POSTGAME: Arizona SMOKES NAU Setting Up CRUCIAL Game vs BYU In Week 2

0:00$30 million in guaranteed prices. Cash in this football season in Las Vegas with three circus sports contests. Entry starting at $1,000, all with no rate. Circa Million, 18 weeks of points bread action. Circa Survivor, pick one winner each week, no points bread. And the big daddy, Circa Grandissimo, with a $100,000 entry fee. Enter in Nevada, play for anywhere. $30 million guaranteed, visit CircusPorts.com for details. Arizona and Noah Fafita are back. We are so back with our first win of the football season against NAU setting up a premier big 12 showdown in Provo against BYU. We preview that review this game and a whole lot more. It's Daisy Wildcat's post game, Potten, it starts right now. Welcome, welcome, welcome on into the AZ Wildcat's post game show coming to you.

1:03Love from Studio K presented by our friends over at Circle K. It is I, your host, Damon Farrell, AKA Damon Dogg, with my guy. Kevin Thomas, AKA the 2026 All City Network content creator of the year, AKA Kevaux Post, right here at pH NX HQ, three in downtown Phoenix and the Arizona Wildcats. Get the job done. It's that one to know, feeling Kevin as Arizona takes down NAU smokes, NAU 35 to seven. Noah Fafita is back. He looked incredible in the first half, second half. We'll talk about it as we get into the show today. Lots to talk about, not a perfect performance by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely good to see Arizona back in the W column and a big time matchup on the horizon as the thumbnail suggests against number 14 BYU in Provo that might be the biggest game of all of our lives.

2:06People are talking about it, but we're getting into all of that and to start things off, how are we feeling? Noah Fafita back on your television screen, Arizona, back getting W's. What's going through your mind right now? Honestly, this is just great to be back with all of our favorite Wildcat faithful in the chat. Welcome back to football season, Arizona fans. This was a fun game. I wish we had more second half fireworks, but I guess my over it does cash. So selfishly, I am okay with that, but welcoming everybody, I'm happy to be celebrating a win. You mentioned Noah Fafita. I think I'll probably end up saying this on every post game show this season, DRF, Arizona brass, build the Noah Fafita statue yesterday at this point. The man, it is so wonderful to watch him work. He was clinical, surgical today. We're going to get to more on him a little bit later, but yeah, it was just fun to watch Noah Fafita play football again. It was also fun to watch Danny Gonzalez's defense attack again, ring it into that side of the ball as well today, Damon.

3:07Happy to be here. Happy to be celebrating a win that one and a feeling we're undefeated. No one can tell me nothing. We're heading to BYU for a massive game next Saturday, which could tell us a lot of what we need to know about Arizona in our big 12 title hopes for this season. So yeah, it's a big game next week. I'm glad we got and handled business tonight. But yeah, what are your thoughts initially on this one, Damon? Yeah, definitely a big game next week. I think first and foremost, we talked about it on the pregame show. You don't want to see anyone get injured, right? You want to see the team get be healthy for the most part going into the next week. It's football. Some things are going to happen. But you don't want to see any Tyler Powell type of situations like last year, where it's like first play of someone's season. They go down. It's a non-contact type of injury, you know, and a tendon gets affected in some way, shape or form. And it affects the entirety of their year, even if it's not even a season ender, right? It still would take a lot to come back mid season, what not. I think it's great to see Arizona be primarily healthy through this one.

4:09I think that that's definitely got to be priority number one. But certainly not the cleanest performance from my point of view. I think that that's kind of where my mind goes to initially is that I wish I saw a little bit more efficiency from this offense in the second half. I thought the defense was okay. I know that they end up actually kind of pitching a shutout in a way because the pick six is the lone score for NAU in this one, a touchdown that the Arizona offense allowed. But that also included a missed field goal from pretty point blank range. And I just thought that they were maybe allowing NAU to stay on the football field just a little bit too long, converting too many third downs. We talked about that in the pregame show as well. Pendleton is an experienced quarterback with a lot of snaps under his belt. I think on those third down opportunities you have to find a way to get out the field. And there were times where it felt like NAU was just throwing the football up in the air, backyard football. And it was a guy diving for it, landing underneath it basically.

5:13And it being caught for a 20 plus yard gain, first down conversions, off of stuff that really are play breakdowns. And that's one of those things that I wish that Arizona defense did probably a little bit better as well. So just I do think that you could be a lot cleaner. It's game one, you expect some some rust and some things to work through some wrinkles. But you got to figure out quick, Kevin, because as we have already talked about in this one, you got a big time game coming up next week. And it could be your big 12 title hopes resting on the line this early in the season. So you better you better fix the stuff that went wrong in this game because honestly, I think if you play like that, you probably lose in pro vote of BYU next week. I 100% agree with you Damon for as much positives as we can take away from this game. And it's for as sweet as it is to have football back to see Quinn Olson, his first game as a scholarship player, get his first career interception. Dash Fafita debuts for Arizona.

6:13So many feel good stories today. Antoine Roberts takes his first touch for his first touchdown as well. But by that same coin, there's the bitter sweet. Those are the sweet. You flip it. Here's the bitter. It feels like as Alex Gutierrez and the chat says, things were happening with us. Alex QB1 to QB backups, drop off his scary, please protect Noah, but to the defensive side of things defense wise, too many third down and long conversions for these NAU lumberjacks. And just as Damon said, too many backyard football conversions, whether it's first, second, third, fourth, whatever down. I don't want to come off as super doom and gloom either because it is a, you know, you get the W on night one, you win by 28 points. It's not like this was a close game. It's not like there was ever really a time where you felt that NAU was truly in it or threatening to maybe make things interesting. It's simply just the idea that Arizona probably should have won by a lot more. Yeah. If you look at that third quarter, I think in particular where things stagnated a little bit,

7:16you didn't have a lot of control of the clock at times in that second half. And you just didn't put up the same amount of points as you did in the first half. I mean, that's, you know, a factual statement. I think that Arizona should be threatening to score more in the second half against NAU. I know that you were me and you were laughing, but I was like, what happened? Did NAU, did the coaching staff, or did they make just wild adjustments in the locker room and all of a sudden they're getting stops? But yeah, I would just like to see a little bit more fluidity from your offense against an opponent like NAU. Again, NAU is not a terrible FCS team. They're pretty solid. They'll probably be at the top or in and around the top of the big sky this year. They're not Morgan State. What I witnessed tonight from Morgan State in the ASU game, Kevin, was not, it looked like they were playing Southpoint tonight. It just simply was not good enough from Morgan State. NAU is better than that. And I want to give them a little bit of credit as well, but I just think that Arizona,

8:16you know, truthfully, should be winning by a little bit more. If they're, I asked for style points. To me, that was like, the first half was bordering on, okay, we're getting close to style points here. And then the lack of points in the third quarter and the Sawyer Anderson pick six. Those two things kind of in particular way the performance, just a little bit down for me. Again, I don't want to be super doom and gloom, but it just wasn't like, if I'm grading it, I'd give it like a C plus or like a B minus or something like that. Nothing, nothing like exceptionally bad, but just kind of, you know, I wish I, wish I got a little bit more from Arizona tonight. And I don't think that's an unfair sentiment to walk away from the game with Damon. I think like it's, it's tough because comparison is the thief of joy as they say, right? And I think instantly as an Arizona fan, I'm, I know you are. I know many people in the chat probably are. I know people in my Twitter replies right now are as, again, as sweet as this game might have been to have football back and all these things already listed and the good performances that were, which we will continue to get into in this show today. Like, I'm comparing this to how we need to play versus BYU.

