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The University of Utah Athletics
Postgame Quotes vs. USC
10/20/2018 10:15 PM | Football
UTAH QUOTES
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening statement…
"Proud of our guys. Great effort. Players and assistant coaches did a great job preparing for this game and working hard all week long. We came out and handled adversity getting down 14-0 early in the game. We didn't flinch. I think we had 34 unanswered points. Physical performance by our guys. Did a great job on both sides of the football. Did a good job defending the run and running the ball. Tyler did a great job running our offense. He's really settled into a rhythm and is playing with a great deal of confidence. Third straight game scoring over 40 points. Lot of positives. Two special team errors towards the end that are inexcusable. We'll clean that up. Turned the ball over on the punt return and had a blocked punt. Two plays that should never happen. That's disappointing, but overall big win for our program. Every week is as big as the last or the next. It's one after another and that's how this league is. The nature of this league is it's very competitive and you have to be ready to play every single week. Just proud of our guys and coaches. We've got some momentum right now. We built upon the last two wins and we'll enjoy it for 12 hours and get on to the next guys."
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On where he has seen Tyler Huntley progress the most…
"Honestly everything. He's running the ball exceptionally well. His ability to escape speaks to his athleticism. Going through his pass protections and making great decisions in the zone read. He's taking care of the football. Close to 70 percent completion tonight. Very balanced offense. We had almost 400 yards and the defense was suffocating. That was great to see. We have a lot of good players on that defense and Coach Scalley and Coach Anderson, Coach Powell, Coach Ena and Coach Shah do a great job of getting them ready. I thought Troy called an outstanding game offensively. Like I said, the only negatives I can find are those two special teams mistakes."
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On what is unique about this year's defense…
"We have a lot of good players and don't really have a weakness. It's a very talented group and they believe in each other. Coach Scalley has done a great job of molding those guys. Bringing Gary on was big for that defensive front and they are fast. Those two inside backers are 4.5 flat guys. You can see him run down things where in years past we may not have been able to run down. The front is playing exceptionally well. Those two tackles had some good reps tonight. The emergence of Max Tupai is one of the best developments of the season."
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On how critical the third down defense was…
"Well it's huge. That's essentially a mini turnover. They weren't good in the game overall on third downs. Third down is critical when you win that down. First and second down sets up third down and that's the money down and our guys have been doing a great job of playing on third downs."
On how it feels to get past USC…
"It's good to beat them and stay in the race. We all know our backs are against the wall. Just about everyone in the south has two losses at least. It's exciting. That's Pac-12 football at its finest. It's a shame because we cannibalize each other, and odds are no one will get to the playoff. That's not the point right now though, but that speaks to the competition level in the conference."
#18 Britain Covey
On how well the offense produced tonight…
"We had a great game plan. We were really comfortable with what we were doing. Shout out to Tyler. He played a heck of a game and made some plays that if we don't make it's a really close game. That's the one thing you can't teach a quarterback and that's what he has."
On how critical the early touchdown was by him…
"It was important. The one thing Coach Whittingham says before every game is there is going to be adversity at some point. The key is when you get hit with that is that you don't freak out and you recognize it for what it is. I really went into that drive saying one play can change the momentum of the whole game and we came away with some big plays."
Â
On what is being Tyler's success…
"Confidence in himself, and the coaches are doing great at putting him in comfortable situations. I'd love to play quarterback for Coach Taylor because he's so positive. Tyler doesn't play to not make a mistake, he plays to do well."
#22 Chase Hansen
On how the defense came together tonight…
"We've always had a lot of confidence in our defense and the guys we have on there. I feel like our position groups are balling out. We have a great defensive line and secondary. Cody and I are holding things down in the middle and it's a lot of fun when everyone is doing their job. I feel like we've got a good squad. We're game to go up against any offense and USC has a good offense with some good athletes."
Â
On how he would describe the defensive game plan…
"We try and do what we do. Coach Scalley is one of the smartest football minds I've ever been around. He knows every little thing about that offense going in. Initially we wanted to shut down the run and shut down the deep balls. We know they like to take shots and that first one stunk but our secondary killed it."
On his interception…
"Javelin made a play on the ball. He had great coverage on the guy and it kind of popped up. It kind of fumbled around for a second and then I came up with it. I just try to run to the ball and good things happen."
