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The University of Utah Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. Stanford
10/8/2017 12:28 AM | Football
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening statements…
"Credit Stanford, they were the better team tonight. They played better and deserved to get the win. We did not do enough good things. Scoring 20 points, you might win two or three games a year like that. We need to score more. Zero takeaways on defense. You are not going to win games with a minus-two turnover differential. That is unlike us. We can't snap the ball to the punter. We went through all spring and fall camp with no issues and all of a sudden, that is a big issue. We hung in there. Statistically, it was very even. We held them to only 14 first downs. We did a lot of good things on defense. Their running back is tremendous and we held him under what he usually gets but we did not do enough. We have to be more efficient throwing the football. You cannot win game completing 50 percent of your passes. We have our work cut out for us next week. We have to keep our heads up. There are no undefeated teams in the Pac-12 South so we are not sitting alone. We are tied with a bunch of teams. It's one 12-game season not 12 one-game seasons. Sometimes you get caught up in that but it is a marathon. Players have to keep that in mind. There is a lot of leadership in that locker room so my gut feeling is that they will bounce back."
On rebounding for USC…
"You need to dig down and rely on your work ethic. There are no secrets. It is a setback and you need to rebound. 50-percent of the teams lose every week and you need to bounce back. We have not had to deal with that the first few weeks and it is not the end of the world, but we need to come back with the right mindset Monday and our guys will do that."
On protecting Troy Williams…
"There were too many busts in pass protection. Too many guys were turned loose. I won't point the finger at any players. Point it at me and the coaching staff. We won't single anyone out. Stanford played a good football game. They took care of the ball, were stingy on defense and kept things in front of them."
On the offensive changing around Troy…
"There was a lot less from the run game, not counting scrambles out of the pocket. I thought the running backs played well. Zack Moss ran hard, especially in the first half because he did not have as many chances in the second half. Devonta'e Henry-Cole had two or three good rushes. There were a lot of positives, but not enough to win the game. Like I said, the lack of points and takeaways were the biggest factors."
On the quarterback spot next week...
"We will see. Cooper Bateman looked good in practice. He was not getting a lot of reps early in the season because he was the No. 3 quarterback. Now that he is No. 2, he is getting a lot of reps. We will see how he progresses. No positions are sewn up. You need to compete and meet certain expectations or we will make a change."
Utah Player Quotes
Utah quarterback Troy Williams
On what the issue was tonight for the offense…
"I just have to play better, bottom line. I have full confidence in my offensive line. I just need to play better."
On if he was thrown off by being flushed out of the pocket…
"It is football. It is going to happen. I need to play better."
On being down three in the final minute and the team's mindset…
"Our motto is 'fight until the end, play the whole 60 minutes'. We were unfortunate to not get the onside kick."
Utah linebacker Sunia Tauteoli
On Bryce Love's performance…
"Sometimes you are going to make plays and sometimes he is going to make plays. We as a defense have to stay strong. He is a good running back but we are a good defense. We could have done more."
On what happened during the long touchdown run…
"We just missed tackles."
On getting into the back field with regularity…
"The coaches give us the play call, whether we are blitzing or not. If we are in man and they are blocking, we are blitzing. I wanted to put fear in his heart when I hit him but they just came out better."
Utah running back Zack Moss
On the running game…
"We had a great week of practice. We prepared really well. We wanted to come out and dispel the rumors we could not run the ball."
On the breakdowns in the red zone…
"We need to be better. It was not one thing, it was us. We need to be better in that area because we have a history of converting when we are down there. We need to get back into practice and fix it."
Utah wide receiver Raelon Singleton
On the offensive struggles…
"We did not execute, plain and simple. We cannot blame the coaches or play calling, we just need to execute."
On whether the pass rush was the reason for the poor execution…
"I would not say that. We just did not execute."
What's the mindset heading into USC…
"We have a long season and it will not affect us in the Pac-12. We just need to keep winning."
Stanford Head Coach Quotes
Head Coach David Shaw
On the game overall…
"This is like a heavyweight fight when these two teams get together. Both teams are physical. Both teams run the ball. Both teams have big, physical offensive lines and big, physical defensive lines. We knew it was going to be a war in the trenches and it was. Give Coach Whittingham a lot of credit, those guys fight and scrap. We'd like to think we do the same thing."
On the two targeting calls against his team…
"We've talked about it, we've shown it so many times. I don't blame the officials one bit. You have to call those. We're at this day in age right now where if it's close you gotta call it. When there's contact and you duck your head and the other guy's helmet moved, those things are going to get called. We have to put the pressure on ourselves to continue to coach it, teach it, rep it better than we have."
On his team's quarterback play…
"Both guys played OK, played pretty well. Give them both about a B-. Both guys made some big throws, got some big gains in crunch time situations, and both guys missed a couple. We'll keep pushing both guys to be at their best every single play."