9:20Yeah. To get a win on the road against a brutally tough conference opponent. And I want to bring up this chat from Zona alum in the chat that says, so team make teams make the biggest jump between weeks one and two, quote, Danny Gonzalez. And I think that that is 100% what we are looking at here. I will also bring up another one of our very intelligent chatter Southwest diplomacy here that says offense was okay. Defense needs third down improvements. Good to see the PATs going through without hassle. This is the part I really want to key in on next week will be the revelation. Yeah. And it feels like next week you have to show improvements in these areas. But I will say this much not to be the like the opposite the end to that yang of like, well, you know, I'm gonna be at Arizona Apologist here a little bit. But I will and say that like so many teams, honestly, respectfully to the guys in that locker room, far more talented than Arizona today started incredibly slow. I can bring up Oregon. We can talk about Michigan and that blunder that almost was, right? Like teams, I know they put their lives.

10:21And I know that NAU in Arizona is not necessarily like of that kind of level of some of these other matchups. But like, this is weak one. This is Arizona's first opportunity to play real live fire football out there. And I think that for them to, if we're being honest, if we're just gonna call a spade a spade, we all watch the game. If you're gonna shut out NAU, unless so you're Anderson has anything to say about it, I will take that, right? Zero points conceded by the defense. Seven handed to them by our backup quarterback. Sure the offense got slowed down a little bit in the second half. But we do know that this staff can continue to make improvements week over week. And I harken back to that quote about the defense because it feels like Danny Gonzalez has a lot to work with in this defense of group. We didn't see a lot of the issues that fans were scared we were gonna see at the end of that holiday bowl game last season, where people were kind of walking away like, if we don't totally revitalize this DB core, like this is gonna be a long next season without stux, without Genesis, without all these other guys.

11:25And I think we saw in this game that the defense, there's a lot to build with there. There's a lot to work with there despite some of the lackluster aspects in this game for certain. You know what I mean? Yeah, definitely. I don't think that you necessarily got fried. Like I said, and as you kind of emphasized, it was a lot of backyard football it felt like on the big plays for NAU. It wasn't as if it was, you know, coverage breakdowns necessarily like it was off of rolling out of the pocket and breaking off of routes. And there are times where there's not a lot you can do as a defensive back in those scenarios. If your past rush is not gonna finish a sack or, you know, make a TFL or something like that. So yeah, I mean, I definitely don't think that the defense was, that was like a complete performance tonight. Correct. I don't know if you disagree with this, Kevin. I wanted to like really say like after that first half, man, I think I'm going offence is clearly the stronger unit here above the defense.

12:25But I think after the second half performance, you have to say that the defense did a better job overall in the game, don't you think? I think so. I mean, the better overall performance, I think it has to go to the defense. Zero points allowed. I mean, there was no, like you said earlier to start the show, there were no points in this game where it felt like, oh, here comes NAU to ruin our night and make it a long one for no reason. It felt like as much as the defense might have bent on a third down here or a third down there, there was never any threat from NAU. And I think that is a big reason as to why I would say the defense was the more consistent group tonight for sure. I think you could say the offense maybe had the higher highs. Right. I think you could say maybe, I mean, that first half had me, had me feeling things. I mean, Damon was running around the office screaming like a madman. It's spiritual. It was spiritual in the first half. It was. When no of a fetus throw and touchdowns off his front foot, Brandon Phelps is toe-tapping into the end zone. Like that was, that was beautiful football. And unfortunately the second half just, I don't know, it was, it didn't have the same flair to it.

13:25It didn't have the same fireworks. Yeah. And that's where I kind of agree with Sergio here is like, zero points is not quite like an incomplete performance. But I do get what Damon is saying about how like, if you really look at what everybody contributed tonight, we have, we have people in the comments talking about third downs. We have, you know, we're, we're a bird of the coffee guy talking about, you know, bone coverages and things like that. It was not a perfect performance by that Danny Gonzalez defense. But that's why I say there's a lot to build on there. Yeah. Because you allowed zero points. And there was at no point, am I, and me and Damon closely watching the screen going, all right, this is a big down for NAU. If they get this first down there in the red zone and all the sudden, like there was never that. And so yeah, while it was not a perfect performance by the defense, it was as close as you can get to a performance because there were no points allowed. And I think that is something you build on going into BYU on the offensive side of things. The ball security, I think it was Zona alumnus said that. Yeah. Ball security has to be paramount, right? Like, we're going to talk about the geowitchets and fumble that I feel like maybe should not have been a geowitchets and fumble.

14:25If anything, it should have been a fumble and it should have been Arizona's ball. We'll get into that in a little bit. But I think that, and I was talking to people on Twitter about this, follow us at P.H.N.X. underscore Wildcats on Twitter for that kind of conversation. But people were saying like 30 million dollars in guaranteed prices. Casting this football season in Las Vegas with three circus sports contests. Entry starting at $1,000, all with no rate. Circa Million, 18 weeks of points, bread action. Circa Survivor, pick one winner each week, no points, bread. And the big daddy, Circa Grandissimo with a $100,000 entry fee. Entering Nevada, play from anywhere. 30 million guarantee, visit CircusPortes.com for details. This is a great kind of mistake to have against an NAU the week before you go play BYU with the real heavy hitters on that defense that are really going to be ballhawk and really going to be punching at that ball. Ball security all week, we're drilling it all week. We cannot make that kind of mistake against BYU and expect to come out on top.

15:26You have to play your tip top football to be a club like that. So I do feel like Arizona, there's a lot to teach here. There's a lot to learn from here. And you really did not have any moments in this game where it felt in doubt as much as we really wanted it to feel like fireworks, fireworks, fireworks all the time everywhere. It just did not happen. I also want to give a shout out though before we continue this great conversation to Alex Gutierrez in the chat who just became a member of this wonderful U.S. YouTube channel. My God, we appreciate you Alex. Thank you for joining the membership here drops some emojis that you now have access to check out the latest only content on our YouTube channel advantage of it for sure. Damon and our ASU host Anthony Toetry going back and forth in behind enemy lines. That's a lot of fun. I'm sure I can't wait for the ASU Super Bowl after they beat Morgan State, you know, 70 to whatever it ended up being. I mean, these guys are ridiculous. If you're a member though, you'll be have access to that content behind enemy lines. Me, Anthony Toetry will be giving you our updated opinions on everything that happened in the big 12 this week.

16:28But Kevin, I wanted to get back to that turnover conversation because that was something that, you know, probably was number one negative for me tonight. If I'm truly breaking it down to, in a vacuum to one specific thing that bothered me about tonight's performance, just not good enough on the, from the offense on the turnovers again, I know that we're going to get into the geo Richardson fumble a little bit later. But Arizona last season was second in the country and turnover margin in the entire country. That was only behind Indiana, who some of you may know won the national championship last season. Eight P voters. No, Oregon was two. But yeah, go ahead. Arizona, I think, you know, some people were lower on the cats going into this year because most notably they felt that that turnover margin was not sustainable. That you can't, you know, just expect the passing offense to hold onto the football as well as they did.

17:29Your primary Russia like your small moddy did last season, not fumble once. And your defensive backs to just get interception after interception after interception game after game, which they did all season last year. And I think the combination of those things led to that second best turnover margin in the country, a big part of the reason for last year's success was that sustainable is that repeatable. That was one of the big question marks going into this year. And after night one, your minus two in the turnover category and you only played against NAU. So I mean, I'd say that that question mark still very much hangs over this team's head like an umbrella right now because I don't think you did anything to silence those doubters that are touting the turnover margin being somewhat of a lucky thing as a reason for your success last season. Like again, you know, I said that if you play against BYU like this, you probably lose. That's more than likely why is because you would if you somehow only force one turnover but turn the ball over three times yourself, that's likely going to lead to a loss when you're playing on the road in pro against a good quarterback and a good running offense like BYU has.

18:44So the turnover margins tonight was disappointing. Definitely has to improve going into next week because I think that you're probably going to have to be even or positive in the turnover margin against BYU to win that game, especially because I think no if a Fida is a better quarterback than bearbock Meyer at the end of the day. Trust your quarterback, force some turnovers from the other teams quarterback and you know, trust your quarterback to hold on to the football. All things should work out, but a disappointing night from from the turnover standpoint tonight. Yeah, 100% and I do want to talk more about that after our first break on the AZ Wildcats post game pod man, it feels so good to say on the AZ Wildcats post game pod again, but we'll be right back with more breakdown and analysis from this game. And what things can we take away from this one and spin in to the BYU matchup. We'll be right back after this. It's not too late, Damon, to do your fantasy drafting. You got till September 7th in this case. And if you want to host the ultimate fantasy football draft party at Healer River Resorts and Casinos, kind of like how pH and X just did, how we just did at Wildcats pass in the upper deck bar and girl.

