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Postgame Quotes vs. UCLA
11/16/2019 10:07 PM | Football
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham
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Opening Statement...
"Outstanding performance by our guys tonight. Proud of them. Offense and defense really both played well. That's a good football team too in that other locker room. They have got a lot of playmakers, the quarterback is special and we just played well tonight. Give them some credit because they have some guys out there that are talented and athletic."
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"Tyler Huntley was outstanding. Incredible completion percentage and yards per attempt was way up there. Zack Moss was outstanding. The entire defense – I think we created four or five takeaways and scored on one and set up another score so a lot of good things there. We were rough in the punt game tonight. That was not a fake punt tonight in the third quarter. We have a design in the rugby style punt where if he thinks it's there at any point, he can take it and just made a bad design. I'll take responsibility for that, at that point in the game I should've told him that was not any longer in a play. So not Ben's fault."
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"Other than that, like I said, great preparation by our guys, they worked hard at practice all week long. They stayed focused, blocking out all the outside noise and all the stuff that's going on and just paying attention to what they got in front of them. And that's what we need to do again this week."
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On whether or not Utah was the more physical team from start to finish…
"Without a doubt. And you really look to the rush yardage. That's your first indicator of physicality. We certainly won the rushing battle and controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage."
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On what allowed Brent Kuithe to be so open tonight…
"He's just a tremendous athlete and it's not anything we scripted differently other than he just happened to shake free more often than he had in the past. He has been playing really great football for us all year long, but he's a tremendous weapon. He's only a sophomore too. He's a tough match-up, I don't know if teams know really how to account for him because he can't be covered by a linebacker and even safeties struggle with him. Andy has done a great job. One thing Andy is, well one of the strengths of Andy is he puts guys in positions to maximize their ability and what they do best. And he's certainly done that with Brant Kuithe."
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On how to prevent fumbles in practice…
"We're flogging them, trying to emphasize that ball is everything. In all seriousness, we certainly give it a great deal of attention in practice. It's constant. We have turnover circuits and all kinds of things that we have in place to try and eliminate that. We've been pretty good all year long as far as winning the turnover margin, we haven't turned it over a ton but we have fumbled too much this year."
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On defense going 14 quarters without giving up a touchdown…
"Really good players. The front four is, I'm biased but I think is the best in the country. Linebackers are active and tough and making plays. Secondary is covering. Morgan Scalley is getting them in the right place spots and right locations and his staff is doing a great job with fundamentals and technique. You just add that all together and it's a pretty good defense."
Utah Player Quotes
DE #6 Bradlee Anae
On the defense starting out strong…
"I was excited when I heard we'd be up first. The whole Defense was. We just came out and laid one on them, and we found out who the more physical team was for sure."
On the defensive mindset…
"We just wanted to execute what Morgan Scalley had for us this week and do what we do week in and week out to prove to every team what we're capable of."
On playing physically and aggressively…
"When you play more physical, it opens up your scheme and other possibilities for the defense to make plays."
RB #2 Zack Moss
On moving in second on Utah's all-time all-purpose yards list…
"Andy Ludwig just kept putting me in position to make plays tonight. The offensive line and Huntley were doing everything for me and that helped out too. I wouldn't be able to do it without those guys. Things were just gelling pretty well for us tonight."
On running up the score…
"We just went out there and tried to win. We don't care what the score is. We just want to come out and execute plays and put in our best effort. It's not about the team we're going against, it's about us."
QB #1 Tyler Huntley
On having playmakers…
"It's great to spread the field when Zack is in the backfield. Then we have five people on the field who can catch the ball and it opens things up for us."
On whether it was an offensive or defensive game…
"All of the above. Everyone went out and did their job tonight. We have a lot we can improve on, but we all did great tonight."
UCLA Quotes
Head Coach Chip Kelly
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On how UCLA's turnovers impacted the game –
"To win in this league at minus four, it's probably not going to happen unless something bizarre happens. Against a good team like this, the No. 7 ranked team in the country, to lose the turnover battle, that's kind of what the game boiled down to. You can't give a team that good that many opportunities."
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On the impact of the four turnovers by Dorian Thompson-Robinson –
"I think it's everybody. Sometimes the quarterback takes too much of the blame when you lose and gets too much credit when you win. Part of it's on him, part of it's protection. There's a lot of things involved."
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On how their problems snowballed and almost seemed surreal –
"We control how we play. It's not the football gods or anything like that. We didn't play well against a really good football team. We need to tackle better. Zack Moss is as good of a running back as we've faced. I thought Tyler Huntley was very efficient. He did what they asked him to do. We just gave them too many opportunities. You're hoping that if can we score at the end of the half, you get to 14-10, but that didn't happen. Again, against a good team like this, you can't turn the ball over as much as we did."