#1 Tyler Huntley
On how it felt getting the passing game going…
"It feels great. I think it's just a matter of us executing and we've been doing a great job of that."
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On how everything seemed to click tonight…
"No matter who we play, we have to go out and execute. That shows we tried to execute on every play that was presented to us. We just took one play at a time."
On how it feels to beat USC…
 "It gets us closer to our goals and we went 1-0 on the week. It always feels good when you go 1-0 on the week."
On his mindset when they were down 14-0…
"We aren't losing."
USC QUOTES
Head Coach Clay Helton
On the game overall…
"Obviously, not our best night. All the credit goes to Utah. I thought they put a good plan together and played better than us. We made mistakes on both sides of the ball. We have the opportunity to go back home, watch this tape, get the corrections made, and get ready for Arizona State as fast as possible. The fact of the matter is we have a three-horse race with three teams sitting at the top right now with Utah, us and Colorado. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves."
On if he feels he's getting the most out of this team…
"I love their effort. Obviously, I'm going to put everything on me as far as our performance. My job as the head coach is to make sure that we are performing at a high level. We didn't do enough tonight to win the football game, a very critical football game for this stretch run the Pac-12. Give credit to Utah, they did a good job tonight. It's my job to make sure over these last games that we are in a position to win the south, and that is what I am going to do each and every day."
On what needs to change with his team…
"Right now, tonight, what I saw was we put a lot of stress on our defense with three-and-outs. Early, we get up 14 to nothing, which is exactly where we wanted to be. Then we made some mistakes that allowed Utah to get back in it and get back in their game, which is being able to run it and use play action, rather than being a drop back pass team. Credit them. I thought they made a great play on a ball to get a turnover deep inside the red zone and then they got back in the game."
On Utah's defense…
"I thought they did a nice job with their defensive front. The played a lot more cover two than I thought they'd play tonight. Their front did great and we did not run the ball to our capability and that's on me."
On why he made a change at quarterback…
""JT [Daniles] got hurt. He got dinged in the head."
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Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening statement…
"Proud of our guys. Great effort. Players and assistant coaches did a great job preparing for this game and working hard all week long. We came out and handled adversity getting down 14-0 early in the game. We didn't flinch. I think we had 34 unanswered points. Physical performance by our guys. Did a great job on both sides of the football. Did a good job defending the run and running the ball. Tyler did a great job running our offense. He's really settled into a rhythm and is playing with a great deal of confidence. Third straight game scoring over 40 points. Lot of positives. Two special team errors towards the end that are inexcusable. We'll clean that up. Turned the ball over on the punt return and had a blocked punt. Two plays that should never happen. That's disappointing, but overall big win for our program. Every week is as big as the last or the next. It's one after another and that's how this league is. The nature of this league is it's very competitive and you have to be ready to play every single week. Just proud of our guys and coaches. We've got some momentum right now. We built upon the last two wins and we'll enjoy it for 12 hours and get on to the next guys."
Â
On where he has seen Tyler Huntley progress the most…
"Honestly everything. He's running the ball exceptionally well. His ability to escape speaks to his athleticism. Going through his pass protections and making great decisions in the zone read. He's taking care of the football. Close to 70 percent completion tonight. Very balanced offense. We had almost 400 yards and the defense was suffocating. That was great to see. We have a lot of good players on that defense and Coach Scalley and Coach Anderson, Coach Powell, Coach Ena and Coach Shah do a great job of getting them ready. I thought Troy called an outstanding game offensively. Like I said, the only negatives I can find are those two special teams mistakes."
Â
On what is unique about this year's defense…
"We have a lot of good players and don't really have a weakness. It's a very talented group and they believe in each other. Coach Scalley has done a great job of molding those guys. Bringing Gary on was big for that defensive front and they are fast. Those two inside backers are 4.5 flat guys. You can see him run down things where in years past we may not have been able to run down. The front is playing exceptionally well. Those two tackles had some good reps tonight. The emergence of Max Tupai is one of the best developments of the season."
Â
On how critical the third down defense was…
"Well it's huge. That's essentially a mini turnover. They weren't good in the game overall on third downs. Third down is critical when you win that down. First and second down sets up third down and that's the money down and our guys have been doing a great job of playing on third downs."
