After falling for the second consecutive week — last in double overtime to BYU and Saturday on a walk-off kick to Houston — Arizona coach Brent Brennan acknowledged that the losses were crushing but the errors made are fixable.

“If you get beat by a better player, like I’m trying to cover Michael Jordan, he’s gonna score a lot of points on me. Sometimes that happens in football. You’re playing against someone better than you. But I don’t think that’s the case these last two weeks,” Brennan said postgame. “I think we showed that we can play with these people. We’re right there.”

One big eyesore that Brennan said he will be addressing during the Wildcat’s upcoming bye week is rush defense. The Arizona defense between games against BYU and Houston coughed up 490 yards, 258 and 232, respectively.

Houston nearly had two 100-yard rushers, with running back Dean Connors hitting the exact number on 20 carries and quarterback Conner Weigman having 98 yards on 14 runs.

When the Wildcats scored two unanswered touchdowns to bring things even at 28-28 against Houston, their defensive line allowed the Cougars to wind down the final 4:48 in the game with 11 of 13 plays being runs before the eventual game-winning kick by Ethan Sanchez.

“We need to practice,” Brennan said. “We need to get better at tackling and blocking and playing fricking football. We didn’t force any turnovers today, as far as I know. … So, obviously I’m pissed off and upset and so is every person in this program.”

Brennan irked by sideline penalty in 2nd quarter

Besides the overall play of his defense, Brennan expressed particular frustration with a 15-yard penalty for sideline interference about two minutes into the third quarter.

Weigman had completed a one-yard pass on first-and-10 from Houston’s own 39-yard line when the foul was called, as some Arizona coaches appeared to intrude onto the playing field. One reporter asking a question about it referred to the call as a sideline warning, which the coach said he was hoping it would only be. Instead, it was deemed an instant penalty.

Brennan confirmed postgame that pass game coordinator Bobby Wade was the primary culprit.

“There’s no person on staff, in our program or our athletic department that’s worthy of 15 (yards),” Brennan said. “Nobody. Not me, not Coach Wade, nobody. That’s ridiculous. So, we’re going to address that, too.”

Penalties as a whole were much more of a factor at Houston (seven for 80 yards) than the four yellow flags for 28 yards when hosting BYU, but nonetheless came at critical junctions in both contests on the defensive end.

Standout quarterback play from Noah Fifita overshadowed

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita was far and away the bright spot, throwing for 269 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions on 24-for-26 passing. His 92.3 completion percentage was a career-high as the starter — 79.3% was his previous high (34-for-43) against Washington State on Oct. 14, 2023.

The redshirt junior credited the offensive scheme for putting him in positions to succeed, and though he only had two incompletions, said he wishes he had a couple of plays back.

He was sacked four times by Houston, including back-to-back occurrences with Arizona leading 14-7 to stall momentum it was gaining at midfield three plays into a drive early in the second quarter. The following possession was another that moved down the field with ease but ended in a turnover on downs when running back Kedrick Reescano failed to pick up one yard at the Houston 31-yard line.

As great as he was individually, Fifita told reporters postgame that the team has had a “lull” of inconsistency in every game — even the wins — so far this season. He used the team’s standard of “red line” as the guide moving forward.

“When things are going good, we gotta get back to red line. When things are going bad you gotta obviously respond and get back to red line,” Fifita said. “So we just gotta take the standard, take the coaching and put it into action.”

After its bye week, Arizona (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) will face Colorado (3-4, 1-3 Big 12) in Boulder on Nov. 1. The game time is TBD.