Upcoming Event: Football versus Idaho on September 3, 2026
Football
vs Idaho
.png&width=31&height=31&type=webp)
The University of Utah Athletics
Quotes From Kyle Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference
10/1/2018 1:45 PM | Football
Opening Statement…
"Tough trip to Pullman. We had our chances and actually made some plays at the end to win the game, but they didn't count so all was forgot. The guys played hard. They are a good football team. They had success throwing the ball, we had success running the ball and in the final analysis, they made a play or two more than we did and that was that. It was a tight game all the way to the end. I thought we had good plans coming in. I was pleased with the way the offense played to our strengths. We ran the football, we were physical. Defensively, we made an error with too much three-man rush. In hindsight, we should have turned our four guys loose a little more up front and not worried as much about the exotic coverages and that type of thing. We still held them to below 12 points of their scoring average, but that wasn't enough. We needed to do a little better job and offensively we needed to come up with one more score, which we weren't able to do. Life goes on. We've got Stanford coming up this week on the road. They are a good football team that is coming off a loss to Notre Dame, so they are reeling a little bit as well."
On how he thinks they match-up against Stanford…
"We are both traditionally physical and run-oriented teams. That is certainly the case this year with them. They are a run first team. Love is questionable this week in terms of status, but you don't worry about that stuff because everybody has someone that is hurt. They aren't going to change dramatically who they are because of that. We've always been able to stand toe-to-toe and slug it out with them."
On how hard it is to win in this conference because of the caliber of teams…
"It is very difficult. It is a balanced league and it seems like that is the case this year more than others. Although maybe Washington is the lone team at the top. Every week you have to bring your A game because every week it comes down to a play or two. Sometimes we are on the right side of that and sometimes we are not. It speaks to the leagues' balance. You have nine conference games and every week is a big challenge."
On Tyler Huntley's performance against Washington State…
"He ran the ball for over 100 yards outside of his sacks. He was 12-for-20, which is 60-percent, but we probably needed a little more production out of the throw game. That was maybe the thing we were lacking. We knew we wanted to come in and establish Zack Moss, which we did with 30 carries for over a hundred yards, but we needed to get something going in the throw game. And then when we talked about their throw game, it was their 89-yarder that was the play that ultimately made the difference in the game. As far as Tyler, he took care of the football. We didn't turn it over, which will always give us the chance to win if we take care of the football like that, so he did a good job of that."
On how he felt the secondary played against Washington State…
"If you take away that 89-yarder, then pretty darn good, but you can't take that away. They went for over 400 yards, which was around their average. If I had to do it over again, I think schematically I would have done something different. So, as coaches we need to do a better job at scheming for those guys. No matter how you scheme against them though, they have answers. But when you look at what we did throughout the game, and we adjusted and started going with four-man rushes, we had more success just being who we are."
On if there is a different in Zack Moss's production when the quarterback is under center as opposed to being in shotgun…
"There isn't a big enough body of work to make that determination, but I think going under center has helped us this year and added to what we are doing. We've got the play action game off of that and that has been fairly productive, not wildly productive, but it has given us some things there."
On what the difference as in the run game in the second half against Washington State…
"We just weren't as productive. I mean we scored three and they scored seven in the second half after quite a bit of scoring in the first half, so both offensives flourished in the first and were more held at bay in the second half. I don't feel like we deviated from the game plan. We kept feeding Zack and stuck to the plan and just didn't get as much going."
On if Washington State made any adjustments on defense in the second half…
"No, they played basic pretty much the entire game and did a good job. They play hard and they have those undersized guys up front that slant and move around some, but I think we did a decent job moving with them. We rushed for over 200 yards and usually when we rush for over 200 yards, we win, but not this week."
On how he felt Nick Ford did at center and on if Lo Falemaka is out for the season…
"Lo is not out for the season. Nick came in and did a pretty good job at center. No major breakdowns, but everyone has room for improvement. His pads are too high and there are things we need to go in and correct, but he got the ball snapped, which is the first step. For the second week in the row he has come in and filled in nicely after filling in at right tackle two weeks before."
