Brent Brennan and Trent Bray have known each other long enough that the Arizona coach still calls Washington State’s defensive coordinator “Uncle Trent” to his kids. On Saturday, though, the old friends will be on opposite sidelines when WSU hosts Arizona in Pullman.
Brennan and Bray first crossed paths from 2012-14 at Oregon State, when Brennan coached wide receivers and Bray was a linebackers coach and graduate assistant. Brennan is 10 years older, but the relationship stuck, and the two have stayed close even as their careers pulled them in different directions.
“Trent is a really good friend of mine,” Brennan said. “We spent a lot of time together when we were coaching Oregon State, and we’ve spent a lot of time together since then as friends. He’s 'Uncle Trent' to my kids.
“And we’ve had a lot of fun together. Trent is an outstanding football coach.
That defense is physical, they’re sound, they fly to the football. He’s going to have those guys ready to play and I know that.”
Their last meeting came in 2023, when Bray was Oregon State’s defensive coordinator and Brennan was the head coach at San Jose State. Bray’s Beavers won that one in convincing fashion, 42-17.
Brennan has spent plenty of time in the Pac-12 footprint over the years. He first came to Pullman as a player at UCLA in 1993 and has also coached at Washington, Arizona and Oregon State. He became San Jose State’s head coach in 2017 and took over Arizona in 2024.
For Brennan, Washington State has only shut out an offense twice in his head coaching career, which has now covered 110 games. The first came against Texas in 2017.
The second came at WSU in 2018, when the Cougars beat San Jose State 31-0. Gardner Minshew threw three touchdown passes in that game, and the Cougars’ defense held the Spartans to 109 yards.
“They did a really good job kind of redoing that stadium,” Brennan said. “I think that was during my time at Oregon State, where they did all the upgrades to the stadium, in the end zone facility.
I don’t know if it’s the east or west sideline, their home sideline, they redid all that. But they have good fans.
People show up for that team. I think this is going to be a big game because we’re the first Power Four team to be going in there this season.
“I’ve coached a bunch of games there. We went up there with San Jose State, I think my second year, and got drilled pretty good with Mike Leach and that gang. But it was always fun when he was there, just because his pregame comments or his postgame comments were always so interesting and so entertaining.”
Brennan also broke down what Arizona is expecting from Washington State’s run game, pointing to a backfield that has spread the work around. Kirby Vorhees, Maxwell Woods and Caden Pinnick have each rushed for more than 150 yards, and all three have more rushing yards than Arizona’s leading rusher.
“I think they’re all a little bit different,” Brennan said. “And they do a good job mixing up the personnel packages, which is something that I think is really challenging.
Just making sure that you’re matching personnel when they’re bringing in heavier sets or big tight ends or going back to 11 personnel. So I think that’s going to be something that our defense is going to have to be on point with.
“And I think that obviously Kirby’s a smart coach. And so he’s going to be really creative with what they do offensively, with what his background is and where he’s been and the people he’s been around and what he’s grown up in.
And so we’re expecting to be really challenged that way. With different running backs, they also have a really good tight end that they’ll move around.
They have good receivers. They’ve got a playmaker in (Daniel) Blood that they’re going to move all over the place.”
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Arizona Faces Three Washington State Threats That Could Decide Pullman
Brent Brennan knows the trip to Pullman rarely comes with easy answers, and Arizonas third-year coach pointed to the usual road-game variables as the Wildcats prepare to face Washington State. The Cougars bring a few especially tricky matchup pieces into the game, starting with Woods, whose running style can turn a routine carry into a long gain and force a defense to stay alert for the explosive play.
Pinnick has also given Washington State a steadier presence at quarterback, giving the Cougars a more complete look on offense, while Thomas adds value in more than one phase with his work on defense and in punt returns. For Arizona, the challenge is not just slowing one threat but accounting for all three without letting the game tilt in Pullmans favor. [Read more 🡒]
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Brent Brennan and Trent Bray know each other well enough to make Saturdays meeting feel a little different than a typical Pac-12-style chess match, but the real interest for Washington State fans is in how Arizona handles the pressure points that have defined this matchup study all week. The Wildcats are trying to sort through offensive line adjustments while also protecting their quarterback against a defense that is expected to bring heat, and those questions usually tell you plenty about how a game will unfold.
Arizona also has to figure out its own approach at quarterback, because the Cougars are going to have answers of their own on the other side of the ball. The matchup breakdown points to a game shaped less by big-picture narratives than by a few critical snaps up front, where protection, pressure and decision-making could decide which team leaves with the edge. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona Brings One Big WR Question Into A Dangerous WSU Test
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Richardson missed the last game and is listed week-to-week, so his availability for this one is still unclear. That matters even more because Arizona has not gotten much going on the ground, with its rushing offense sitting last in the Big 12, which puts extra pressure on the passing game as the Wildcats prepare for a tough test against Washington State. [Read more 🡒]