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21:12Only so much time to get that fantasy football draft underway from now until the start of the NFL season this next upcoming weekend. So get in on that this what is it? Labor Day weekend. Yeah, I get Labor Day Memorial Day confused a little bit Memorial days in May, right? Yeah, I do too. My girlfriend asked me what is Labor Day and I got I said the answer for Memorial Day and we had it was all thing. Well, let me tell you about a special event that's coming to Phoenix this fall when the sports season is in full swing footballs back but also NASCAR returns to the Valley as the chase returns to Phoenix October 16 through 18th watch NASCAR's championship contenders battle it out at the freeway insurance 500 and one of the most critical races of the road to the championship at this iconic track right at the footills of the Astrea Mountains. Phoenix Raceway is a beautiful place to go watch a sporting event go hang out the vibes are incredible. It's family friendly as well, but if you're looking for a little bit more of a good party vibe, they also have that out there at Phoenix Raceway guys. It's so much fun. We've done it before. We've done it in the past and we're always excited to do partnerships with Phoenix Raceway.

22:18You know, they're sending Derek out to the track. Yes, to drive the car Brent Brennan style. Yes, out there at Phoenix Raceway. I had to tell him on the show, you know, Arizona's head coach was driving the car on the track last year. This year, they got Derek Montia downgrade. I do say so myself, but of course you're going to have to go check out the race for yourself. It's going to be unbelievable out there. There's so many ticketing options go check out those ticketing options and secure your seats at Phoenix Raceway dot com that's Phoenix Phoenix Raceway dot com every lap counts every point matters. The chase at Phoenix Raceway October 16 through 18th October 16 through the 18th shout out to Phoenix Raceway shout out to the Arizona Wildcats, getting the job done shout out to all the Arizona Wildcats and maybe not. I'm sure you'll be able to get the job done on Arizona Wildcats and the chat that are definitely joining the conversation as well. Make sure to leave a comment leave a like on today's post game show. Make sure to join us for every pre and post game show here. Now the football season is kicked off and I know now you're actually locked back in on Arizona Wildcats sports.

23:22We do this year year round some of y'all just show up there in the season and that's okay. We appreciate you. Maybe you want to join us in the offseason next year. I don't know. But, Damon, we're talking about the turnover conversation here and it kind of made me think, why not just go through the numbers here tonight and our buy the numbers for this one Arizona. Defeating NAU 35 to seven out dueling them in passing yards by 114 the rushing yards. I mean, honestly, we can talk more about that here in a second because it was one of my keys to the game. They do dominate both sides of the rushing yards here minus seven for NAU 206 for Arizona. And then is this a good Oman Damon total yards week one five two oh. Those three numbers do anything for you at home. They do for me. Turnovers three for Arizona one for NAU four for four in the red zone. Oh for one for NAU Damon. Let's key in on those turnovers. Can we talk about your Richardson's fumble right now? Yeah, was it a fumble? That seems to be the conversation that me and you and nobody else is having right now. Not the broadcast. No one else on social media.

24:26I don't think it did crazy numbers. It's NAU. Who cares? I get it. But like the NAU defender was fully out of bounds when he forced the fumble on geo-Richard sinning and Kevin and I led to the conversation of are you allowed to be standing out of bounds while touching the football and it counts as possession loss. Because it seems as though that should then be out of bounds the footballs out of bounds right there. Yeah yeah and and the two steps before that he was also running on the white in the out of bounds so it's not like oh he punched that and then his next step was in the red Kevin this is a cherry pick screen shot no like he was fully like how you see on kickoff or punts yeah where guys will kind of curve out and get kind of come back in that's usually a flag and you can't do that right and this is something where I told Damon during the game. Man I know it's NAU and I know it doesn't matter and really I don't even care that much. It's the principle but it is kind of crazy that that happened and it made me look into this the rule book of it Tyler Warden kind of clarified this for me on Twitter and there was a subsection of one of the NCAA rule books that kind of said that if this situation were to happen which it did tonight technically as soon as the defender was in the back

25:41on Twitter. Punches the ball makes contact with the ball forcing a fumble. Yeah, it would be a fumble against Giovanni Richardson but as if he fumbled it out of bounds it would return to Arizona at the spot which the person I believe was making contact with either the ball or the out of bounds line. It would be like right around here in the red Arizona would be a fumble against Giovanni Richardson but it would be Arizona ball that end up mattering no when am I going to forget about it probably tomorrow morning. Yes but it was very interesting interesting that Gio got that fumble caused against him when in reality and we lost the ball it really should have been a fumble on him and it should have been Arizona's ball afterwards. Now if you're in Arizona spread better, you might be sitting there going, I do somewhat care about the decision to not look at that or look at that on the replay, bring it back, overturn it. But interesting nonetheless, yeah, the turnovers were bad tonight. Not a clean performance from the offense by any stretch of the imagination.

26:43And again, you can't bring that to Provo next week or else a really, really good BYU defense and a sound BYU offense that definitely can control the football with the way that they run it will take advantage of that big time. So going to be a point of emphasis. Another thing on there, Kevin, that was a point of emphasis in conversation that we had over the course of the off season was red zone efficiency. Red season Arizona was top five in red zone attempts in the big 12 last season. But when it comes to success rate percentage of those attempts leading to touchdowns, Arizona was third to last in the conference behind I believe it was Kansas and Oklahoma state. So really, really not the best company in the world. And something that you got to get a lot better at, especially when you're expecting the offense to be the thing that is kind of your calling card of this season, right, with it being no if a feed is last year.

27:43So definitely good to see four for four in the red zone tonight. I know again, I know it's NAU, but it did feel like when Arizona got to the red zone that it was very, very easy for them to punch it in in those circumstances. Yeah, and I, you know, I will say this much. There's a conversation going on in the chat. And I think these two things kind of somewhat go hand in hand in terms of red zone efficiency, Arizona second half offense kind of petering out. And then what the chat is adding good context here of like, yeah, this is a great game to build on. But yes, maybe part of the reason why they didn't score as many points in the second half is because they do have a big game coming up against BYU. And BYU's game has been over for some hours now. And they are watching this game and you don't want to maybe show a full hand or even half your hand or a quarter of your hand against NAU. And then that play not be able to get used against BYU because you burned it against Ty Pennington and NAU. So there is a little bit of that in this. I think that it's important to bring up as well that like some of these things that maybe were, I don't even say criticizing, but just bringing up in the game that maybe weren't as sweet as some of the other things could also be caused by we're just trying to win

28:47this game and get on to BYU healthy, which I think was a large part of that. And was a real reason why I picked the under. But yeah, Damon, to your point in the red zone efficiency category, seeing four for Arizona was really big for me, especially when you got down to that. What was it? There with Ked Risen, no kind of having to reach across to get that one in there. I felt like this is a game where I was a little obvious to Zona, Lums Point in the chat, like saying that he thought that the red zone play calling was a little bit sus. That felt like, I believe they went on a one snap count as well on that as well. And that probably is a result of dosed and bounds, both false starting on your earlier fourth down attempt that you were going to go for on fourth and one in the first half. So I would imagine that they maybe didn't want to risk potentially getting another false start there. Again, that's something that hopefully isn't happening in week two, but that's going to be a crazy crowd. And it's going to be extremely loud in there.

