So if we're gonna do Billy Joel, you and I need a chat because I'm quite sure, with you being a young and you being a Summit County boy, your Billy Joel knowledge probably needs a little encouragement and a little uh, you know, rushing up?
Is that this is this is fair? Uh? The only time I really have heard Billy Joel is parents a little bit. But then you little and old old uh Britain covey a are Billy Joel?
Well, Billy Joel is coming to Rice Cycle Stadium. Billy Joel has like a bunch of awesome albums and a bunch of horrible albums and horrible songs. That doesn't make him unique. Let's talk about it, but let's talk football. Brian Jeffries, the play by play voice of the Arizona Wildcats, on a Monday, Mister Jeffries, how are you, sir?
Very good?
Glass Houses? Is that? Is that the album you're thinking of?
Last Houses? Good? Pull?
So I may I presume that you're a fan of Billy Joel.
I you know, I'm not a diehard. I'm not going to, you know, run to his concert at the drop of the hat. But yeah, I guess I kind of was growing up in his era, so I'm certainly familiar with his music. And before I got into sports broadcasting, I'll admit to you that I was a rock and roll DJ, and so I probably played some of his records.
Oh, very nice times, very nice, very nice.
I always love to hear the journey of how people ended up where they did. And obviously now you and have been doing this for a long time with the University of.
Arizona, Brian, what stood out most to you?
Let's start macro level thirty thousand foot view, Arizona twenty three, Utah ten.
What were your main takeaways?
Well, I think just the way the Wildcats attacked the game. If you look back at their season so far, you know, they have been kind of up and down. I mean, they had a great offensive game planned against New Mexico and their opener defense didn't look very good. Second game defense looked great, offense kind of sputtered. Third game. You know, they scored on their opening drive at Kansas State, they were by seven or early third quarter, and then everything
kind of fell apart from there. They had the bye week to try and fix some things, and I think the biggest question was you know, would they come out and attack Utah because, as you guys know, that's how the Utes play. I mean, they're a very attacking team and Arizona had to stand up to that. And so I think that's the first thing that I noticed early on in that game that on both sides of the ball, Arizona was very aggressive and that's something they need to do.
If they had any chance to win, they had to do that. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I thought they had a chance to win, but I knew they had to come out and play a very aggressive football if they were going to have any chance of winning. And that's what they did. Like you said, from high up, I.
Wonder around here and this won't be a surprise.
I mean, the biggest topic of conversation is who the quarterback is going to be for the Utes and week in and week out. You know, you remember it was the same thing last year where the messaging from the team was it's going to be Cam, he's close, it's game time, and then it wasn't. And you know, this year, they've got a good young backup in Isaac Wilson who's looked pretty good. He's looked better than the situation a year ago that ultimately led to a.
Lot of chasts around here.
I wonder, Brian, what was the conversation last week leading up to the game about who Arizona generally speaking, was preparing for to see under center for Utah.
Well, I can't take you inside the coaches room. I can tell you that they probably did the politically correct things, saying that they would expect either one of them, had to be prepared for either one of them. I know that Brent Brennan talked about the experience factor of Cam over Isaac Wilson that would be a big factor if he played. I think most of the talk was that Utah really didn't change its offense a lot depending on
which quarterback they had. Other than the experience factor, it looked just on game film that they were running basically the same plays, and so you had to be prepared more for Utah's running attack, which is, as you know, always been the strength of that team, as opposed to
who the quarterback might be. Now, the previous two games for Arizona they had faced a running quarterback, and I guess the one thing going into the game up in Salt Lake City, the thought was that Isaac Wilson is not going to run, and if cam Rising is playing, he's not going to run, because they just didn't want
to afford any injuries there. And so I can't tell you what the Arizona defensive coaches thought if they were preparing for the fact that, hey, whoever Utah starts, they're probably not going to be a guy that's going to run a lot, and maybe they could game plan that way, but I don't think there was any thought at least from the Arizona camp one way or another as to who was going to start in that game and play the game.
So watching the k State game, you know in Kansas State, Utah similar type programs as far as how they want to play, it felt Brian that Arizona just had a difficult time keeping up with the physicality of k State, which I think led to a lot of people around here being pretty confident because Utah is a very physical football team. But for me, it didn't look like Arizona was concerned with the physicality of Utah at all. It didn't seem like they were taken back by It didn't
seem like they were intimidated by it. In fact, oftentimes it seemed like they were the ones bringing the physicality to a youth team, where it's usually the other way around more often than not. What do you attribute the shift to. I mean there was a buye between K State and Utah. The K State physical team. Arizona had a tough time holding up to that physicality. Utah physical team didn't seem to face them.
