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The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes from Kyle Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference
11/17/2014 12:00 AM | Football
Nov. 17, 2014
Opening statement:
Good road win. Another good road win for our guys, as has been the M.O. all year, right down to the wire and beyond. Two overtimes. Just reiterating what I said after the game, proud of the way our guys continue to find ways to win and to slug it out till the bitter end and just keep playing. That's the bottom line, they just keep playing. Nate Orchard, a great individual performance. Leads the nation in sacks. Just a tremendous defensive end. One of the best, if not the best, defensive end in the country. Excellent field position battle won by our punt game and Tom Hackett in particular. He did an outstanding job for us. He leads the nation in punts inside the 10-yard line. Just having an outstanding year. A lot of good things on Saturday. The best of them all obviously is getting the win. Getting our sights set on Arizona. They come to our place. Last home game for our seniors. A lot of great seniors in this class. They have given us a lot of effort and really everything they've got over the last several years. We're going to honor them before the game. We're really going to miss those guys.
On the offense in overtime against Stanford:
Our offense had a lot of time to take a look at what Stanford was doing defensively, and when we got to the overtime there were a few things that we hadn't dialed up yet that looked good based on what we had seen in earlier sequences. A couple really excellent calls by Dave [Christensen] and excellent execution. The two touchdown throws from Travis [Wilson] were really the difference in the overtime periods. It was a nice little out and up to Kaelin Clay in the first overtime period and then based on what leverage we were expecting to see from the secondary, great job by Travis sticking the slant route to Kenneth Scott for the game winner.
On the possibility of getting an extra year for Kaelin Clay:
It's a remote possibility to get Kaelin an extra year. I think it's really a long shot. That being said, we are going to go ahead and honor Kaelin and we will take every possible angle we can to try to get another year for Kaelin, and if it is possible we will certainly pursue it. But it looks like a long shot, where as Tevin [Carter] we feel just the opposite, where he is just about as sure a thing as you can have and get an extra year. Never a sure thing until it's done but we feel really good about it.
On injuries:
It was one of our better games as far as getting banged up. There is a chance Jason Whittingham will play this week. It's going to come down to probably a game-time decision. We hope to have him for certain the next two games - our final regular season game and the bowl game - unless there is a setback of some sort.
On Arizona:
They are a very balanced team. I think that's the thing you can say about them. They are running the ball well offensively. They are over 300 yards per game throwing the ball. They are approaching 500 yards a week on offense. They are scoring points. Defensively, they are playing well in addition. They have a really good linebacker, Scooby Wright, who is one of the best in the nation. He's a really good player for them. They are a very balanced team across the board. There really is no area that they have a glaring weakness.
[Arizona quarterback Anu Soloman's mobility] is certainly a concern, and that is one of his strong suits. He's very quick, shifty. It's a lot like when you are playing Oregon and these teams that have a quarterback that is a legitimate running threat. Down and distance plays into it as well. There are certain downs and distances where you are going to turn your pass rush loose regardless of the quarterback. You have to be really tuned in to spacing in your rush lanes, lane integrity in the pass rush and that forces you to do that when you are playing a quarterback like Soloman. He's having a nice year - redshirt freshman is doing a nice job.
Rich [Rodriguez] has done a phenomenal job there. He's always been a great coach. The Michigan situation was unfortunate, but that doesn't diminish who he is and what he's capable of as a football coach. He's a guy who I've always had a great deal of respect for, and it doesn't surprise me what he is doing there, because he is a top-flight football coach.
On the senior class:
It's great. That was one of our primary objectives, was to send the seniors out the right way. Every single year you want to do that. It's been disappointing the last couple of years that our seniors have not been able to have that bowl experience. This group is going to. It's a group that really is, as most senior groups are, the backbone of this football team, from a lot of different standpoints, particularly the leadership. We've had leadership on this football team that is as good as anything that we've ever had here. That's a big credit to those seniors.
On honoring the Ute tribe on Saturday:
It's absolutely significant. It's great to be able to honor the Ute tribe in some different ways on Saturday. We're proud to wear the drum and feathers on our helmet. It is absolutely a huge deal to us. There is going to be some things going on at halftime, and we won't be able to see any of those things going on, but I'm glad we're doing it. It's a great way to recognize the Ute tribe and what they mean to our University and our football team.
On Jason Fanaika listed as the starter at both linebacker positions:
Gionni Paul will play. He's been hobbled this year. He's gone through a lot of stuff physically. Again, we don't ever detail that out. That's the primary reason. Plus, Jason's been playing good football. He's been a real pleasant surprise for us making that transition at midseason when we got so thin at linebacker coming from defensive end and playing that spot, and has done a nice job for us.
On winning close games:
I think it can be something that becomes the type of team that you are, being able to win those close games, and it becomes a mentality, is the best way to put it. Our guys have definitely developed that mentality through the course of the season. We haven't won every close game, we know that, but these guys believe that they are going to win every game that they are in. When it comes right down to the wire, there is a lot of belief on our team that they are going to get it done. And they have most weeks.
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