29:47And the stadium pulse is going to be off the charts, Kevin. So it might lead to a few offensive line penalties. So yeah, I mean, that's definitely going to be something that I'm going to be bringing my magnifying glass out for next week when we're watching Arizona BYU is can maybe you avoid some of those silly penalties. There wasn't a ton. I didn't feel tonight, but that one in particular was impactful when it was fourth and one. And then you end up having to punt it. Yeah, you end up having to punt that one. And for Arizona, at least in terms of punts, you saw three punts today for the Wildcats and this one. So obviously not ideal from an offensive efficiency standpoint, three punts, an interception, a fumble, obviously the interception and fumble kind of taking place a little bit later in this one. And obviously the second fumble. Ridley averaging 48 yards per punt to inside the 20. Not a bad little debut for Chase Ridley today. Yeah, I mean, and honestly, it's one of the reasons that why I wanted to ask you in this

30:47post game show, Damon, how you feeling about the special teams after this first one? I know last year a lot was made of the process for kicking. I know we didn't see any field goals in terms of tonight, but we did see some extra points go in very smoothly as the chat was bringing up. We saw Chase Ridley look really, really good, punting the football. And you even made a comment about the distance of his punts and how we don't even often see stuff like that. So consistently at Arizona because it's just not really special. We're not a special team school. We'll never be a special team school. I don't know what it is. We've obviously had our kicking woes in the past as I'm sure some of our ASU trolls in the chat would love to remind us of. But yeah, I mean, definitely a good punting debut from Chase Ridley today. Ian French did send the first kickoff of the game that opened and kick off out of bounds, which was not ideal. But outside of that, he, I don't believe he made any other further mistakes. And then yeah, MSM was, you know, he did his job when he had to kick extra points tonight.

31:47No field goal attempts, but did his job on the extra points. Nothing really truly to write home about from a special team standpoint. A lot of times I feel like the special teams, how you determine how good they are comes in the most pressure packed moments of your season. Yeah. Can you make the game winning field goal kick? Can you block a game winning field goal attempt? Can your punter get off, you know, a good pun inside his own end zone and a really pivotal game to send the other team back to the other side of the field, those type of moments. And so you're not really going to get that in an NAU type of game, but a good step in the right direction from the special teams units tonight after a poor 2025 season, in my opinion. Yeah, I 100% agree. Damon, I want to talk about Noah Fafita. And I want to do it after our second break on the AZ Wildcats podcast because we have a lot of no Fafita talk about. I want to talk about the defense as well. Tay Brown is going to get a shout out from me and a whole lot more on the AZ Wildcats post game show. Stick around. Leave it like don't go anywhere. Wildcats football is so back.

32:51And if you've been involved in a serious accident, the result that is serious injury or wrongful death, you can call, you should call the husband and wife law team 6027838841. Mark and Alexis Briar, Cylian social media, serious in the courtroom and they get results for their clients. Now they cannot guarantee the outcome. They cannot guarantee the results. But if you're like many coaches at the D1 level, it's not about results. It's about process and in the process, you are going to get the best communication from your representatives. I'm talking about being able to call and schedule an appointment at literally any time for literally any reason to talk about your case. They're going to tell you the strengths and the weaknesses of your case. So you know exactly what you're getting into. You're not going to get led down the road for the sake of getting hourly money and then be told, actually, we don't think you have that good of a case. No, not with the husband and wife law team. So if you've had a serious injury, call the husband and wife law team first at 602, 7, 8, 3, 8, 8, 4, 1. I know you're probably thinking, I'm never going to need this number, Kevin.

33:52I know, I know, but you never know when you might need it. And I honestly hope you don't, to be honest, you don't got to tell Mark and Alexis Briar that, but you know what I mean? But you never know when you might. So write this number down, 6027838841 or you can just visit their website in our link below. It is that simple. Kevin, you hear us talk about the inner circle all the time on this podcast. We love how circle K continues to help us save money, not only at the gas pump, but also on snack deals, meal deals, polar pops and so much more. But it's time to meet the inner circle 2.0 or now every single visit is going to count. It used to be, you know, you got your 25 cents off for gown on your first five Phillips, which is still in place and still a big part of the reason why you should sign up today. Now, when you fill up enough at the tank or you go make qualifying purchases on the inside of a circle K, you of course those qualifying purchases can be traded in for visits for rewards and you can get up to $1 off per gallon.

34:54So that means lower gas discounts, free food and drinks and other in store merchandise. All you have to do is enter your phone number at checkout or the pump to ensure each visit is counted. And new and released can save, still save that 25 cents off per gallon on their first five Phillips sign up for the inner circle rewards membership program today by downloading that app. The inner circle 2.0. It is truly here terms and conditions apply at participating locations visit circle K dot com for all the details. Visit circle K dot com and the chat is on fire shots. Everybody in the chat. I want to get some specific chats a shout out before we continue our show shout to Kodiak Broncos bringing the energy tonight in the chat. Yeah. He said, Mr. Maker was better than for Fida. And if you missed our pre game show, Damon definitely got his takes off about Drew Mestemaker. But yeah, this is just what we do. Damon is one of the classic classic. We're at the table and we're smack in each other with all the food. We're on the floor rolling around howling laughing. Drew Mestemaker. Yeah.

35:54The guy from North Texas. He's better than Noah Fifeida. Crazy talk. He's the first time he won the national freshman of the year award going against one of the toughest schedules in the country in his first season starting. A guy who off the back of a really disappointing 2024 brought a team that was considered to be one of the worst in conference to a third place finish. Almost made a big 12 title game appearance. And he was the first team all big 12 for that exact reason. The North Texas quarterback is better than him. Man, what a loss for Oklahoma State and Eric Morris today. A lot of people had hyped for Oklahoma State this season crashing and burning to the ground in the same way that it did for TCU. Yeah, man. Tough, tough start for Drew Mestemaker. It was tough. Honestly, it's tough start for the go of college football Drew Mestemaker. Erica, our friend, our family. Erica Lee Day celebrates 11 months of membership.

36:57We miss you, Erica. Man, all the time. We got to do Korean barbecue again soon. I didn't watch all of it, but yay. Can I call? Yeah, you can come over, dude. Come on over. I think you had like a debax post game that day, so you didn't get to go. Debax baseball costing Damon this time. But yeah, Korean barbecue at our place. Come on over. Sounds like someone wasn't invited. Sounds like yeah, it'll work. I didn't watch all of it, but yay football and yay, Kevin and Damon get Arizona sports to talk about. Yeah, we are feeling great to have real sports talk about. And shout out to Erica for fighting the good fight right now in the chat. I hear I see you're going back and forth with some of the ASU fans, of course, who like you've never seen obsession like it in your life. I mean, Andy not ready fans when it comes to Arizona football. Guys, we'll see you in November. The cups coming home again. It's staying home. Third time in four years, we're going to be winning the territorial cup. No, listen, we're all right over here. We're good. I don't understand what, like what this like big tough guy, we beat Morgan State.

38:00We beat a high school football team. Talk is Arizona didn't have a great performance tonight, but any you would smoke Morgan State. Smoke them. You think pennington, it wouldn't smoke Morgan State? No chance. High pennington would be the greatest quarterback in Morgan State history. I say that without knowing the history of Morgan State. Damon, let's talk a little bit of Noah Fafita because Noah Fafita is our king of a mountain tonight. Quite frankly, he's the king of a mountain, 365 nights out of the year, but tonight specifically, 76% completion percentage. And honestly, I think that under States, how accurate he was tonight, 262 yards, two touchdowns for Noah Fafita. His Heisman campaign starts tonight. I know some people might not want to hear that in the chat, but that is his one of his goals. That is one of the things the team wants for him. And so if you're going to do that, it starts in week one with your first game. And I think Arizona and Noah Fafita put together a great performance for him tonight.

