The struggles continued for Arizona over the weekend in a 34-7 loss against Colorado at Arizona Stadium. The injuries continued to pile up on the defensive side, while the offense once again had one good drive early but couldn't carry any momentum into the second half.

The loss drops the Wildcats to 3-4 on the season and 1-3 in Big 12 conference play with five games to go on the season.

Here is what coach Brent Brennan had to say during his press conference on Monday.

Opening statement:

"Obviously it's a new week and we all get a fresh start. We're going to fight our butts off to not be a team that lets our frustration or our disappointment of last weekend impact this one. This is a huge week here, obviously family weekend is always a big deal on campus here. It's a red out, cancer awareness game... I'm sure we have a few that have been impacted by cancer on our team, but I know currently Quali Conley's mother Runisha is in her second bout with breast cancer. This is something that we're talking about as a team that I think is really impactful. I want to thank our fans last weekend. I thought they were fantastic showing out like that. I thought the ZonaZoo was amazing. It's awesome to see the student population support this team the way they do and I think there's still a lot for us to be excited about. We have five games left and that's a lot of football. That's what we're going to focus on is what can we do right now to give us a chance to move forward together."

Q: The players who came back, they had a togetherness and a genuine joy for playing football. The last two weeks that hasn't seemed the case. Do you feel like they lost that and how do you get that back?

Brennan: "I don't think that's reflected in how we practice and how they are when they're around each other. When you don't get the outcome you want, their is going to be disappointment but I think the important thing is whether you win or lose, you got to flush that thing in 24 hours and get back ready to go for the next one because their is another big time opponent coming your way. I don't think that's the case, but I do think when you lose a game, there'll be frustration."

Q: Considering the number of injuries that have stacked up, particularly on defense, is their any talk of limiting those guys usage on special teams?

Brennan: "That's a fine line because you want to have your best players on the field at all times but after that first (punt return), we took Dalton (Johnson) out. We made that decision in-game. I do think it's important to that I let you all know that Jacob Manu is out for the season and so is Rhino Tapa'atoutai. It's unfortunate how those things happened, but this is a situation where you always say next guy up but somebody has to pick up the flag and somebody has to get ready to go. We're counting on each other on what we do collectively, how we play and give us a chance to play clean football on Saturday in terms of what we choose to do schematically.

Q: Noah Fifita has been missing high on some passes. For the flat-footed ones where he is missing high, what are you seeing in the technique?

Brennan: "I think sometimes when you do that, you overstride so you're winding up to generate power and you overstride, your hips sink and that ball sails on you. I do think their is a part of that where the protection stuff has been hard on him if you combine the pressures and the sacks. That's something that big Josh and our offensive line are working really hard to fix."

Q: After the game on Saturday, you said that the loss was on the coaching. Are their specific adjustments you're making in your approach to coaching this team?

Brennan: "Not in my approach but in terms of what we're talking about when you combine the situation we're in with our injuries and when you put young players or new players in, you got to do a great job of making sure they can execute at a high level and everybody is going to the right spot or blocking the right guy or running the right route. That's the conversation we're having is what can we do that gives us a chance to play cleaner."

Q: What is the plan to replace Rhino on the offensive line?

Brennan: "Right now, it's going to be Michael Wooten and then Joey Capra is going to be backing up a couple of those spots inside and maybe outside."

Q: When it comes to managing people, some are better left alone and some can use a little kick. Would you ever get in a guy's face or is that not your personality or is that not where some of these guys are at right now?

Brennan: "I have no trouble getting in anyone's face. That's not ever been a problem for me. I think it's important that you know exactly who you're doing that to and are they someone that is going to respond the right way from that kind of stimulus. I would say the generation that we're coaching right now struggles with that a lot more than maybe previous generations that I have coached. I've been doing it a long time now, but every player is different and every player responds differently to that kind of intensity.

Q: There were offensive coordinators fired around the country. Have you ever done something like that mid-season, made a coaching change and how do you evaluate coaching staffs throughout a season?

Brennan: "Yeah, we made that decision this year. It's an on-going process. I think whenever you're in a window like we're in right now where you've struggled, you're evaluating every part of the program from the top to bottom... That's an on-going process. It always is."

Q: We've talked all year about getting the ball to T-Mac versus spreading the ball around. It seemed like it went a little too far last week and he wasn't targeted that much. What did you see in that regard?

Brennan: "I think number one, we have to find a way to get him the football better. The other part of that is he was getting doubled a lot the whole game, so that's complicated when they're going to do that to him. We have to be creative with our scheme that way in terms of how do we give him a chance to get away from that double."

Q: Last year at San Jose State, you guys started 1-5 and then won six in a row so you had a mid-season turnaround. Is their anything you can draw from that experience or other experiences you've had that you can use?

Brennan: "Yeah, absolutely. Whenever you're in the struggle, the only way to it is going through it. That's why the practice environment is so important, just focusing on right now and this day and this moment and not getting caught up on five days from now so that we can get the most out of this time we have to improve. That's what this time is all about for us. We have to improve this week, and it starts with me and every guy deciding that they're willing to do that. That they're willing to put in the work that gives them a chance to improve. We don't get to feel sorry for ourselves or be a baby. This is a man's game. We need to grow up and attack the work, and so far they've been great at that."

Q: What is the latest update on Gunner Maldonado?

Brennan: "We don't know that yet. He is going to need surgery. We're waiting for the swelling to go down."

Q: How do you evaluate the secondary and what did you think of Jack Luttrell getting two interceptions?

Brennan: "I thought that was fantastic. That's a great example of picking up the flag. He hadn't played a lot and we were talking about special teams earlier. Jack got switched back on in the kicking game, which was awesome. He has been playing the last few weeks in the kicking game and all of a sudden he is lining up at free safety and he makes up some huge plays in that game. I was encouraged by that play. We felt like as a defense that their was some good moments with that secondary considering the lack of experience that was on the field."

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