What are your thoughts, Well, I think the bie weeks certainly helped you have a chance to sit back and look at some game film, maybe a little more than you do during a week because you're normally just preparing for your next opponent. So there was also some healthier guys. Everybody was not everybody, but you know, guys get banged up, not major injuries. And they used that bye week, I
think to their advantage. And even though it's a new coaching staff at Arizona, if you go back to last year's Arizona Utah game here in Tucson, I think that's really kind of the turning point for Arizona in that game that they were able to stand up to Utah's physicality. And so maybe they the returning guys, maybe they used some of that I know. I asked the coaches, I said, even though you weren't on the staff a year ago, did you look back at last year's game film to
try and draw anything from that? And they admitted they did, but again they were looking more at what Uta had done earlier this season. So it's a combination of things. And maybe, you know, the Arizona players just kind of figured out that, hey, if we're gonna win, we have to be more physical, and they certainly went out and did that, and we'll see if they can continue it as the season goes on.
How you know, obviously all of us around here very impressed to the job Jedfish did, and I guess Washington took note and ultimately he left. How I'm just generally speaking, I think everybody was expecting Brian kind of a mass exodus to follow Jet up to Washington. How injured, ultimately how hurt as far as the personnel goes, was the
program as a result of the coaching change? And you know, ultimately, did it feel like more guys stuck around than you were expecting, or did the amount of players who decided to bounce after losing their coach kind of fall in line with what you were expecting.
Yeah, you know, it's kind of hard to tell. I think more guys stayed than probably at least if you look at the media going into it or the social media. I think after Jed laughed last year, they expected more to go, and Jed made a concerted effort to try and get more guys to go to Washington. You know, Arizona lost Jonah Coleman, who was their best running back, and now he's the best running back at Washington. A season's of prices. Sock also went to Washington. I don't
know how much he's played yet. He's a defensive back. Maybe the bigger loss than Coleman was Bill Norton, who left to go to Texas and he was a defensive lineman at Arizona, and that kind of wiped out Arizona's defensive front. They already had some guys graduating, but the fact that they were able to keep nor Fafida, Tedroa McMillan, etc. Tacario Davis, those three guys and Burnett, I'm thinking the guys that I know Washington really wanted. But those guys
all had something in common. They call it the Band of the Brotherhood and they decided that, you know, they had committed to Arizona, they had committed to themselves. They have a different outlook on things. They're not all just looking for the nil money. And so they made the decision after Jed left that no, they were going to stick together and that probably kept some other guys. I mentioned some of them. There's some other guys probably that
were on the fence. And I think because the names I mentioned there were the leaders of the team that because they were going to stay the other guys said, Okay, we're going to stay with you. And that was big obviously for Arizona have any chance to continue their success this season, they had to keep that core group together and they have and you know, like I said, if they continue to play well, I think it's going to bode well for the team and their one loss record as of the season goes on.
So we've seen no Fafita for a while make plays. It didn't surprise anybody around here is watch this young man do what he did on Saturday night at Rice Cycle Stadium. First couple of games, it didn't look the way that most were expecting. And I think it's safe to say I'll speak for myself. I just thought that Noah would follow Jet up to Washington as well, but you kept your quarterback and Saturday night, you fans saw
firsthand what makes him special, Brian. What stands out most about this young player as far as the way he's grown, And give me your thoughts on what he did Saturday night against a really good defense.
Yeah, he is a very very grounded young man. And if you ever get a chance just to sit and even if you just listen to him, you don't even have to talk to him, just listen to him. I mean, he's just somebody that you know takes it personally. He's talked over the first three games that he wasn't playing as well as he knew he could, and he didn't blame anybody but himself. So we'll go back to that by week and say, Okay, you know, what was he
going to do to be better? And I think he just got back some of the rhythm that he had before. I'll tell you another little you know, just inside part of this whole thing. And did it have any effect on Saturday? I don't know, but Arizona changed their offensive coordinator on Saturday and Dino Babers had called plays for the first three games, and he turned it over to Matt Atkins, who had been their passing game coordinator, and Brent Brennan had said that that was kind of the
plan as they were working. They wanted some of the younger coaches to start moving into rows like that, and we just saw some different play calling in terms of how quickly they were able to get their plays underway. I think if he went back and looked at the game film from Arizona's first three games, some of their plays were very slow developing and they needed to get back because that were you know, Noah was at his best last year when it was a very quick offense.
I'm talking snap to throw, snapped a handoff, and so they went back to some of those things Saturday, and I think that helped him because that's more the style of play that he likes to have going for him. So he's just he's a great young man. He's got a tremendous family, and you know, he's got some roots there in Utah as well, and so there's a lot of pride for him, I think going into that game where he wanted to get back to what he does best.