39:00As you said earlier, it wasn't like the bright lights explosive lasers, Pupu, as Jonathan Gannon would say, but he was surgical. He was clinical. He was, I would say, not in midseason form, but like in like quarter season form. Yeah. I felt like every attempt at hitting him, he would evade. It felt like he was able to step out of the pocket and make throws that in terms of Arizona quarterbacks, only a guy like Noah Fafita can make. It was very, very great. And my grandpa wants to know is the statue up. And I say, no, we are still waiting for the Noah Fafita statue. But Damon, what were your thoughts on Fafita tonight? Yeah. Fafita was, I thought damn good in the first two quarters of this game, Kevin. Basically 17 of 20, 209 yards, two touchdowns, only thing holding them back from 250 and three touchdowns at half was that georitchards in debatable fumble, right? Like Arizona was moving the football with ease on that drive when geo ended up fumble in that one.

40:01It could have ended up in a field goal as well. But I would imagine that that ends up in six. And then you get to the second half and essentially, you know, you get, what is it? 50 yards out of Fafita in the second half. He completes five passes on nine attempts. I mean, it's not terrible. You didn't need him to throw the football. And I know he didn't play much of that fourth quarter. But yeah, I mean, he wasn't lighting the world on fire all game long. Great start to the game. You don't need to throw the football all around the park when you're playing in a U. And as you said, maybe you don't want to show your full hand when you have a huge, huge game against BYU next week that really could be a season determiner for you. But that being said, I do think that, you know, that was a pretty good performance from Noah tonight. And to be fair, I think most of Noah's performance from last season look a lot like that. If you look at Noah's stats, his game log from last year, it's a lot of 76% completion

41:06percentage, 262 yards to touchdown zero picks last season. And when you accumulate that over the course of a year, you win a lot of football games. Number one, and number two, your stats end up looking pretty damn efficient because you're not really turning the football over and you're stacking. And he's consistent and his floor is incredibly high. And that's why I know if a FFEDA was the first team all big 12 QB last season. I think that that looked a lot like FFEDA last season. Maybe people that were at home saying, I want to see Heisman FFEDA. You got it in the first half. You didn't get it as much in the second half. But we'll see what that looks like next week because if FFEDA puts on a show next week, if he puts up that performance next week, and Arizona does a better job of taking care of the football themselves, two of those turnovers come when he's not even on the field anymore to be fair to know in the starting offense. It was Antoine Roberts fumble in the fourth quarter and Sawyer Anderson pick six. So you're two backups there at play.

42:07But that being said, yeah, I just think that maybe if you're expecting to know it a light the world on fire, you didn't get that. We'll see if he does that next week against BYU. Before we get to our third ad break, I do want to have our conversation about the targets that Nof FEDA was throwing to tonight. The wide receiving core in this one, Chris Hunter gets the win knocked out of him or something in the end. It wasn't. No, it didn't seem like it was too bad at all. He just stayed down for a little bit, but he walked off, jogged off, seemed very good after that. We'll see if we can get an update on that maybe after Labor Day this week or something like that or maybe on Twitter a little bit sooner than that. But it felt like Trace Bivy has definitely improved over last season. He starts the season with a touchdown. He opens up Arizona scoring with a 20 yard reception this time around. And honestly, who else to catch the first touchdown besides the guy that had one of the highest touchdowns of receptions ratios halfway through last year that I've ever seen? But Gio Richardson really was in terms of the receivers on this team.

43:11He was the star tonight. And I do want to give Damon some plot, it's so to speak, because I believe you had that. In terms of Gio Richardson taking that next step and really being like the wide receiver one in terms of yardage and those kind of things. He looked the part tonight, eight catches, 96 yards, a long catch of 31 yards, average of 12 yards, eight targets, eight catches. I mean, he was a very, very good tonight except for that fumble and being a little loose with the ball. But that will be great too by that NAU defensive back who punched that football out didn't give up on the play and, you know, really made a good punch there. But yeah, you can't be fumbling. I did say in our season, preseason predictions, Kevin, that I thought Gio Richardson would be the team's leading receiver this year. I feel great about that prediction after night one, eight catches, 96 yards, as he said, 81 yards after catch. A lot of stuff in and around the line of scrimmage where he's, you know, maybe in motion on the move and it allows him to get the corner.

44:13But I love the way they're utilizing Gio Richardson again, got to hold onto that football. But for the trace, 5 E fans out there of which there are many and I am one of them as well. Trace 5 E catches the first touchdown of the season and definitely looks like potentially the red zone target for no if a feed of this year that might be the go to guy when you get into those circumstances. Brandon Phelps also catches a touchdown, Kevin, on a fantastic catch. 21 yards for Phelps on a toe taper. I know that, you know, that was a guy that we definitely felt might be pretty underrated by this fan base could definitely play a role this year, but there's so many mouths to feed. As you can see here from these receivers, moving down the list, 4 for 45 for Spivey for a touchdown, 3 for 26 for RJ Mosley in his Arizona debut, Isaiah Myzel, 2 catches 39 yards. He Craig, 2 catches 19 yards, catch a recent two catches 18 yards.

45:15Rodney Gallagher, 2 catches 17 yards, including a pivotal third down catch where he got popped by a guy, but he made a really good grab there in my opinion. Already mentioned Brandon Phelps, Colt Rusk, only one catch for 13 yards. I kind of feel like we're going to see more Colt Rusk here, but I could be wrong. Could be, you know, one of those preseason predictions you look back on and say like, man, they didn't really use Colt Rusk or Tyler Powell that much at all. What was Damon talking about, but I think that we'll see more of these tight ends as the season unfolds. And then you also have Jetsmith getting a catch for nine yards and Chris Hunter getting a catch for 11 yards. So all in all, 27 catches, 314 yards for the receivers tonight. A lot of mouths to feed, but I think that we got a good showcase of maybe what to expect out of this receiving core. Geo Richardson, Trace Spivey at the top. That's probably your two headed monster there in the passing game. And then underneath them, you'll see a collection of different guys, whether that's, you know,

46:17maybe RJ Mosley, who knows if he makes, you know, enough kind of movement in his opening season here to get playing time. But Brandon Phelps, certainly after this performance tonight, Rodney Gallagher, Chris Hunter, and yeah, Cole Ross, the tight end group, of course, lots of mouths to feed here, but definitely two at the top, no? Yeah, two at the top. And I will say like this kind of all ties back into kind of, I don't want to call it our like season preview show, but like one of our season preview shows that we did this past week about how like Trace Spivey, like as incredible of an athlete as he was, it is, but it was specifically last year. He lacked in some of the attention to detail things. And that's something that this coaching staff was very open about in the, you know, lead up to this season was that, hey, we really challenged Spivey to be more intentional about like the attention to detail and about running the route of the right depth and being at the right spot when he needed needs him to be there. And then all that kind of stuff, I will say like it felt like he did take a big step

47:19forward tonight, but at the same time, and I would have to go back and fairness to him and like watch each individual one to see whose fault it really was because with football, it's harder to do this kind of one to one causation thing, but he did have outside of like Chris Hunter. He did have the lowest catch percentage on the team. He had seven targets. He had four catches. A lot of the other receivers did not miss in terms of their targets to catch ratio. Again, targets are, I think, one of those things though that you look for when you're looking at it, how much opportunity is a wide receiver going to receive as Kevin lets the letting the people know about the party that was happening here at the office. Is that the first of a beer? Did you do that earlier in the pod as well? I've done that earlier in the pod. St. Louis's own. St. Louis's own. Make a little ultra. Make a little ultra. But, but I will say like in terms of why I bring that up, you're right. The amount of target share does kind of afford you like, oh, this is kind of a window into how they want to use these guys in terms of use it.

