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The inspiration for this week’s opening segment comes from Arizona fan John Vietor, who sent me the following message:

“On a scale of 1-10, how much is the Houston game a must-win game for Arizona at this point? Seems like a ‘7’ to me despite being a road game with an uncomfortable early start.�

John is onto something here. This is a critical game for UA football — and especially Brent Brennan.

Brennan and his front-office staff deserve credit for reshaping the program this offseason. The Wildcats are unquestionably a better team — and a better-coached team (the BYU endgame notwithstanding).

They’ve equaled their win total from last year halfway through the season. . The vibes in and around the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility are positive.

But if Arizona loses at Houston — and heads into a bye week on a two-game losing streak — the calls for Brennan’s ouster will only get louder among the doubters who were so eager to pounce on him after BYU.

Barring a total collapse (see 2019), I view any such talk as nonsensical. Yes, last season was a bitter disappointment. We’ve discussed the circumstances that factored into that ad nauseum. Brennan accepted blame, made changes and pushed the program forward.

He’s trying to construct something here that’s sustainable. Continuity matters. Changing coaches every three years (or less) is antithetical to that objective.

If they had recovered a fumble in the final moments of regulation last Saturday, the Wildcats would be 5-1 and possibly ranked in the AP Top 25. Because they didn’t — and some coaching decisions down the stretch were questionable — the Cats now face the possibility of being 4-3 with a week off and all the time it affords for the haters to pile on Brennan.

So where does Saturday’s game rank on the must-win scale? Seven sounds about right. More important, though — it’s a must-show-up. It can’t be like the 2018 debacle at Houston. Or every road game since Utah last year.

UA coaches and players this week dismissed the idea of “moral victories.� I concur. But there’s a big difference between being blown out and losing by a field goal on the road to a team that’s 5-1 with its lone loss coming against undefeated, seventh-ranked Texas Tech.

Win or lose, the Wildcats need to show up and fight for 60 (or more) minutes in Houston. I believe they will. If they don’t, that’s concerning.

Take that for data!

Willie Fritz was 63½ years old when Houston hired him as its head coach in December 2023. He was the oldest hire in the 2023-24 cycle.

What did Houston see in Fritz? Someone who’d won .

Those places included Central Missouri (97-47 record), Sam Houston State (40-15), Georgia Southern (17-7) and Tulane (54-47). Fritz finished his tenure with the Green Wave by winning 10-plus games in back-to-back seasons. Tulane ended the 2022 season with a win over USC in the Cotton Bowl and a final ranking of No. 9. Not bad.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Fritz already has the Cougars in contention in the Big 12. They’ve won more games halfway through this season (five) than all of last season (four). Fritz knows what he’s doing.

(Rincon) Market report

Going up: Viral shirtlessness

It’s been a miserable couple of seasons at Oklahoma State. Last week brought a moment of much-needed brevity. Amid OSU’s 39-17 home loss to Houston, a Cowboys fan named Trent Eaton accepted a dare from his sister, ventured into an empty section at Boone Pickens Stadium, took off his shirt and started waving it over his head. Before he knew it, hundreds of OSU fans joined him. The shirt-waving throng went viral, inspiring and a story on . OSU Athletics called it “The journey of section 231� and wondered if the shirtless fans had set a world record. I’d give it to them in the category of awesomeness.

Going down: Tortilla tossing

It’s a tradition at Texas Tech for fans to toss tortillas onto the field. The Big 12 cracked down on that custom this year, but it didn’t stop Red Raiders fans from flinging tortillas during last week’s game against Kansas. Tech was penalized twice and fined $25,000. Then the story got . KU coach Lance Leipold claimed after that game that a pocketknife had been hurled onto the field. Turns out that wasn’t true. So KU also got fined $25,000. Things were so much simpler when the only options were corn or flour.