On Utah's defense…
"They are a great run defense. The stats say it, the film says it. You look at their personnel, and it looks like an NFL defense. They have big guys all over the place. They can all hit. They can all tackle. We knew with enough opportunities Bryce Love is going to break one of two of them ou
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Opening statements…
"Credit Stanford, they were the better team tonight. They played better and deserved to get the win. We did not do enough good things. Scoring 20 points, you might win two or three games a year like that. We need to score more. Zero takeaways on defense. You are not going to win games with a minus-two turnover differential. That is unlike us. We can't snap the ball to the punter. We went through all spring and fall camp with no issues and all of a sudden, that is a big issue. We hung in there. Statistically, it was very even. We held them to only 14 first downs. We did a lot of good things on defense. Their running back is tremendous and we held him under what he usually gets but we did not do enough. We have to be more efficient throwing the football. You cannot win game completing 50 percent of your passes. We have our work cut out for us next week. We have to keep our heads up. There are no undefeated teams in the Pac-12 South so we are not sitting alone. We are tied with a bunch of teams. It's one 12-game season not 12 one-game seasons. Sometimes you get caught up in that but it is a marathon. Players have to keep that in mind. There is a lot of leadership in that locker room so my gut feeling is that they will bounce back."
On rebounding for USC…
"You need to dig down and rely on your work ethic. There are no secrets. It is a setback and you need to rebound. 50-percent of the teams lose every week and you need to bounce back. We have not had to deal with that the first few weeks and it is not the end of the world, but we need to come back with the right mindset Monday and our guys will do that."
On protecting Troy Williams…
"There were too many busts in pass protection. Too many guys were turned loose. I won't point the finger at any players. Point it at me and the coaching staff. We won't single anyone out. Stanford played a good football game. They took care of the ball, were stingy on defense and kept things in front of them."
On the offensive changing around Troy…
"There was a lot less from the run game, not counting scrambles out of the pocket. I thought the running backs played well. Zack Moss ran hard, especially in the first half because he did not have as many chances in the second half. Devonta'e Henry-Cole had two or three good rushes. There were a lot of positives, but not enough to win the game. Like I said, the lack of points and takeaways were the biggest factors."
On the quarterback spot next week...
"We will see. Cooper Bateman looked good in practice. He was not getting a lot of reps early in the season because he was the No. 3 quarterback. Now that he is No. 2, he is getting a lot of reps. We will see how he progresses. No positions are sewn up. You need to compete and meet certain expectations or we will make a change."
Utah Player Quotes
Utah quarterback Troy Williams
On what the issue was tonight for the offense…
"I just have to play better, bottom line. I have full confidence in my offensive line. I just need to play better."
On if he was thrown off by being flushed out of the pocket…
"It is football. It is going to happen. I need to play better."
On being down three in the final minute and the team's mindset…
"Our motto is 'fight until the end, play the whole 60 minutes'. We were unfortunate to not get the onside kick."
Utah linebacker Sunia Tauteoli
On Bryce Love's performance…
"Sometimes you are going to make plays and sometimes he is going to make plays. We as a defense have to stay strong. He is a good running back but we are a good defense. We could have done more."
On what happened during the long touchdown run…
"We just missed tackles."
On getting into the back field with regularity…
"The coaches give us the play call, whether we are blitzing or not. If we are in man and they are blocking, we are blitzing. I wanted to put fear in his heart when I hit him but they just came out better."
Utah running back Zack Moss
On the running game…
"We had a great week of practice. We prepared really well. We wanted to come out and dispel the rumors we could not run the ball."
On the breakdowns in the red zone…
"We need to be better. It was not one thing, it was us. We need to be better in that area because we have a history of converting when we are down there. We need to get back into practice and fix it."
Utah wide receiver Raelon Singleton
On the offensive struggles…
"We did not execute, plain and simple. We cannot blame the coaches or play calling, we just need to execute."
On whether the pass rush was the reason for the poor execution…
"I would not say that. We just did not execute."
What's the mindset heading into USC…
"We have a long season and it will not affect us in the Pac-12. We just need to keep winning."
Stanford Head Coach Quotes
Head Coach David Shaw
On the game overall…
"This is like a heavyweight fight when these two teams get together. Both teams are physical. Both teams run the ball. Both teams have big, physical offensive lines and big, physical defensive lines. We knew it was going to be a war in the trenches and it was. Give Coach Whittingham a lot of credit, those guys fight and scrap. We'd like to think we do the same thing."
On the two targeting calls against his team…
"We've talked about it, we've shown it so many times. I don't blame the officials one bit. You have to call those. We're at this day in age right now where if it's close you gotta call it. When there's contact and you duck your head and the other guy's helmet moved, those things are going to get called. We have to put the pressure on ourselves to continue to coach it, teach it, rep it better than we have."
On his team's quarterback play…
"Both guys played OK, played pretty well. Give them both about a B-. Both guys made some big throws, got some big gains in crunch time situations, and both guys missed a couple. We'll keep pushing both guys to be at their best every single play."
On Utah's defense…
"They are a great run defense. The stats say it, the film says it. You look at their personnel, and it looks like an NFL defense. They have big guys all over the place. They can all hit. They can all tackle. We knew with enough opportunities Bryce Love is going to break one of two of them ou
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Players Mentioned
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