48:20They're calling plays for him in large part. But I will say it's something to watch going forward though is that last year, the attempted details, some of the smaller things capitalizing on opportunities was one of the things the coaching staff wanted him to capitalize on. And tonight, he gets about half of his targets as catches. I would love to see him maybe get six of seven, so to speak. So, you know, like maybe, okay, give him a Mulligan against NAU for sure he dropped that one or whatever. I want to see them him and know what kind of convert more high of a percentage against a team like NAU Damon. But one name you mentioned a little bit there that I kind of want to key in on the chat is King and on Kodiak Broncos as key it on the cold russ get full back thing is so much fun. Carl Schroeder says one total reception by its high end in this game is that at all a concern. Russ caught one pass. That's it. And you know, Damon, a little bit was it Thursday? We were talking about this and we were saying like as much as we think that that the cold russ is going to impact this offense, this upcoming year in the passing game in terms

49:21of receptions and targets and things like that. I asked you, I was like, don't you think they're probably going to use a big guy like that to try to keep know if he'd a clean, keep his jersey clean. They don't got to wash it with tied after the game because cold russ help keep him clean. People in the chat have also identified that as like having cold russ in the back field was very interesting tonight and a very fun development in the offense. And wow, he didn't necessarily have a ton of targets, have a ton of catches in this one. I didn't feel like he was still felt on offense despite not having the targets and the catches. Yeah, I mean, you saw him out there on the football field. I don't know if that's exactly the most glowing review of a player's performance. He was there on my screen and I saw it with my eyes. But it is a little bit concerning for me that there is such a lack of usage of tight ends in the passing game. Again, maybe you're not using your full deck of cards there. If you're Seth DeGee in night one, who knows, but I definitely expected to see a lot more cold russ and a lot more Tyler Powell in this passing game because no fafita has utilized

50:25big bodies really well in his college career thus far in my opinion. And I wanted to see more of that this season and his senior season. So it'll be interesting to see what that looks like next week against BYU, but slightly disappointing output from the tight ends going into this one. Yeah, definitely. We want to wrap up this one with some more breakdown of Arizona vs. NAU and looking ahead to Arizona vs. BYU as well as some news and notes. And yes, we're going to talk about attendance because it's Arizona football and we cannot talk about the game without talking about the announced attendance. That's just how this goes. We'll be right back after our final break on the a Z Wildcat's post game pod. It is our great friends over at Sanderson forward. If you're in the market for a new truck, a new vehicle, something that just screams strong. You want Sanderson forward and look, you don't have much more time for the Labor Day sales event. The Sanderson Ford Labor Day sales event, you can get up to 8,500 off America's best selling

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53:29You're first order again. That's over at brandedbills.com. Check out brandedbills.com. Do we have any more thoughts on NAU tonight before we spin it forward to BYU? I do want to bring up AZTCHR's chat, kind of talking about, did we miss talking about our new scholarship guy? We mentioned Quinn Olson off the very top of the show. Well, I do want to give him a second shout out. He got his scholarship this week for those that have joined us since the start of the show. Safety Quinn Olson started tonight for Arizona, his first collegiate start. He got his scholarship just a couple nights ago. And in his first start, gets an interception. It was incredibly sweet to see for Quinn Olson, a guy who, I mean, you cannot, like I said it on Twitter, but I don't skip the, hey, this guy just got his walk on to scholarship status. I don't skip those videos because it is so sweet every time to watch all the hard work, all the dedication, pay off, all the teammates celebrate him. They pick him up and put him down. It's a whole great thing. And I always love those videos. Yeah, shout out to Quinn Olson. That was a great, great night for him.

54:31Quinn Olson, one of the best stories in college football through the first couple of weeks here. And yeah, it's great to see Quinn Olson, of course, capitalize that great week with an interception against NAU in his first career start. A guy that is being tasked with playing a really big role for Arizona football in 2026. Can he take the baton from Chuck Cecil, Tradon Stuk, some of the great walk-ons that played defensive back in Arizona football history? We're going to find out, but yeah, great night for Quinn Olson. So fantastic stuff from him, Kevin. I want to talk a little bit about this crowd before we move on to BYU completely, though. We do have a crowd shot and an official number when it comes to announced attendance. Kevin and I had a debate earlier this week. Did it be the number B in or above 43,000 or would it be below? Kevin went with below. I went with above and well below that, Kevin. Barely, barely taken that four on the place there on the, yeah, in the tens of thousands,

55:37almost 39,000. But we get up to 40,000, 40,000, 129 announced attendance. And as you can see, the crowd right at kickoff time, right before kickoff on the bands on the field as Justin Spears posted on his Twitter account there at Justin E Sports, not the best look in the entire world. Now I was told that the crowd filled in a little bit as the game started. I think that that's to be expected. A lot of people know that it's not the most early arriving crowd in the world. The zone is who was there and they were there before kickoff. They were the shoulder, 17 minutes before the game. According to Juan Serrano, you can see the whole zone of zoo filled up. But yeah, the rest of the stadium, not the best look in the world. And then of course, received a text from my dad at the end of the game that said, pretty sure it's me, your mother, and the tarps off community up in the section 20 fun.

56:37They have their own, what do they call it? Like a commune? Is that like, like an improvisational community they got going on over there? The tarps off community? Shout out to the tops, tarps off community. You are safe in our chat. It's not good enough. It's not good enough. I know that, you know, like all the ASU fans, they're having so much fun about the bad crowds. And I don't know if the notion is that like, we won't call it out. But, you know, I think Kevin and I have been very clear that the football crowds are not a glowing example of maybe what being an Arizona fan is all about. That we do a great job representing for our other sports on campus. But for some reason, getting people to come watch the football team right now is difficult. And I do think that somehow some way fans are still spurned from maybe year one of Brent Brennan. And he just isn't all that grasping maybe. But yeah, it's unfortunate that, you know, there's 10,000 empty seats there on the announced attendants. Obviously it's clearly lower than that as is.

57:38And when Noah Fafita is playing his final season and it's the home opener, you want to see better support than that. So as a fan base, you know, we have to be better. Will it be better? Will it get better? I don't know. Probably a lot of that comes down to what's going to happen in that BYU game in week two. If Arizona wins that game and then they're potentially in the top 15 going into week three against Northern Illinois, I think you'll see a really good turnout. But that's called being fair whether that's not exactly fan behavior to be clear. And that's what he's going to be commended. So not the best stuff from the fan base tonight. You know, I definitely agree with the sentiment of like, this is no fetus last season. We can't have just another ho hum average kind of Arizona performance in terms of attendance. You do have to pack out the soul for Noah Fafita. And we do have some, you know, contrasting testimonials going on in the chat. Phillip Sullivan saying, the stadium vibes were high and I sat next to the Fafita family. I wish anyone in my life supported me like those ladies support the brothers, the Fafita brothers.

58:41And then you have Kobe saying the crowd was not good. You got lost highway saying the crowd was good. I'll say this much about the attendance, right? These photos and the UNI talked about this a little bit during the game. Like these photos that come out pregame and then you get the announced attendance. And I think everyone kind of judges the crowd. Obviously based on what you see on TV as well, right? A lot of the social media crowd is judging it based on pregame photos and people are not necessarily there. And that's not necessarily a great excuse. But that is the reality of things. And I do think that from the TV perspective from watching at P.H.N.X HQ 3, I felt like for a game against N.A.U. with an announced attendance of about 40,000, that the crowd was not bad, at least from my perspective. I thought that, you know what, like when we talked about this on the show, the other day. In terms of their support level and the loudness that you were fearing in the stands, you're saying. Yes. And I will also say that even in the number of 40,000, right, I feel like that's not bad either. And like I know that it's not maybe ideal from a number standpoint.

59:43You had a bigger home opener last year against Hawaii with 42K. I also think though that like you kind of, I don't know what the exact average would be from last year. From a, you know, a number perspective, I don't have to do the math, but I'm looking at them now. It's pretty much 41 is your average from last year. You had 42 against Hawaii, 40 against Weber, 40 against K state, 47 against BYU, but 40 against Oklahoma State, 41 against Kansas, 40 against Baylor. Yeah. And I think that if you can pull 40 for N.A.U. I have faith and optimism that as the season goes on, especially if you beat BYU, that you can easily average like 43K this year, improved by 3,000 on average. I think that that, like I think week one N.A.U. It's, I don't think it's the, it's the bad crowd that maybe... BYU, I want to see like 48,000 for the next game. I mean, you're going to have a pretty high dam ranking in the A.P.P.P.L. and you know, I know that I always walk on eggshells about this conversation

1:00:44because of this point and I know that it bothers some people, users saying, stop ragging on the fans, did y'all go? I've been to more Arizona football games than I can even possibly count in my life. You know, I'm one of the 1% of Arizona football fans when it comes to people that support this football program. And I go out of my way to support the football program. I have traveled the games in recent years like, yeah, I feel like I can speak on this kind of stuff. It's not good enough. It's not good enough. I want us to be better as a fan base, especially for the best quarterback in program history in Noah Fafita. I don't think that that's a crazy thing to say or that that is like inherently disrespectful to the people that did go because the people that did go are not the problem. I'm not talking to the people that were actually in the crowd. I'm talking about the lack of support from, you know, a city that has a million people, you know, the valley up here.

