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The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes from Kyle Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference
9/15/2008 12:00 AM | Football
Sept. 15, 2008
Opening Statement:
A nice win up in Logan this weekend. I thought we played extremely well defensively for the third week in a row. Whenever you limit an opponent like that it is a good day for the defense. Paul Kruger was very effective for us. His four sacks ties the school record. I thought the offense was improved, but it is still not where it needs to be. They showed more consistency and scored points, but we still have things we need to clean up. On special teams we had a solid performance in three phases, but that was overshadowed by the punt return performance. We did not handle that well at all. It was the worst punt return performance since I have been here. This week priority No. 1 is finding out who the guy returning punts is going to be. We are back to square one and going to try out 3-4 different guys and hopefully we will settle on someone.
On the injury front, we lost backup linebacker Matt Martinez to a bicep injury. We are still evaluating him. Other than that we came out pretty clean.
Air Force is up next. It's a tough place to play. They are coming 3-0 and coming off a nice win at Houston. They are their usual selves offensively - they are second (nationally) in rushing offense, second in the league in scoring defense and in the top four in total defense. They are very good in most phases of the kicking game. We have our work cut out for us. It is an important game as it is every week, but the key will be our defense and play disciplined, assignment football. We gave up a few too many points last year, but it wasn't a bad defensive game. We were not nearly good enough on offense last year.
On who will be looked at for punt returns:
Aiona Key, David Reed and Terrell Cole are our three headliners. We will look at 2-to-3 other guys in addition to that. You simulate in practice as best you can in a game situation, putting them under pressure defensively. It is tough to figure out why we had that issue on Saturday with more than one guy. We have got to get it fixed. That will cost us down the road if we don't.
Brent Casteel was a stop-gap measure. We'd rather not go in that direction if we can get away with it.
On the challenges of facing Air Force:
It's typical Air Force - they're not going to throw the ball more than 10-12 times most weeks. You've got to play the run just about every snap. You have to be tuned in to the option, play the run most of the time and hold up against the throw. They've led the league in third down efficiency a number of times the past few years. They get themselves into manageable third down situations and play the run effectively.
It is important to take advantage of offensive opportunities in the red zone. Taking care of the ball and possession is important against Air Force. We did a great job with that Saturday night (against Utah State). The bottom line is to force them to play catch up. The option attack is not geared towards catching up to a big deficit.
Their coaches have done a great job. They have the same gritty, tough disciplined athlete as they've always had. New looks have helped the theme. Before you had very few looks that you had to deal with. Coach Calhoun has brought in more formations that we've got to adjust to and defend. It causes you to have different assignments.
Last time we were there Louie (Sakoda) won the game on a field goal. Ben Moa scored in 2003 (in triple overtime). There have been some great games in the series. They got us here last year. One thing about those guys is that they continue to come at you more than any other team. You are going to get their best shot for a full 60 minutes.
There are two schools of thought when you play Air Force. Some teams like to grind and methodically match them, keeping their defense on the field. Some teams play wide open and spread out and usually have a speed advantage. We are still formulating our plan.
On the injuries at defensive tackle:
I think that is settled - we got very good production on Saturday. We moved Derrick Shelby inside, Sealver Siliga and Aaron Tonga played well and Greg Newman played the entire game. That combination is what we will stay with hopefully the rest of the year and we'll leave the defensive ends outside. Each week is a challenge.
On the weekend the Mountain West Conference had:
It is maybe the biggest week since the inception of the Mountain West, going 4-0 against Pac-10 teams. It goes to show that just because a team is supposed to beat a team doesn't mean it always happens. There's a lot of those each and every week. It was a great weekend for the MWC. We talk about wanting to gain respect and the way to do that is to go out and do exactly what we did on Saturday - beat quality teams from BCS conferences.
To have Mountain West teams recognized in the polls is a positive for the league. It's still early, but to have two teams ranked and another knocking on the door is a positive for the conference.
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