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The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes from Kyle Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference
9/8/2008 12:00 AM | Football
Sept. 8, 2008
Opening statement:
It's certainly nice to start the conference schedule off with a win against UNLV in our home opener. We had a great crowd on hand - the third-largest crowd in Rice-Eccles history. There were a lot of positives going on that night. We came away with the win but there was some similarity to our first game where our offense was effective in one half and not as effective in another half. We came out a little sluggish in the first half. Three of our drives stalled on a critical holding call, a turnover and a dropped pass on third down, but we also scored on two drives. It was not all bad for a half of football offensively but it was certainly not what it was in the second half. The second half was very good. Brian Johnson was very sharp and execution across the board was very sharp.
Defensively we did a pretty good job. We allowed a couple of sustained drives. Frank (Summers) is a good back. He had some success early in the game but we buckled down in the second half. We were much more physical in the front seven on defense than we were in the first half. It was another positive performance by the defense. We didn't create any takeaways and we've got to start making that happen. That doesn't do our offense any favors.
On special teams, Louie (Sakoda) had no field goal opportunities but he was perfect on PATs. He punted extremely well. We had a huge field position advantage. We found improved play in our return game. David Reed did a nice job in the kickoff return game. He almost had one go the distance. John Peel is our punt return guy. He had a nice return that gave us the ball inside the 30. For the time being, those positions are solidified.
We continue the in-state rivalry with Utah State at their place. We have had some tough battles up there. They are coming off a tough game against Oregon. I think Coach (Brent) Guy is doing a nice job up there. We seem to get their best effort each time we play the Aggies.
On injuries and the defensive tackle position:
We lost Lei (Talamaivao), who was Kenape's (Eliapo) backup. He has season-ending surgery this afternoon, but he has a redshirt year. For the time being we will have to look at Koa (Misi) or Derrick Shelby inside. We may leave the ends as they are and try to find another combination inside. Nai Fotu may play more defensive end. Dave Kruger may come out of his redshirt year and play defensive end. We will get that solidified this week, probably by Wednesday. When you start moving defensive ends inside, all of a sudden you are short defensive ends.
Robert Johnson, Zane Beadles and Corbin Louks are all probable this week.
On Utah's running game:
We like what we've got with the 1-2 punch of Darrell (Mack) and Matt (Asiata). Darrell was much more effective against UNLV and Matt had a long run called back at the end. It is working out as we hoped it would. We hope to get over 100 yards combined from both guys.
On concerns about the slow start against UNLV:
We did some dumb things - a turnover, penalties. With the clock change, the number of drives is cut down. You get a penalty and you shoot yourself in the foot a few times and there is a little more dramatic effect. We want to execute cleaner. UNLV came out and played well on defense - I have to give them some credit. They were making plays. In the end, we scored 42 points, and you're not going to lose many games when you score 42 points.
On Utah State:
Their main quarterback (Diondre Borel) is athletic. It used to be that we played an athletic quarterback two to three times a year. Now, every week we are facing a guy who can run the football well. The run game and the option game are our main concern from an offensive standpoint.
On playing at Utah State:
Utah State is a great place to play. Whenever we play there it is a packed house. A lot of our fans travel up there. We have great support at that stadium also. I really, really like the field. They have a great surface and their facilities have really been upgraded.
Players Mentioned
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