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On what turned the game after they moved the ball early -
"Again, it came down to not holding on to the ball. But I thought we moved the ball pretty well against them and we tried to keep them off base. We knew that their veteran defensive line against our offensive line was going to be a battle. We tried to move the pocket a little bit and get Dorian on the edges. Good teams move the ball from the 20-yard line to the 20-yard line, but you have to convert when you get inside the 20. Our opening drive, we drove the ball down and we only got three instead of seven. We get it down there and then we take a couple of long sacks. You can't do that, especially against a team like this. We knew their defensive line was very good and we knew going into this game it was going to be important to protect the quarterback and we didn't do a good enough job of that."
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On if his team's play calling changed in the red zone -
"Everything changes. That's what everybody does. It's situation football. We had been a good red zone team up to this point, and today we weren't. That defense is very good, but it's on everybody and it's on the execution."
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Dorian Thompson-Robinson (QB)
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On how tough it was to overcome the turnovers –
"I put all that on me. I have to protect the ball better. As far as the offense goes, I didn't think we were clicking tonight. We had a lot of mistakes. Against a good team like that, you can't have those mistakes."
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On what happened after UCLA's early success –
"You know, they sent the house a pretty good amount of the time. There was a lot of pressure in front of my face. But I think we just couldn't find our rhythm. We were down there in the red zone and didn't get it done. Not finishing was pretty much the story tonight."
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On how tough it was to see the outcome –
"Obviously, especially knowing if we had not had those mistakes, had we finished in the red zone, we probably would have beat them. But we didn't and credit to them. They are a really good team and they deserved to win."
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On did their early success make Utah send pressure more often –
"Yeah, I'd say so. Just knowing I can run, they put the pressure on me and they wanted to see if our receivers could get open early. And once it worked they just kept sending it in and sending it in."
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Lokeni Toailoa (LB)
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On what decided the game –
"With a good team like this, with a good team like Utah—and first off, hats off to them—you can't afford to have mishits and mental errors, and having 10 guys doing their job and one guy not. Against a good team like this, at the end of the day, you just have to do your job."
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On if the team regressed to its problems earlier in the season –
"Obviously, it's a loss and every loss stings. There are things we have to correct. It is what it is and it sucks, but we just have to get back to the drawing board and correct this and get ready for next week."
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On if the team was looking forward to playing USC too much –
"I couldn't tell on that. We needed to stay in the present, and it didn't seem like we did a good job of that tonight.
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On what's makes Zack Moss so good –
"We have to tackle. We have to tackle and be where we are supposed to be. Zack Moss is probably the best back we've seen. But that's not an excuse. We have to tackle."
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Opening Statement...
"Outstanding performance by our guys tonight. Proud of them. Offense and defense really both played well. That's a good football team too in that other locker room. They have got a lot of playmakers, the quarterback is special and we just played well tonight. Give them some credit because they have some guys out there that are talented and athletic."
Â
"Tyler Huntley was outstanding. Incredible completion percentage and yards per attempt was way up there. Zack Moss was outstanding. The entire defense – I think we created four or five takeaways and scored on one and set up another score so a lot of good things there. We were rough in the punt game tonight. That was not a fake punt tonight in the third quarter. We have a design in the rugby style punt where if he thinks it's there at any point, he can take it and just made a bad design. I'll take responsibility for that, at that point in the game I should've told him that was not any longer in a play. So not Ben's fault."
Â
"Other than that, like I said, great preparation by our guys, they worked hard at practice all week long. They stayed focused, blocking out all the outside noise and all the stuff that's going on and just paying attention to what they got in front of them. And that's what we need to do again this week."
Â
On whether or not Utah was the more physical team from start to finish…
"Without a doubt. And you really look to the rush yardage. That's your first indicator of physicality. We certainly won the rushing battle and controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage."
Â
On what allowed Brent Kuithe to be so open tonight…
"He's just a tremendous athlete and it's not anything we scripted differently other than he just happened to shake free more often than he had in the past. He has been playing really great football for us all year long, but he's a tremendous weapon. He's only a sophomore too. He's a tough match-up, I don't know if teams know really how to account for him because he can't be covered by a linebacker and even safeties struggle with him. Andy has done a great job. One thing Andy is, well one of the strengths of Andy is he puts guys in positions to maximize their ability and what they do best. And he's certainly done that with Brant Kuithe."
Â
On how to prevent fumbles in practice…
"We're flogging them, trying to emphasize that ball is everything. In all seriousness, we certainly give it a great deal of attention in practice. It's constant. We have turnover circuits and all kinds of things that we have in place to try and eliminate that. We've been pretty good all year long as far as winning the turnover margin, we haven't turned it over a ton but we have fumbled too much this year."
Â
On defense going 14 quarters without giving up a touchdown…
"Really good players. The front four is, I'm biased but I think is the best in the country. Linebackers are active and tough and making plays. Secondary is covering. Morgan Scalley is getting them in the right place spots and right locations and his staff is doing a great job with fundamentals and technique. You just add that all together and it's a pretty good defense."