A question from my X

“Can Houston stop the Arizona run game? Reading their boards and it’s been an issue for them this year.� — @mpa

You certainly wouldn’t know it by looking at the Cougars’ overall defensive rushing stats. They’re fifth in the Big 12 in rushing yards allowed per game (125.5) and third in yards allowed per attempt (3.26). Even if you adjust for sacks, opponents are averaging just 3.9 yards per carry vs. Houston.

It is possible to run the ball against the Cougars, but it takes some sticktoitiveness. Rice, Oregon State and Texas Tech each rushed for 177-plus yards against Houston. They also each had at least 49 attempts.

I would like to see Arizona commit to the run game a little more, especially in the red zone. Overall, the Wildcats have run the ball 38.2% of the time this season (adjusting for sacks and scrambles). Last year they were at 36% (while trailing in most games). In 2023 they were at 40.3%.

Arizona rushed for a season-high 234 yards in a tight game vs. Kansas State last month. UA rushed for 164 yards against BYU last week, second most against those Cougars this season. The Wildcats have the capability and a healthy stable of running backs.

Threads

Arizona State will honor its undefeated 1975 team by inducting the entire squad into the Sun Devil Hall of Fame this weekend. As part of the celebration, ASU will wear throwback uniforms vs. Texas Tech featuring two versions of the “sunburst� logo. posted an image of Sparky the Sun Devil inside a gold sun with maroon flares, and it’s kinda cool. The jerseys are off-white with maroon numbers, complemented by gold helmets and gold pants with maroon stripes. The Sparky sunbursts appear on the shoulders. An “ASU� version adorns the helmets, similar to the ‘75 headgear. Both the old and new helmets have a maroon stripe down the center.

What he said ...

“When you lose a game like that, it’s gut-wrenching, and everybody 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.� — UA defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales

What he meant ...

“Can we have a little bit of patience here, please? We haven’t even finished two seasons. This is my first year as DC. We have a new offensive coordinator, too. These things take time. I get that you’re mad. We are, too. I love that you care. But we just came within an eyelash of beating an unbeaten, top-20 team. Trust the process.�

The other side

“We talk all the time about four-point plays, scoring touchdowns instead of field goals. Ethan Sanchez, by the way, was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week, so that’s a great deal for him. Proud of him. ... But yeah, we’d love to get touchdowns in those situations. Points are great; touchdowns are even better.� — Fritz, whose team ranks 11th in the Big 12 with a 57.9% red-zone touchdown rate (Arizona is 15th at 46.4%)

Pick to click (aka #fadelev)

BYU and Utah renew the “Holy War� Saturday. The Cougars are 6-0, the Utes 5-1. BYU is ranked 15th, Utah 23rd. The teams are statistically similar in several facets. The game is in Provo. So why are the Utes favored by 3.5 points? Vegas must know something. Never question Vegas. I’ll take Utah here in a revenge game of sorts (when is it not?) after last year’s controversial ending. The Utes should also be better rested after cruising past Sam Leavitt-less ASU at home while BYU had to battle deep into the night in Tucson. (season record: 3-3)

One last thing

Circling back to the start and why the Houston game is so important for Brennan: A win would quiet the ongoing chatter about “19 seconds� — the time remaining on the clock when Arizona regained possession at its 25-yard line with two timeouts and the score tied vs. BYU.

Two days later, Brennan continued to insist that the potential reward of trying to set up a long field goal or Hail Mary was not worth the risk of a turnover that could have put the Cougars in the same position.

In the interest of not dwelling on old news, let me put a fresh spin on a situation that’s still roiling UA fans: Do you trust your quarterback or not?

No Wildcat seems more trustworthy than Noah Fifita. Offensive coordinator Seth Doege said he wanted to put the ball in Fifita’s hands in the second overtime. So why not give him a shot at the end of regulation? Couldn’t the staff have instructed him to throw the ball into the stands if there was any risk of an interception?

Even if Fifita were called for intentional grounding, it wouldn’t have mattered; BYU had no timeouts, and Arizona still could’ve taken a knee.

Maybe the odds were slim. But there was at least some chance that BYU would never touch the ball again.