1:01:46That's 5 million people that there's the most U of A grads of any metropolitan area in the country. We just simply need to fill the stadium a little bit more than that. I know it's night one. I know it's NAU. But yeah, it's not the best look for the program. And I think that our fan base can and should be better than that. And has been plenty of times in the past where Arizona football has been rocking and the crowd has been a true asset to the program. But for some reason, despite the team being pretty good, that's something it's not happening right now. And we got to figure out how we can help solve that problem. Because it's not like the crowds for Arizona football have always been bad throughout the years. They've been really good at times. So I just, I want to get back to a place where we can help it be an asset for this program. It's not really looked at from a place of negativity as much as it is of a place of growth for this fan base in general and not the people that were specifically at the game who are a part of the solution. Yeah. And I do want to key on like what Ernesto and kind of lost highway

1:02:48was talking about a little bit as well. The pregame photos and that's kind of what I was looting to earlier. Like the pregame photos like don't necessarily, it's just like an unfair. It's like, I think whether it's Spirors or whether it's Sheer or whether it's Wantsorano or whether it's like I go to the game and I post one. Like I think we all kind of know what we're doing in the media game. If we post a pregame attendance photo at an Arizona football game, knowing that you know that you have a lot of highways. They're going to love it. Yeah, the ASU fans are fixated on it, but Arizona fans are fixated on it. Like you have media outlets from the Arizona fan base talking about like, man, this is just what we do kind of thing. And it's like this is a yearly kind of thing now where it's like, how can we talk about the attendance this week? And like that's where I'm like, can we just kind of tell the whole story? Where yeah, pregame, the attendance was not great. No one, they didn't pack the soul 40 minutes before the game against NAU. But you know what, the crowd that did show up was about the average crowd you got last year for a big 12 game. And they were just as loud on TV as they were for most of the games last year. So I feel like I know that Kobe says the crowd is just simply like not good.

1:03:52And I understand, but I think Kobe's a guy who like me has a high standard for the fan base because you know, he wants this fan base to truly help the on field product, right? And that's part of it because Kobe, I know and Kobe personally, like that is a really, really good fan of this athletic department. That guy loves Arizona athletics to his core. We need more Kobe's 100%. I mean, so does basketball. But yeah, I know I'm with you, Damon. But like I'm saying like Kobe saying that the crowd is bad. And I do understand that that is the reputation that we have based on this history that we have put together. But I do think you get your average attendance from last year against NAU. I have faith that that will hopefully build. And that as this team shows, hopefully, they are worthy. It's unfortunate as that goes, but as they show that they're worthy of that support, Tucson, hopefully, we'll show that support. But it shouldn't get to that because you have no fafita. And you have this legendary quarterback that should be galvanizing enough

1:04:53for the whole fan base to kind of say like, oh, this is our last shot. Like let's put the 20. Let's put the five. Let's put the 10 down on some tickets and get into Casino Del Sol Stadium. There are times where going into a season for a home opener, the fan base shows up when there's hype around the team. And this is a team that was close to being ranked in the preseason pool. And yet you're not seeing that same type of hype. I don't think maybe because of the ranking, the lack of ranking, who knows. But I do think that there have been times where home openers have been truly a little bit more lit than this one was. And I know people are saying it's like, what have you done for me lately? But I do think that this is a little bit more of a modern phenomenon with Arizona football because there have been plenty of times where going after a really good season like we had last year, going into the next year with a lot of returners like say 2015. I remember going into that 2015 season, people were pumped up, man. After the fiestival the year before and feeling like rich ride was building

1:05:55something and you had a new Solomon back, Scooby right back. And obviously, disappointing season has a lot of the seasons with the expectations end up being. But there was some hype until maybe that hype was lost in an actual on field type of experience. I believe college game day versus UCLA being that 2015 example. But yeah, I mean, just not the best showing at all in night one. And I wish it wasn't going to take like a win in provo in a packed stadium to prove to the fan base that they deserve your type of support because I feel like even in a loss to BYU next week, they still deserve the support because the season isn't truly not over. You have a lot of games left and I didn't think Texas Tech looked unbeatable against Abilene Christian today. You could lose to BYU and go run the table the rest the way and still make the big 12 championship game. It's very attainable. So, you know, every game matters and hopefully Arizona just,

1:06:58you know, the fan base can do a better job of supporting when week three rolls around and you're playing Northern Illinois. But I guess I wouldn't have the highest hopes in the world because it's Northern Illinois. Yeah, no, that is valid. It is Northern Illinois. You're not supposed to have crazy high hype after that one. But I do think I would hope that after BYU, if you beat BYU, you would have hype for it. I do think that it will probably look pretty similar from the crowd perspective if you lose to BYU something similar to tonight. Yeah, well, let's talk about that BYU matchup, Damon. Let me see. If you don't usually tune in with us every, pretty much every day of the week, five days a week, we do 2 p.m. shows. And this week we will be previewing BYU pretty damn heavy. But just some initial thoughts here on the post game show for Arizona versus NAU. Looking ahead to next week, Damon, where's your mind at for Arizona versus BYU in Provo? Yeah, BYU goes and beats Utah Tech tonight, Kevin. 63 to 7, Bearbock Meyer went 16 of 20, 198 yards, three touchdowns, zero picks.

1:08:02L.J. Martin gave you 54 on the ground on only seven carries. No touchdowns for him tonight. Bearbock Meyer added a touchdown on the ground. Obviously the backup's got a decent amount of run. I looked it up because Utah Tech is 0 and 2. So I was like, what was their first game just for curiosity sake? Now, let me just preface this by saying Montana State is ranked number one in FCS right now. So they are the best FCS school. But they beat Utah Tech 54 to nothing. So BYU beating Utah Tech 63 to 7 is not too far off. Montana State winning 54 to nothing. I'm not saying that BYU is Montana State level, but I'm just saying that it's not as if, you know, maybe those style points should be taken as seriously. Who knows? Just doesn't feel like Utah Tech is all that great of a team. I do think that BYU, however, is all that great of a team. They return a lot of great players from last season.

1:09:04Their defense looks really good on paper. Of course, we talk a lot about that backfield being, you know, maybe the best returning backfield in college football when you look at who they have, you know, throwing under center and running as well and just running in L.J. Martin's case out there. So yeah, I mean, BYU is a fantastic team. I'm excited for the game. We'll see if Arizona has what it takes, but it's a true test of, of like how good you are right now week two of the season. It's always fun when you have those types of matchups early on that can kind of tell you exactly what your level is and where you stand in the scope of your own conference right away. And then you get to see how you respond to whether or not that's the pressure of being at the top. And if Arizona wins, they have the full probably, you know, straightaway chance at making a big 12 title game most likely. But if you lose, it's not over. You can respond to it and still save your season in some way, shape or form.

