal, what he wants to give to the fan base goes beyond home wins.

He hopes that being able to focus on the day-to-day operations will lead to being able to give the fans what no Arizona fan has seen before. A possible Big 12 title and perhaps a spot in the College Football Playoffs. 

“It’s always good to have the crowd behind us and have our home field advantage,” said Craig. “I mean, we’re taking one game at a time. Trying to be consistent with that.”