On if they need to get back to basics on offense with running the ball more…
"Well I think we did do that this game, that is why I alluded to the fact that I was more pleased that we were finding our identity and playing to our strengths more on offense. Zack Moss is one of our best players and Tyler Huntley is one of our best runners and is a good thrower as well. I think we did gravitate toward that after straying from that for a little bit, so I felt that was more of who we are."
On if he worried the team is going to get down after losing two straight conference games…
"I hope not. This team has a bunch of tough guys. We have a lot of high-character and tough guys that work hard. We are still early in the season. Yeah we dropped a couple of conference games and Washington is a heck of a football team, Washington State is a good team as well. It is too early in my estimation to have any signs of that to show up. No matter what happens on Saturday, you come back on Monday ready to handle the next opponent, and my guess is these guys are going to do just that."
On if he is doing anything different with being on the road back-to-back weeks to prepare the team…
"You would certainly be home than away, but like I've said numerous times you have no control over the schedule and you are going to have some back-to-back road games. I don't think anyone goes home, away, home, away. It certainly compounds your problems with you take on tough teams on the road, but you just have to just deal with what is in front of you."
On if he is starting to understand where his team is and where he thinks they need to improve…
"Certainly. Defensively, I think we are very talented and are doing some good things. Special teams, I think we are starting to get on track. Unfortunately, the punt return was for not because the ref thought he saw something, so I think we know what direction we are going in. Offensively, Zack Moss in fairness was banged up until this past weekend, he is finally approaching where he is back to 100-percent. So you have to work with what you got and if a guy is not available and can't shoulder a 30-carry game, you can't do that."
On the fourth-and-five toward the end of the game that was a false start…
"Yeah they said it was a false start and was blown dead. Zack Moss made a great move and converted for a first down, that was believed to be a false start."
On any takeaways on penalties after watching film…
"Just that we have to find a way to get it cleaned up. Certain penalties like holding can be called every snap, but often times it is just misfortune when they call it. Some penalties can be much more damaging depending on when and where they call the play, so you just have to try and be better."
On Armand Shyne…
"He is earning more and more playing time. He made the most of his time against Washington State and gave us some good carries and some good solid runs. You earn your reps in this program and you aren't going to be given anything. Armand is starting to emerge and we hope he stays on that trajectory. It is up to him to determine if he is going to or not."
On there being no drops by the wide receivers against Washington State…
"It was a matter of concentration, partly. We simplified some things and I thought the receivers were playing fast and running crisp routes. They gave us some good stuff and that was good to see. That needs to continue along the course of the season."
On if he has some clarity on who he wants to redshirt this season through four games…
"A little more clarity. There is only about a handful of guys that are in the mode of do we play them in five games or not. Next week it will become even more clear when we hit that fifth game. We have a chart that we track and obviously when you hit that fifth game there is no return. So yes, when we hit that fifth game point, most of those six guys have played very little so far. So we don't have any real decisions to make just yet."
On Stanford's quarterback and how the game might change if Bryce Love can't play…
"Well he is a good quarterback. He does what they need him to do very well. Like I said though, I don't believe they will change much. They are who they've been for many years and I don't think that if Bryce is unavailable that they will change dramatically. They still have very capable backs and so maybe there will be a tad more throws, but I don't think it will be a whole sale change in what they do."
On his evaluation of the team as a whole four games in…
"Defensively, like I said we've been doing some good things. Our numbers are pretty good. I don't put a lot of stock in yet because there is still a lot of football to be played. I think we are starting to get our identity offensively and hone in on who we are there. I think we still need to be more productive. To beat a team like Washington State, typically you have to score at least 30 points and we were just shy of that. Special teams after an abysmal start we are starting to pick up some steam there."