1:10:09Yeah, I mean, you said it. I'll reiterate it here. Like this is the ultimate thermometer thermostat kind of game, right? You turn your thermostat on. You're trying to see what temperature it is in my house. What am I working with? And I think after BYU, we will know exactly what temperature it is inside that Arizona locker room is it hot? Is Arizona ready to go on a big 12 title potential run after beating BYU kind of a season? Or is Arizona just not ready for that type of level this year just yet? I also think there is like this middle outcome that I really don't want to talk about, but I think it might be potentially likely outcome here where it's a little bit like last year, right? But I think Arizona can be BYU this year based on the performance they had last year, where it felt like if not for a couple of avoidable errors on their own part, they might have been able to walk out of Casino, Delsal Stadium with a win against BYU last year. Should have probably. I feel like it's going to be another game that kind of comes down to which team makes the lesser amount of mistakes, which team makes the least amount of mistakes. And I think Arizona, as Kobe says, secondary was a little bit shaky tonight, worried about

1:11:10that for next week. The defense, you cannot have a performance like you had against NAU despite the great things that they did, allowing zero points and the front seven looking really good and Quinn Olsen getting an interception. Cam Choppa, I think also easily could have came away with one or two interceptions in this game as well. He played above the level that I expected of him. Like the defense, as I said earlier, there's a lot to build on, but now I want to see them build on it. And I think if they do, and if the offense plays a fish and football and you do cut down on the mistakes and the errors, you could upset BYU and Provo. Like I think BYU is one of, if not the best team in the big 12 this season. However, they're not impeditable. Like they're not unbeatable. This is not some, the reason we thought Arizona even had a chance at the big 12 title this year is because the conference is so wide open. There is no top king dog preseason in the big 12 conference. There are a couple teams in the conversation. And Arizona in this game has a chance to enter their hat or put their name in the hat. It's late. I'm not used to post games. They throw their name in the hat for maybe the best team in the big 12 if they go BYU.

1:12:13It's a massive game. It had to look at the rest of the slate. This is probably the biggest game in college football we're going to have for a couple weeks here. I would assume in terms of like consequence. It's probably up there. I think if it was number one, it most likely would be college game day, right? Right. So there's probably another game that or there's two bigger brands. They're sending around that level, but I'm going to give it a quick check for you, Cavanae. Yeah. It'll be a zoo Kansas. Not that Kansas is good, but big rivalry game. That's kind of crazy for week two. ASU, A&M, Oklahoma Michigan is going to be college game day for sure. I would almost guarantee you. Yeah. But even Oklahoma Michigan, like that is a brand on brand like strength on strength. I'll say Texas. I'll say Texas is crazy. But I'm saying like this, these even even adding those is still in the conversation because this is to in conference Arizona BYU. It's still to in conference foes. And this is kind of it could be like a potential preview of the game that could decide the big 12 title. Like I think they can lose to Texas and still go to the big 10 title game undefeated.

1:13:16Texas can lose. No, Ohio State and still go to the SEC championship game undefeated in conference. Arizona and BYU are playing for what could potentially be a domino effect of who ends up representing the big 12 in the college who will play off down the line. So yeah, it's a massive game. The stakes are incredibly high. And I do think that Arizona, you know, obviously will be underdogs. I believe the line opens out about seven and a half Arizona about a touchdown underdog. It was seven earlier today. And then after today's slate of games, a half point has been added to that via draft kings. So Arizona underdogs, but definitely not large enough underdogs where you would say that they have no chance of getting the W. I do think that the cats do have a solid shot. And I will say that, yeah, maybe the defense, the secondary in particular looked a little bit shaky tonight, but I don't think that BYU is necessarily the passing attack that's just going to run rampant. I do worry a lot more about what they can do in the ground game in terms of controlling

1:14:19the clock, controlling, you know, the turnover margin, time of possession, whatnot. I think Bearbock Meyer, LJ Martin, like in a big game like that, they'll unleash Bear. They'll have him run quite a bit tonight against Utah Tech. They're not going to really force Bear to run all that much. But yeah, I do think that you're going to see one of the best ground games, if not the best ground game that you'll face all season next week against BYU. And that's going to be a big test for an Arizona defense that returns pretty much into the entire front seven. Can that front seven prove that they have gotten better from last season? Because I think they were good enough last year. They were good. It was truly the DBs that were bringing everybody else up to the top on that defense. And can the linebacker unit, can that D line unit, Joe Salvea's coached up and maybe found a couple gems diamonds in the rough there? Can those guys lead you to victory next week? I think that's going to be incredibly important. But we're going to be talking about it all week long on the AZ Wildcats podcast as we preview BYU versus Arizona throughout the week.

1:15:21Of course, our regular schedule is Monday, Tuesday at 2 p.m. Thursday, Friday at 2 p.m. and then pregame and post game coverage on Saturdays. We hope that all of you guys join us along for the ride all season long. It's been a fantastic banner opening start to our season here for Arizona football. Kevin, did you have any takeaways outside of that that we needed to get to before we get on out of here? I just got one small thing. It is actually a call to action for Arizona football. Not the players, not the coaches. You see what USC did this this week, Damon? Maybe a new item they added to their repertoire in the arena? They have a sword that you can put beer in. You want to see butts and seats? I say you're a move. Arizona football. Let's see a turnover sword cup that I can put beer in. And every time we get a turnover, I can fill that thing up and drink from it like a king. Are you serious? I need a turnover sword beer cup like I need a Spider-Man mask Lego set.

1:16:23Wait, like I need air to breathe. You know what I mean? Like I need one so bad, Damon, but that's all I had is that the turnover sword as a beer cup would be phenomenal. I saw RG3 drinking from this on live television and a tweet that said I thought there were rules against this and honestly I did too because it was on live TV. But drinking out of this thing would be so sick if I was a USC fan and I want to have that same glory as an Arizona fan when Cam Choppa picks it off, takes it for six and you and I are an HQ three with our U of A turnover beer cup sword and we're just having the greatest time in the year with the fellas. Yeah, chat, push this up the ladder is what I want to say. I wonder if like what Brett Gleason's reaction is when he's reading the other side of that at on Twitter and he goes, hmm, notification. Let me see. Oh, Kevin's, Kevin's asking for the turnover sword cup. Cool. Sean, what should I do with this information? I mean, if Brett is seeing that, I assume if he has anything like me, he's getting notification

1:17:29that is saying you've been challenged. It's your move and I'm getting anxiety. I'm like, wait, what did I do? Why is Kevin challenging the entire football program right now? Sean's saying they said it was non-alcoholic and I say that is nonfiction. Kevin, I regret to inform the people that I have gone one and two after a one and a hot start on a Friday night W via Miami and yeah, unfortunately my under for LSU. Clemson did not cash as Clemson is truly the most cooked big time football program in the country right now. Davosweeney, I was going to call him Davo. I almost forgot how to say his name. He's so cooked because he's done an employment line. It's over. Tash tag, it's over. But Kyle also did not get the job done against UCLA as UCLA just scored again. As I said that out loud and now is up 20 when the game was tied at the start of the fourth quarter. But Kevin went positive this week. So that's pretty cool.

1:18:29We needed to back. We're against the wall after week zero. And we go we go two in one. We get San Jose State. Thank you to Brent Brennan. We take down the evil Eastern Michigan Empire. I thought that would matter to our guy. I know what it didn't. But we move on. Just a disaster day on the books for me. Welcome back college football. Unbelievable. I did lose $6.50 on Dan Hangman Hooker today. I think I was lost to you. Every single bet that I placed today if Michigan did not convert that Hail Mary. Kevin, I think that's the one bet I won was live betting Michigan when the line got close to even. Look man. Man, what a disaster. We won some. You win some. You win some. You lose some. We'll be right back in week two because you know 99% of Gameless quit right before they're about to hit big kept. Yeah. Yeah. Of course, if you want more of us, join us on a Monday at 2 p.m. victory Monday where we're talking about Arizona versus BYU previewing it all throughout the week.

1:19:32We love you guys. We appreciate all of victory Tuesday victory Tuesday. That's true. We're not labor Monday. That's a great that's a great point. Of course, it is Labor Day. So we'll be off on Monday, but Tuesday will be right back here at 2 p.m. until then we appreciate you guys. Thank you so much. Follow me at Damon dog follow him at Kevaux Post follow us at pH next underscore wild cats and we'll get out of here on that until next time. Peace out. Bear down. I turn over sword that I can fill with beer now.