Curious to get the take of the play by play voice about the environment in the stadium. You know, we've talked about this throughout the course of the show. This is a stadium, Riceycle stadium with a reputation for feeling and sounding a way that it just didn't on Saturday night. And of course football has to lead the way. It's easy to cheer for a team when they're playing well
and winning. But juxtaposed her past Rice Ecles experiences, I wonder what you would have to say on kind of the atmosphere that everybody was experiencing on Saturday night.
Pride.
Yeah, two weeks in a row, two games in a row. Now Arizona's faced kind of that similar atmosphere when we were back in Manhattan, Kansas. They pride themselves the same way. They put fifty one thousand in their stadium and they're very loud, very supportive of their team. And so Arizona knew what to expect going to Salt Lake City. They'd just gone through it, and early on it was what I'd experienced before going up to Rice Cycles. I think probably and I'm just again, I can't get into the
minds of the fans. But when Arizona had that halftime lead, I kind of sensed that there was some worry, you know. I was thinking, well, there's still another half of football. You know, Utah's not going to lay down after this. The Utes are going to come out. We figured they've come out fired up for that third quarter, and when they got within sixteen ten, it look the crowd kind
of got it back again. But I understand when you're used to winning at home and probably and you guys would know better than me, you probably don't trail a whole lot at home, at least into the second half. And you kind of sense then that that was something
new for the Utah fans. And I'll just add this that, you know, Brent Brennan has talked a lot if Arizona wants to, you know, get back to anything like Utah's got going, Arizona's got a packet stadium and we've got Texas Tech coming this week, so we'll see how that works out.
I wonder, since you're one of our friends that sits at the former Pac twelve now Big twelve lunch table, there's only a few of us, Brian, you know, all of us that kind of experienced this for the first time. What have been your impressions of this new conference experience juxtaposed to what we're all used to as long term members of the PAC twelve.
I mean, just personally, it's it's different because, Yeah, if you were around the PAC twelve for a long time and you play your non conference games and you get into the conference schedule, and even though players change and you might have coaching changes, you always had a good feel for the opponent. You just felt like okay. And I felt that way going up to Salt Lake City.
It was like, oh, this feels great. We're going back to playing a team that you know something about, you've got some history with, you've been to the stadium before, and I just I don't take this the wrong way, but it was kind of warm and fuzzy. I thought, Wow, this is this is neat going. Even though the Kansas State game was not a conference game, it was still a Big twelve opponent, brand new. And now this week
Arizona's got a brand new opponent in Texas Tech. And so to me, just from a personal land, it's like getting used to all these new rivalries now. And I was, you know, I grew up in the PAC ten and then the PAC twelve, and it's it's been disappoint I hated to see the conference come to an end, and I'm still adjusting to it. So I guess it's let's wait and see how it works out. But it isn't
the same feeling. And that's why I said it was kind of fun going to Salt Lake because you knew what you were getting into.
All right, bron, Before I say you louse, appreciate the time on this Monday, you know, I don't think anybody believes that there will be an undefeated Big twelve team at the end, whether overall or in conference. It's just it seems so far that this conference is in a similar spot to where the PAC twelve was at times, where there are a lot of teams that are very close and you know, maybe kind of cannibalize themselves a
little bit. Who do you believe? And of course Arizona's on the list because they've gone defeated, but they're undefeated as of now. But how many teams do you think realistically can actually win this conference as of today?
Well, I agree with you. I think the balance in this conference is pretty good. I mean, there's some teams at the bottom. You know, Houston doesn't look very good right now, but then you take a look at a lot of the other clubs. I don't know if you can discount anybody. I haven't seen everybody yet play. I mean, obviously BYU's off to a great start. Nobody expected this from them, So are they the favorite? I don't know.
I mean, you know, Kansas State looked great until you know, a week ago or so when they went to Provo, and Oklahoma State looked really good until Utah and would and beat them, And Utah looked great until Arizona. I don't you could take half the conference right now and probably throw them in the same bucket and pull out a name and that that team might win it. So I can't give you. I mean, Iowa State right now, maybe that's the Maybe it's Iowa State BYU. Maybe those
are the two best teams. But I just agree with you. I think there's too much balance in this league. I think there's going to be a lot of teams, you know, beating up on each other, and it's gonna, hopefully, you know, just for the excitement. I guess at the conference come down to the last couple of weeks of the season.
Thank you sir for the time. I hope you had a great trip out here to Salt Lake. I enjoy the rest of the seas and we'd love to do it again soon.
Thanks Brian, glad to see you guys.
Brian Jeffries, the play by play voice of the Arizona Wildcats, has been for a long time at catz PBP on Twitter is where you find them.