Â
"Tough trip to Pullman. We had our chances and actually made some plays at the end to win the game, but they didn't count so all was forgot. The guys played hard. They are a good football team. They had success throwing the ball, we had success running the ball and in the final analysis, they made a play or two more than we did and that was that. It was a tight game all the way to the end. I thought we had good plans coming in. I was pleased with the way the offense played to our strengths. We ran the football, we were physical. Defensively, we made an error with too much three-man rush. In hindsight, we should have turned our four guys loose a little more up front and not worried as much about the exotic coverages and that type of thing. We still held them to below 12 points of their scoring average, but that wasn't enough. We needed to do a little better job and offensively we needed to come up with one more score, which we weren't able to do. Life goes on. We've got Stanford coming up this week on the road. They are a good football team that is coming off a loss to Notre Dame, so they are reeling a little bit as well."
On how he thinks they match-up against Stanford…
"We are both traditionally physical and run-oriented teams. That is certainly the case this year with them. They are a run first team. Love is questionable this week in terms of status, but you don't worry about that stuff because everybody has someone that is hurt. They aren't going to change dramatically who they are because of that. We've always been able to stand toe-to-toe and slug it out with them."
On how hard it is to win in this conference because of the caliber of teams…
"It is very difficult. It is a balanced league and it seems like that is the case this year more than others. Although maybe Washington is the lone team at the top. Every week you have to bring your A game because every week it comes down to a play or two. Sometimes we are on the right side of that and sometimes we are not. It speaks to the leagues' balance. You have nine conference games and every week is a big challenge."
On Tyler Huntley's performance against Washington State…
"He ran the ball for over 100 yards outside of his sacks. He was 12-for-20, which is 60-percent, but we probably needed a little more production out of the throw game. That was maybe the thing we were lacking. We knew we wanted to come in and establish Zack Moss, which we did with 30 carries for over a hundred yards, but we needed to get something going in the throw game. And then when we talked about their throw game, it was their 89-yarder that was the play that ultimately made the difference in the game. As far as Tyler, he took care of the football. We didn't turn it over, which will always give us the chance to win if we take care of the football like that, so he did a good job of that."
On how he felt the secondary played against Washington State…
"If you take away that 89-yarder, then pretty darn good, but you can't take that away. They went for over 400 yards, which was around their average. If I had to do it over again, I think schematically I would have done something different. So, as coaches we need to do a better job at scheming for those guys. No matter how you scheme against them though, they have answers. But when you look at what we did throughout the game, and we adjusted and started going with four-man rushes, we had more success just being who we are."
On if there is a different in Zack Moss's production when the quarterback is under center as opposed to being in shotgun…
"There isn't a big enough body of work to make that determination, but I think going under center has helped us this year and added to what we are doing. We've got the play action game off of that and that has been fairly productive, not wildly productive, but it has given us some things there."
On what the difference as in the run game in the second half against Washington State…
"We just weren't as productive. I mean we scored three and they scored seven in the second half after quite a bit of scoring in the first half, so both offensives flourished in the first and were more held at bay in the second half. I don't feel like we deviated from the game plan. We kept feeding Zack and stuck to the plan and just didn't get as much going."
On if Washington State made any adjustments on defense in the second half…
"No, they played basic pretty much the entire game and did a good job. They play hard and they have those undersized guys up front that slant and move around some, but I think we did a decent job moving with them. We rushed for over 200 yards and usually when we rush for over 200 yards, we win, but not this week."
On how he felt Nick Ford did at center and on if Lo Falemaka is out for the season…
"Lo is not out for the season. Nick came in and did a pretty good job at center. No major breakdowns, but everyone has room for improvement. His pads are too high and there are things we need to go in and correct, but he got the ball snapped, which is the first step. For the second week in the row he has come in and filled in nicely after filling in at right tackle two weeks before."
On if they need to get back to basics on offense with running the ball more…
"Well I think we did do that this game, that is why I alluded to the fact that I was more pleased that we were finding our identity and playing to our strengths more on offense. Zack Moss is one of our best players and Tyler Huntley is one of our best runners and is a good thrower as well. I think we did gravitate toward that after straying from that for a little bit, so I felt that was more of who we are."
