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The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes from Kyle Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference
9/15/2014 12:00 AM | Football
Sept. 15, 2014
Opening Statement
We're ready to get going after a bye week. We accomplished quite a bit during the bye week, as much as you can accomplish I suppose. Got some guys feeling better, healthy, we got three days of practice in, we got some recruiting in, so overall as most every bye week is, you try to make it as productive as you can, but it's good to get back into a game-week mode. We'll be heading to Michigan a day early. Any time we go a couple of time zones we go a day early, so we'll be leaving on Thursday and getting practice in on Friday over there and teeing it up on Saturday.
On injuries:
We sure hope Gionni Paul is good to go. He had some work last week in practice and looked like he's good to go. Barring a setback, he should be good to go for this week.
Jason Whittingham will not be available this week.
We were mostly able to use the bye week to heal bumps and bruises. We're in a lot better shape right now than we were a week ago today. In that respect, there are 2-or-3 guys who may not have played if we had a game last week but who will be playing this week, so it was good to us in that respect.
On the last time at Michigan in 2008:
Good memories. We started fast. I think we were up at halftime 22-10. It ended up being a close game at the end. We had to hang on for the victory. Great venue. We expect over 100,000, whatever they are going to pack in there. Our guys are excited. They are excited to go there and play one of the most storied programs in college football.
On Michigan:
We know they are a typical Michigan team. Good athletes all over the place. Physical up front, on the line of scrimmage, particularly the offensive line, very physical. Very good defensive line. #57 [Frank Clark] is a very good player - active, tough. They are a talented team, and we have to be ready to play our A game, without a doubt.
Their quarterback is a big strong kid. He runs the ball well. He's got quickness and athleticism. He's throwing the ball pretty good too. He's a dual threat for sure. Although he hasn't run a bunch yet this year, he's very capable and we need to make sure we have our bases covered. He's a really good athlete.
On Nate Orchard:
Like we talked about last week, like Trevor Reilly, what he gave to us in the different packages, right now [Nate's] going to be able to play outside linebacker in our base package, which we haven't found ourselves in much so far this season or last season, but Michigan, with some of their personnel groupings, Nate will be playing a little bit of linebacker.
He is probably the premier playmaker in the front seven. So far, through only a couple of games, he's as advertised. We needed him to come this year with the mindset that he was going to be one of the best pass rushers and edge players in the Pac-12 Conference and he's off to a good start.
On preparing for crowd noise:
We deal with crowd noise every time we're on the road. Our offense will practice with crowd noise, we pipe it in. There's nothing different or no way we can prepare any differently than any other road game. You talk to them about the situation they're going to be in. We have a walk through at the Big House on Friday. We'll go in there on Friday so that when we go in on Saturday it's not the first time they've seen it. Obviously, it's a lot different with nobody in the stands then when it's full. There are a few little things you can do but not much, you just have to prepare mentally and make sure they are mentally right when you go over there.
On defensive success and leading the country in sacks and tackles for loss: I think that speaks to the activeness and the athletic nature of our defensive front. We've got a lot of guys up there who are returning veterans for us. Like I've said before, we were among the national leaders in sacks last year. We play aggressive defense here, and it's good to show up in some of those categories. They aren't the most important categories, but they are certainly important. I think it says that our guys up front are doing a good job, flying around, and making plays when they are there to be made.
On defending the run:
In order to play good defense, you have to be tough against the run. It goes hand in hand. [Michigan] is averaging over six yards per carry. There was a more power run game in their game on Saturday than had occurred during the first two games. I attribute some of that to them not having their premier receiver on the field. But you have to be able to stop the run. If you can't stop the run, every game is going to be hard. You've got to be able to stop the run, and conversely, we've got to be able to run the ball with our offense to a certain degree of success or everything is going to be hard with our offense as well.
On the running backs, Devontae Booker and Bubba Poole:
It's been equal through two games. Troy McCormick was in the mix as well in game one. They separated themselves from Troy after that week and have put more distance in between them in game two. Right now they are on equal footing. If one of them becomes the hot back, we'll feed him the ball and see what happens, naturally. They will both play against Michigan. It doesn't really matter who starts, they are interchangeable. They are both going to get equal opportunity early in the game then we will see how it goes from there.
On Michigan head coach Brady Hoke:
I have a great deal of respect for Brady. I think he's a fine football coach. Defensive-minded. We only had a couple of years in the Mountain West. The style of football he likes is tough, hard-nosed, blue collar, and that's what he preaches and what he's all about, and you can see that in the play of Michigan.
Players Mentioned
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