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Postgame Quotes vs. USC
10/15/2017 2:35 PM | Football
Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
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"Certainly there are no moral victories in this profession but I'm proud of every kid in that locker room. I love them and they're a bunch of warriors and they never quit. And I'm proud to be their coach. We came up one play short to win the game. They made the play at the end to win the game and we didn't. That's the short version."
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I would not have switched the decision at the end. We played about 80 snaps on defense and had major problems stopping them, Darnold was on fire, and I thought that was the percentage play and if I had to do it again I'd do the same thing."
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"Zack Moss played the best game of his life as a Ute. Troy Williams stood in there and continued to fight and had a pretty good night. The defense, we did some good things and we scored on defense. In the second half we couldn't get out of third downs, missed some key tackles. We kept fighting and we feel we can play with anyone in this league without a doubt. To come to the Coliseum and stand toe to toe and have a great shot to win at the end, something to be said for that. But like I said, there are no moral victories. We have to move on and pick yourself up and get ready for next week."
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On what was the difference in USC's third down success in second half:
"Sam Darnold making plays and their receivers making plays. They made some spectacular catches and Darnold got himself out of trouble. We didn't sack him one time. He's very mobile. We did get three takeaways but zero sacks. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country."
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On the two halves:
"I know we had a hard time stopping them in second half. We didn't score until the last drive. It was a tale of two halves. If we make the two point play we're all sitting here thinking it was a great situation. But we didn't make the play."
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On Utah's offense in second half:
"They found ways to not move the chains and not to get into the end zone up into the last drive. I don't think it was one particular thing. We just couldn't sustain drives."
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On Utah's defense in second half:
"It was all of the above. We lost our eyes on coverage several times. We came off coverage in zone, lost some gaps on defense. We lost two DE at the end. We were down to guys getting all the reps. They just wore out."
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Utah QB Troy Williams
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On USC's second half adjustments:
"They started playing a lot of zone. They were getting hurt playing man. They went to zone and slowed us down. It was a matter of one play. It was a great game."
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On the two-point attempt:
"It was supposed to be a play-action, the tight end sneaking out to other side. They covered him pretty well and I just tried to make a play at the end."
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On his play overall:
"I feel like I had a good game. Not good enough. I felt like I did a lot better than last week, just the way I prepared myself. Hopefully we just keep grinding."
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On the momentum switch in second half:
"I didn't feel it slipping away. They're home and the crowd got loud but the team we have is unbelievable and facing adversity and with backs against wall, we didn't get down one moment."
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"They played a lot of two high and zone (in the second half). We still made a lot of plays but just it came down to one play. If we make that play it's a whole different conversation."
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Utah RB Zack Moss
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On the two-point conversion:
"As an offense we love the call. We just weren't able to execute as we wanted. But you want to see your coach have that much faith in you."
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"We jumped out early. We came out with a lot more energy than we did last week, but we didn't sustain that energy. You have to play for four quarters. We didn't do that today."
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"I don't think they kept me in check in the second half, I just didn't get the ball as much to make plays for my team."
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"Certainly there are no moral victories in this profession but I'm proud of every kid in that locker room. I love them and they're a bunch of warriors and they never quit. And I'm proud to be their coach. We came up one play short to win the game. They made the play at the end to win the game and we didn't. That's the short version."
Â
I would not have switched the decision at the end. We played about 80 snaps on defense and had major problems stopping them, Darnold was on fire, and I thought that was the percentage play and if I had to do it again I'd do the same thing."
Â
"Zack Moss played the best game of his life as a Ute. Troy Williams stood in there and continued to fight and had a pretty good night. The defense, we did some good things and we scored on defense. In the second half we couldn't get out of third downs, missed some key tackles. We kept fighting and we feel we can play with anyone in this league without a doubt. To come to the Coliseum and stand toe to toe and have a great shot to win at the end, something to be said for that. But like I said, there are no moral victories. We have to move on and pick yourself up and get ready for next week."
Â
On what was the difference in USC's third down success in second half:
"Sam Darnold making plays and their receivers making plays. They made some spectacular catches and Darnold got himself out of trouble. We didn't sack him one time. He's very mobile. We did get three takeaways but zero sacks. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country."
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On the two halves:
"I know we had a hard time stopping them in second half. We didn't score until the last drive. It was a tale of two halves. If we make the two point play we're all sitting here thinking it was a great situation. But we didn't make the play."
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On Utah's offense in second half:
"They found ways to not move the chains and not to get into the end zone up into the last drive. I don't think it was one particular thing. We just couldn't sustain drives."
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On Utah's defense in second half:
"It was all of the above. We lost our eyes on coverage several times. We came off coverage in zone, lost some gaps on defense. We lost two DE at the end. We were down to guys getting all the reps. They just wore out."
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Utah QB Troy Williams
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On USC's second half adjustments:
"They started playing a lot of zone. They were getting hurt playing man. They went to zone and slowed us down. It was a matter of one play. It was a great game."
Â
On the two-point attempt:
"It was supposed to be a play-action, the tight end sneaking out to other side. They covered him pretty well and I just tried to make a play at the end."
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On his play overall:
"I feel like I had a good game. Not good enough. I felt like I did a lot better than last week, just the way I prepared myself. Hopefully we just keep grinding."
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On the momentum switch in second half:
"I didn't feel it slipping away. They're home and the crowd got loud but the team we have is unbelievable and facing adversity and with backs against wall, we didn't get down one moment."
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"They played a lot of two high and zone (in the second half). We still made a lot of plays but just it came down to one play. If we make that play it's a whole different conversation."
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Utah RB Zack Moss
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On the two-point conversion:
"As an offense we love the call. We just weren't able to execute as we wanted. But you want to see your coach have that much faith in you."
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"We jumped out early. We came out with a lot more energy than we did last week, but we didn't sustain that energy. You have to play for four quarters. We didn't do that today."
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"I don't think they kept me in check in the second half, I just didn't get the ball as much to make plays for my team."
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Players Mentioned
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