What Brent Brennan, Noah Fifita and Dalton Johnson said after Arizona football's homecoming loss to Colorado

Brent Brennan came to his press conference after the game and began by thanking the fans and alumni for the sold-out homecoming area and the great atmosphere. And then he apologized to them for not keeping up his end of the bargain.

“We didn't give them enough to fire them up,” Brennan said after Arizona's 34-7 home loss to Colorado on Saturday afternoon. “Of course we are extremely disappointed and we still have a lot of work to do as a football team. And where we’re at, it’s 100 percent my fault, and that’s why I need to get to work to fix it.”

Arizona (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) has lost three straight games and been outscored 103-48, with fewer points in each game.

“I just need to do a better job coaching this team and that’s where we’ve gotten to and it’s really quite simple,” Brennan said. “As hard as it is for me to say this, this is the reality. I’m the head football coach, it’s my job to get us right.”

You can find our game summary here Herewhile ours Juan Serrano has graded the performance. Below is what Brennan, quarterback Noah Fifita and security Dalton Johnson said after the defeat:

Brennan on opening with an onsides kick: “We watched them all year long. I really think we can play this better. I think when Jackson (Holman) looks at it, I think it was up for grabs if he had just fallen for it. Somehow it seemed like he was waiting for it. And it's one of those things where you can't wait. You have to go. All you have to do is put your face on it, fall to the ground and pounce on the dog. Just based on their alignment, we thought it was there and we thought it was a chance to steal a possession.”

If taking this risk early puts the team in a bad situation: “We talked to them about it and they said yes. Everyone was really into it.”

On Noah Fifita being fired seven times: “Obviously we need to play better on offense and give our quarterback and our playmakers the ability to move the football effectively. From the beginning I thought Colorado had a good plan with some of the crazy things they were doing and they put us under pressure a few times. And so we have to really evaluate that and think about what we can't do with the men we play with, rely on their strengths and their experience level and just give ourselves the chance to play clean football. ”

On the inability to protect Fifita: “I think some of it probably has to do with what we're trying to implement offensively. We're trying to get some bigger throws up the field and those things take a little longer to develop and we probably need to look at that and see how quickly we can get the ball out of his hands. This is always a challenge because you want to be able to take photos and take advantage of the advantages of T-Mac. But sometimes you have to be smart about how we protect Noah, and that's this constant conversation about our offense. I think that’s something we’ve obviously spent a lot of time working on.”

Why he's optimistic the offense can be fixed as the season progresses: “I think there is still a lot of football to be played and I think some things have become more complicated as it has been a bit of a revolving door as to who is available on match day. Some of them were game day decisions, others couldn't work out. And that's how it works. I think we need to make sure we're simple enough and clean enough to give ourselves a chance to push it consistently. And I think that was the tough part today, we've moved the ball well against everyone we've played so far. We still had the ball moving between the 20s, but we didn’t do that today.”

If there are concerns about the team's conditioning given the increasing injuries: “This is something we have to evaluate. I really do. Injuries are such a strange thing. But my team, myself, we're all very concerned about where this stands. Where we are, there is rare air for me. I think we have to evaluate every aspect of what we do in terms of how we condition them and how we train.”

On Isaiah Johnson's injury before the game and Jacob Manu's injury in the game: “The warm-up is crazy. Everybody does that, you line up and run some run plays, just to kind of get the guys used to fucking with each other. I'm not sure how they got tangled up. That was of course unfortunate, incredibly unfortunate. And then I saw it on Jacob, it just looked weird. It looks like it just got sorted after we made the play on third down. We’ll watch it on tape and try to figure out what it was.”

On the mood in the locker room after the game: “What do you think? Clearly everyone is devastated, from top to bottom and everyone in between. My message to them is that the only way forward is to work on this together. I really don't have a better answer for you. I know that: When you lose games, the outside world wants to tear you apart. That’s the one thing we can’t allow.”

On the offensive situation with Rhino Tapa'toutai's injury: “We're looking at it. We have to see if we can get Michael (Wooten) ready to play. He played a bit today, obviously he’s a bit green.”

To lead the team: “I don't know what Jacob's status is, but three of our six team captains are unavailable. These are the people you typically lean on for leadership. This part is hard. Gunner and Stukes were fantastic on the touchline. I think even last week when Jacob was ejected, he was a great example of leadership in the game. I think we have really good kids and I think they'll do a great job if they stay together and move us forward. It’s the only choice we have.”

Fifita on the team not living up to expectations: “For me it's not really about the expectations and it's not really about what the rest of the world expected of us. We have a standard and we don't live up to it. We are extremely disappointed, but the only thing we can do is get back to work and believe in each other.”

What's going on with the crime: “I think it’s just a collective effort. Just little details about slacking off here and there, a few penalties, more ball losses on my part and then just little details. To be a good offense you have to be in tune with all the little things and be able to work together. Just one mistake by a player on a particular move can cost you the whole trip.”

On Colorado getting 7 sacks: “You have to give them credit, they did a good job and won 1v1. I just have to make quicker decisions before the snap.”

About him doing long runs: “I think we were just playing ball like we have my whole life and trying to do things that would help my offense.”

On the team staying together despite the series of defeats: “As long as no one points the finger at others and doesn't attack each other, that's the most important thing. And we're in a really good position when it comes to no one pointing fingers. The defense has every right in the world to attack me and our offense because seven points are never enough in a college football game. Our culture is still strong.”

Johnson on using a new defensive alignment: “They have a lot of 10 personnel, so we knew they were going to use a lot of speed and try to move the ball quickly, so we wanted to bring in an extra DB to prevent that.”

On having so many inexperienced players around him in defense: “It's obviously hard, this special connection that I have with Stukes and (Gunner). But all I can do is do my part and take the lead. It's a next man up mentality and I try to connect with the other guys on the field. We’ll be fine, we just have to keep building.”

On Jack Lutrrell's first start: “He's been in the building a lot the last two weeks, taking extra film and just spending more time with coaches. To me that really shows that he wants it. I think he played well today. He did his job, started the first game and got two picks. We just have to keep pushing it forward. I’m definitely proud of him.”

On the topic of sticking together: “We talk about our brotherhood, how we are a family. I mean, one loss won't separate the whole family. One thing we definitely won't do is place blame. It's nobody's fault, it's everyone's fault. I think we're a good team, I know we're a good team. We definitely all believe that in this locker room.”