On how it feels to get past USC…
"It's good to beat them and stay in the race. We all know our backs are against the wall. Just about everyone in the south has two losses at least. It's exciting. That's Pac-12 football at its finest. It's a shame because we cannibalize each other, and odds are no one will get to the playoff. That's not the point right now though, but that speaks to the competition level in the conference."
#18 Britain Covey
On how well the offense produced tonight…
"We had a great game plan. We were really comfortable with what we were doing. Shout out to Tyler. He played a heck of a game and made some plays that if we don't make it's a really close game. That's the one thing you can't teach a quarterback and that's what he has."
On how critical the early touchdown was by him…
"It was important. The one thing Coach Whittingham says before every game is there is going to be adversity at some point. The key is when you get hit with that is that you don't freak out and you recognize it for what it is. I really went into that drive saying one play can change the momentum of the whole game and we came away with some big plays."
Â
On what is being Tyler's success…
"Confidence in himself, and the coaches are doing great at putting him in comfortable situations. I'd love to play quarterback for Coach Taylor because he's so positive. Tyler doesn't play to not make a mistake, he plays to do well."
#22 Chase Hansen
On how the defense came together tonight…
"We've always had a lot of confidence in our defense and the guys we have on there. I feel like our position groups are balling out. We have a great defensive line and secondary. Cody and I are holding things down in the middle and it's a lot of fun when everyone is doing their job. I feel like we've got a good squad. We're game to go up against any offense and USC has a good offense with some good athletes."
Â
On how he would describe the defensive game plan…
"We try and do what we do. Coach Scalley is one of the smartest football minds I've ever been around. He knows every little thing about that offense going in. Initially we wanted to shut down the run and shut down the deep balls. We know they like to take shots and that first one stunk but our secondary killed it."
On his interception…
"Javelin made a play on the ball. He had great coverage on the guy and it kind of popped up. It kind of fumbled around for a second and then I came up with it. I just try to run to the ball and good things happen."
#1 Tyler Huntley
On how it felt getting the passing game going…
"It feels great. I think it's just a matter of us executing and we've been doing a great job of that."
Â
On how everything seemed to click tonight…
"No matter who we play, we have to go out and execute. That shows we tried to execute on every play that was presented to us. We just took one play at a time."
On how it feels to beat USC…
 "It gets us closer to our goals and we went 1-0 on the week. It always feels good when you go 1-0 on the week."
On his mindset when they were down 14-0…
"We aren't losing."
USC QUOTES
Head Coach Clay Helton
On the game overall…
"Obviously, not our best night. All the credit goes to Utah. I thought they put a good plan together and played better than us. We made mistakes on both sides of the ball. We have the opportunity to go back home, watch this tape, get the corrections made, and get ready for Arizona State as fast as possible. The fact of the matter is we have a three-horse race with three teams sitting at the top right now with Utah, us and Colorado. We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves."
On if he feels he's getting the most out of this team…
"I love their effort. Obviously, I'm going to put everything on me as far as our performance. My job as the head coach is to make sure that we are performing at a high level. We didn't do enough tonight to win the football game, a very critical football game for this stretch run the Pac-12. Give credit to Utah, they did a good job tonight. It's my job to make sure over these last games that we are in a position to win the south, and that is what I am going to do each and every day."
On what needs to change with his team…
"Right now, tonight, what I saw was we put a lot of stress on our defense with three-and-outs. Early, we get up 14 to nothing, which is exactly where we wanted to be. Then we made some mistakes that allowed Utah to get back in it and get back in their game, which is being able to run it and use play action, rather than being a drop back pass team. Credit them. I thought they made a great play on a ball to get a turnover deep inside the red zone and then they got back in the game."
On Utah's defense…
"I thought they did a nice job with their defensive front. The played a lot more cover two than I thought they'd play tonight. Their front did great and we did not run the ball to our capability and that's on me."
On why he made a change at quarterback…
""JT [Daniles] got hurt. He got dinged in the head."
Â
Players Mentioned
Crimson Corner with Bill Riley - Baylor's John Morris & Utah Track & Field Head Coach Kyle Kepler
Wednesday, November 12
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham weekly press conference - 11.10.25
Monday, November 10
Crimson Corner with Bill Riley - Utah Football's Mana Carvalho & Blake Cotton
Wednesday, November 05
Utah: 45, Cincinnati: 14 | POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Saturday, November 01