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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah vs. Utah State Postgame Quotes
9/12/2015 12:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2015
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Overall thoughts about the game:
Didn't play particularly well in any phase. Our defense shut them out in the second half. We didn't turn the ball over. I think we need to get a lot better. Special teams are sputtering along doing some things. Chuckie Keeton played hard, as did their whole team. Utah State is well coached and they play hard. They're a good football team.
On Travis Wilson and Hunter Dimick's injuries:
We won't release that. They are not done for the season. We don't expect them to be lost for the season. If they are, we will make that known.
On how he feels about Kendal Thompson:
I feel very confident. He did some good things for us last year and did some nice things tonight. He will be the guy in practice and he is a proven commodity. I think, for sure, he is all the way back from his injury.
On what he was happy with:
I liked the fact we got after the quarterback in the second half, not the first half. The play of the game was the strip sack by Pita [Taumoepenu]. I thought we tackled pretty well. We didn't control the line of scrimmage very well. We didn't get as much pressure on them as I'd like and Devontae [Booker] is having to break two or three tackles just to get five yards. We are nowhere near where we need to be there.
On Gionni Paul's interception:
That's the nature of Gionni Paul. He's a big-play guy. He's tough and instinctive. Instinctive guys have a knack to make those types of plays.
On Britain Covey:
I can't say enough about Britain Covey. He's tough as nails and he means a lot to our football team. That one punt return he did all on his own by breaking tackles. He will be a force on this team and a great addition.
He is so tough and we want him to be smart back there, but also make plays. He is trying to do everything he can to spark the football team. Sometimes you need to fair catch and he doesn't like to do it. I think the one he broke, he should have called fair catch but he broke some tackles and made a play.
On the offensive line:
We have to find five guys that can move some people around. We haven't done that two weeks in a row. We've been very average.
On Dominique Hatfield:
He gave up the one deep ball down the sideline. He had good position and the receiver made a play on the ball. It was a great catch. He needs to get in the rotation more and more as the weeks progress. He doesn't quite have his fitness back and he's a big part to our secondary. We welcome him back with open arms.
On defending the deep ball:
Except for the couple of balls that got behind us, on Reggie and Dominique, I thought we played well. We are having trouble with the underneath zones and we have to a better job matching up. We are a little disoriented with our matchups, the linebackers and safeties. We need to do a better job of recognition.
On winning the turnover battle:
It's the most important part of the game other than the final score. We know what our percentage of winning the game becomes when we win that battle. We stress it every day. Take care of the football on offense and turn them over on defense.
On Hunter Dimick:
I thought he played well. He did a nice job of contain on Chuckie Keeton, but you can't really fully contain Chuckie. It's impossible. He's too good.
On his interception:
I tried to read the quarterback's eyes and we knew about the crossing routes. I saw where he was looking and I jumped on the ball. I thought we sealed the game with that. Our defense put pressure on their quarterback and that's what got me the interception. On the injuries:
That's teamwork. That's our family. When one player slacks, another guy picks him up. Jared Norris
On the defense getting a sack:
It's a relief to get that first sack. It takes pressure off the defensive line. They can pin their ears back and relax. It's early in the season so they're going to get theirs. On Kendal's play:
I think he did a good job. It's always shaky when you get in mid-game when the starter went down. I think he came in, stuck it up and made plays. Ultimately that's what you need to do when you come in.
Honestly, we have a great quarterback in Kendal. The next man has to pick up the rifle and he came in and got us some points so I think he did a great job. The passing game is based on what the defense gives you and though we didn't have any big passing plays, we dinked and dunked and got the ball down the field.
On the injuries:
I don't think the energy was sucked out of us. We took a step back and realized that Travis and Hunter were hurt. We had to step up because two good guys that make plays got hurt. Kendal and Kylie [Fitts] came in and made big plays and that's a testament to our team. Devontae Booker
On getting 30 touches:
Coach Harding said at halftime he wanted to get me going. I took the punches and rolled with it. Their defense played hard and when I started getting more carries, they softened up a little. On patience as a running back:
It's very important to stay patient. To be a great running back, you have to be patient. You have to wait for the hole and be ready when it opens. On if it was a relief to get 100 yards:
I knew I'd get 100 yards at some point. We played a tough defense against Michigan and I thought I was close. Then tonight, I was able to get those yards. Britain Covey
On his returns:
I wasn't calling any fair catches because I saw opportunities to get outside against their punt return. We didn't quite get the punt return we wanted, but we had that nice one (a 30-yard return). On what makes him so dangerous:
I think our coaches put us in good position and we have amazing tools on offense that takes pressure off each other. We have great players that draw attention, like Devontae and Kenneth Scott. Opportunities are available for other guys to step up. Kendal Thompson
On his play with the offense:
I think we did okay. We didn't execute at a high level but the most important stat is to get the win, and we did. We'll watch the film and clean things up. I think we executed better. A couple of the other drives we shot ourselves in the foot. A bad penalty or something would stop us. On returning from injury:
It is a little different now. I have a little more experience with another year in this system. I was just ready to get in when my number was called and produce. After a long recovery, it felt really good to get out and play football. I honestly didn't know how it would feel once I got out there and took a hit, but it felt good.
Utah State Head Coach Matt Wells
On what his team can take away from losing close to a Top 25 team -
"It's a loss. We won't spin it any other way than that. This program didn't come down here to play good. This program didn't come down here to show improvement over game one. This program came down here to win a dadgum ball game. We came up short. I give Utah credit. I'm proud of my kids. They fought. This team's going to win a lot of games. We'll make corrections. There's a lot of good. There's a lot of things that need to get corrected, I already know that. We'll be very diligent in doing that and we'll continue to improve."
On his team's second-half play -
"What we did in the fourth quarter, we just didn't in the third quarter. We just struggled a little bit in the third quarter just getting in rhythm. I thought we picked it back up in the fourth quarter. You can't have two turnovers down inside the 30 yard line."
On Chuckie Keeton's progress from last week -
"Chuckie Keeton's a winner. You guys can see it. He can't even walk after every other hit and he battles. He's a warrior in every sense of the word, every sense of the word. He battles his butt off, stays in the pocket, scrambles, throws on the run. Not perfect, none of us are. We didn't coach it right either tonight. I've got to be better. But I love that kid. I'll go to the end with that kid."
On using more two back sets tonight -
"We've always played with two backs since I've been at Utah State in certain down and distance situations. We've got to get Devante (Mays) and LaJuan (Hunt) in the game a little bit more. I thought that set was decent for us."
On the defensive game plan when Thompson came in at QB for Wilson -
"It's going to be tweaked a little bit just because he's a dynamic kid with the ball in his hands. He's a little bit more of a run-pass threat. Maybe a little bit more QB run. Some of the power read things they did were smart on the perimeter with him. Kendal's a talented kid."
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