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Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales is one to "hate losing more than I enjoy winning," he said.

"As gut-wrenching as that was, if the city of Tucson wants to be mad at somebody, be mad at me," Gonzales said. "We convinced you to dig in and buy in on this football team. When you lose a game like that, it's gut-wrenching and everyone wants to burn the village down and get rid of everything. We're in the process of building something that I think can be special. There's going to be those growing pains."

In some ways, the Arizona coaches enjoy the fiery reaction from UA football fans, even if there's a contingent that believes head coach Brent Brennan isn't the right person to lead the Wildcats — hence Gonzales' "burn the village down" reference.

"The emotion and passion from Saturday, I'm glad it hurt people," Gonzales said. "It sucks that we lost — I freaking hate that. I hate freaking losing. I'm walking off the field and my wife thinks I'm crying, because I was just so violently ill. The fact that Tucson felt the same way and are pissed off because we had a 10-point lead, guess what? That means people care. ... Be mad at me."

Arizona safety Dalton Johnson said the Wildcats have a "24-hour rule" to sulk over losses, and once that 24-hour rule was up, it was flushed and ready to get back to work."

"After Saturday's game, there's no moral victories," Johnson added. "We were eager to get back out there and go to work. We have that confidence instilled now that we can play football. Let's have this confidence to go in next week and do what we do, which is play Wildcat football." 

Added Arizona running back Kedrick Reescano: "Everyone on the team, we feel how close we (are). We're still hungry and I don't think this loss defines us as a team at all."

Some are confident that the loss to BYU is going to propel the Wildcats forward, like Les Fifita, the father of UA quarterback Noah Fifita, who said on X (formerly Twitter) that the latest setback is comparable to the triple-overtime loss to USC in 2023 before the Wildcats ended the season on a seven-game winning streak and won the Alamo Bowl. 

Similar to the team in ’23, the game after an overtime loss to a ranked opponent is on the road preceding a bye week, as Arizona (4-2) begins the second half of the season Saturday morning against the Houston Cougars (5-1) at TDECU Stadium. In 2023, Arizona thumped Washington State — also the Cougars — 44-6. 

Or, if history repeats itself, Arizona will get blown out by Houston on the road following a tough home loss to BYU, which is what happened in 2018. 

Arizona's performances on the road under Brennan suggest the latter will happen. 

Arizona is 1-5 on the road under Brennan. The Wildcats' only road win under Brennan was their first-ever Big 12 game against the 10th-ranked Utah Utes last season. Under Brennan, Arizona's average margin of defeat in road games is 27.2 points. 

"Every road trip is different," Brennan said. "For a lot of us, players and coaches, a lot of us haven't played in these venues in the new Big 12."

The turnover battle has a significant influence on the outcome of Arizona's road games, Brennan said. The only road game Arizona has lost under Brennan, where the Wildcats lost the turnover battle, was against TCU last season. In six road games dating back to last season, the Wildcats have eight interceptions and two fumbles; their opponents have four interceptions and two fumbles in that span. 

"We just have to not turn the ball over," Brennan said. "Let's start with that. It sounds so simple, but that was the thing at Iowa State that really hurt us. ... Against a really good team on the road, that's hard to overcome." 

The key to road success is "how you prepare that Friday when you're traveling," Johnson said.

"We prepared for this in the offseason, to win in October and November and the road games, because those are important," he added. "We're ready for it, we just gotta be prepared for it mentally."