On if he worried the team is going to get down after losing two straight conference games…
"I hope not. This team has a bunch of tough guys. We have a lot of high-character and tough guys that work hard. We are still early in the season. Yeah we dropped a couple of conference games and Washington is a heck of a football team, Washington State is a good team as well. It is too early in my estimation to have any signs of that to show up. No matter what happens on Saturday, you come back on Monday ready to handle the next opponent, and my guess is these guys are going to do just that."
On if he is doing anything different with being on the road back-to-back weeks to prepare the team…
"You would certainly be home than away, but like I've said numerous times you have no control over the schedule and you are going to have some back-to-back road games. I don't think anyone goes home, away, home, away. It certainly compounds your problems with you take on tough teams on the road, but you just have to just deal with what is in front of you."
On if he is starting to understand where his team is and where he thinks they need to improve…
"Certainly. Defensively, I think we are very talented and are doing some good things. Special teams, I think we are starting to get on track. Unfortunately, the punt return was for not because the ref thought he saw something, so I think we know what direction we are going in. Offensively, Zack Moss in fairness was banged up until this past weekend, he is finally approaching where he is back to 100-percent. So you have to work with what you got and if a guy is not available and can't shoulder a 30-carry game, you can't do that."
On the fourth-and-five toward the end of the game that was a false start…
"Yeah they said it was a false start and was blown dead. Zack Moss made a great move and converted for a first down, that was believed to be a false start."
On any takeaways on penalties after watching film…
"Just that we have to find a way to get it cleaned up. Certain penalties like holding can be called every snap, but often times it is just misfortune when they call it. Some penalties can be much more damaging depending on when and where they call the play, so you just have to try and be better."
On Armand Shyne…
"He is earning more and more playing time. He made the most of his time against Washington State and gave us some good carries and some good solid runs. You earn your reps in this program and you aren't going to be given anything. Armand is starting to emerge and we hope he stays on that trajectory. It is up to him to determine if he is going to or not."
On there being no drops by the wide receivers against Washington State…
"It was a matter of concentration, partly. We simplified some things and I thought the receivers were playing fast and running crisp routes. They gave us some good stuff and that was good to see. That needs to continue along the course of the season."
On if he has some clarity on who he wants to redshirt this season through four games…
"A little more clarity. There is only about a handful of guys that are in the mode of do we play them in five games or not. Next week it will become even more clear when we hit that fifth game. We have a chart that we track and obviously when you hit that fifth game there is no return. So yes, when we hit that fifth game point, most of those six guys have played very little so far. So we don't have any real decisions to make just yet."
On Stanford's quarterback and how the game might change if Bryce Love can't play…
"Well he is a good quarterback. He does what they need him to do very well. Like I said though, I don't believe they will change much. They are who they've been for many years and I don't think that if Bryce is unavailable that they will change dramatically. They still have very capable backs and so maybe there will be a tad more throws, but I don't think it will be a whole sale change in what they do."
On his evaluation of the team as a whole four games in…
"Defensively, like I said we've been doing some good things. Our numbers are pretty good. I don't put a lot of stock in yet because there is still a lot of football to be played. I think we are starting to get our identity offensively and hone in on who we are there. I think we still need to be more productive. To beat a team like Washington State, typically you have to score at least 30 points and we were just shy of that. Special teams after an abysmal start we are starting to pick up some steam there."
Â
Players Mentioned
OL
/ Football
QB
/ Football
RB
/ FootballUtah Football Head Coach Morgan Scalley Introductory Press Conference | 1.06.25
Tuesday, January 06
Utah Football Head Coach Morgan Scalley Introductory Press Conference
Tuesday, January 06
Utah: 44 vs. Nebraska | POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE | SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl
Thursday, January 01
Former Utah Football Head Coach Urban Meyer inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Wednesday, December 10