Utah Player Quotes
DE #6 Bradlee Anae
On the defense starting out strong…
"I was excited when I heard we'd be up first. The whole Defense was. We just came out and laid one on them, and we found out who the more physical team was for sure."
On the defensive mindset…
"We just wanted to execute what Morgan Scalley had for us this week and do what we do week in and week out to prove to every team what we're capable of."
On playing physically and aggressively…
"When you play more physical, it opens up your scheme and other possibilities for the defense to make plays."
RB #2 Zack Moss
On moving in second on Utah's all-time all-purpose yards list…
"Andy Ludwig just kept putting me in position to make plays tonight. The offensive line and Huntley were doing everything for me and that helped out too. I wouldn't be able to do it without those guys. Things were just gelling pretty well for us tonight."
On running up the score…
"We just went out there and tried to win. We don't care what the score is. We just want to come out and execute plays and put in our best effort. It's not about the team we're going against, it's about us."
QB #1 Tyler Huntley
On having playmakers…
"It's great to spread the field when Zack is in the backfield. Then we have five people on the field who can catch the ball and it opens things up for us."
On whether it was an offensive or defensive game…
"All of the above. Everyone went out and did their job tonight. We have a lot we can improve on, but we all did great tonight."
UCLA Quotes
Head Coach Chip Kelly
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On how UCLA's turnovers impacted the game –
"To win in this league at minus four, it's probably not going to happen unless something bizarre happens. Against a good team like this, the No. 7 ranked team in the country, to lose the turnover battle, that's kind of what the game boiled down to. You can't give a team that good that many opportunities."
Â
On the impact of the four turnovers by Dorian Thompson-Robinson –
"I think it's everybody. Sometimes the quarterback takes too much of the blame when you lose and gets too much credit when you win. Part of it's on him, part of it's protection. There's a lot of things involved."
Â
On how their problems snowballed and almost seemed surreal –
"We control how we play. It's not the football gods or anything like that. We didn't play well against a really good football team. We need to tackle better. Zack Moss is as good of a running back as we've faced. I thought Tyler Huntley was very efficient. He did what they asked him to do. We just gave them too many opportunities. You're hoping that if can we score at the end of the half, you get to 14-10, but that didn't happen. Again, against a good team like this, you can't turn the ball over as much as we did."
Â
On what turned the game after they moved the ball early -
"Again, it came down to not holding on to the ball. But I thought we moved the ball pretty well against them and we tried to keep them off base. We knew that their veteran defensive line against our offensive line was going to be a battle. We tried to move the pocket a little bit and get Dorian on the edges. Good teams move the ball from the 20-yard line to the 20-yard line, but you have to convert when you get inside the 20. Our opening drive, we drove the ball down and we only got three instead of seven. We get it down there and then we take a couple of long sacks. You can't do that, especially against a team like this. We knew their defensive line was very good and we knew going into this game it was going to be important to protect the quarterback and we didn't do a good enough job of that."
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On if his team's play calling changed in the red zone -
"Everything changes. That's what everybody does. It's situation football. We had been a good red zone team up to this point, and today we weren't. That defense is very good, but it's on everybody and it's on the execution."
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Dorian Thompson-Robinson (QB)
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On how tough it was to overcome the turnovers –
"I put all that on me. I have to protect the ball better. As far as the offense goes, I didn't think we were clicking tonight. We had a lot of mistakes. Against a good team like that, you can't have those mistakes."
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On what happened after UCLA's early success –
"You know, they sent the house a pretty good amount of the time. There was a lot of pressure in front of my face. But I think we just couldn't find our rhythm. We were down there in the red zone and didn't get it done. Not finishing was pretty much the story tonight."
Â
On how tough it was to see the outcome –
"Obviously, especially knowing if we had not had those mistakes, had we finished in the red zone, we probably would have beat them. But we didn't and credit to them. They are a really good team and they deserved to win."
Â
On did their early success make Utah send pressure more often –
"Yeah, I'd say so. Just knowing I can run, they put the pressure on me and they wanted to see if our receivers could get open early. And once it worked they just kept sending it in and sending it in."
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Lokeni Toailoa (LB)
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On what decided the game –
"With a good team like this, with a good team like Utah—and first off, hats off to them—you can't afford to have mishits and mental errors, and having 10 guys doing their job and one guy not. Against a good team like this, at the end of the day, you just have to do your job."
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On if the team regressed to its problems earlier in the season –
"Obviously, it's a loss and every loss stings. There are things we have to correct. It is what it is and it sucks, but we just have to get back to the drawing board and correct this and get ready for next week."
Â
On if the team was looking forward to playing USC too much –
"I couldn't tell on that. We needed to stay in the present, and it didn't seem like we did a good job of that tonight.
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On what's makes Zack Moss so good –
"We have to tackle. We have to tackle and be where we are supposed to be. Zack Moss is probably the best back we've seen. But that's not an excuse. We have to tackle."
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Players Mentioned
DE
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QB
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