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Postgame Quotes vs. Washington State
9/29/2019 12:13 AM | Football
Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham Quotes
Opening Statement…
"Great to see our guys rebound after a disappointing tough loss last week. It was great to see our guys put together a complete game on offense, defense and special teams. Tyler was outstanding again. He's playing by far his best football since he's been a Ute and he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country in my opinion. On defense, that offense is one of the most high-powered in the country averaging 600 yards per game and 50-plus points and to hold them to what we did tonight was outstanding. It's great to go into a bye week with a win. You don't want to go into a bye week and sit on a loss for two weeks. We've got some momentum back in our favor. We'll go into the bye week and get some rest and hopefully get our tailback back and get ready for the next one."
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Shutting down their passing attack…
"Our secondary played much better. They wanted redemption because we didn't play well back there last week. We know we're better than that. This week, they came out with purpose. Give credit to Coach Scalley and the defensive coaches on having a great game plan. Showed them some looks we haven't showed before, but I'm sure they've seen them before. It worked and it was outstanding. Our best defense tonight was our offense. They kept moving the ball and moving the chains and making first downs. There was a lot of production out there and it was a team win. All three phases were working."
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On rushing for 200 yards without Zack Moss…
"The O-Line and the backs that contributed tonight, it's next man up like we always say. We're fairly confident we'll get Zack back for next game and that'll make us that much more potent running the ball. When he's not there, the other guys have got to pick up the slack which they did. Credit to the offensive line."
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On what was preparation like this week…
"Preparation was great. Everyone was dialed in. We have great leadership on this team. We haven't had a bad week of practice ever since way back in spring ball, so it's not like they've had bad practices. The leadership made sure they were very sharp this week. Our coaches made sure we kept them fresh and we weren't out there for a very long time. It's about them digesting the game plan and them going out and executing it. We were also much more penalty free this week and we took care of the football."
Â
On Andy Ludwig…
"When we brought Andy back, this is exactly what we envisioned. We've got an offense that begins with the run game which opens up the pass game. Moving Tyler around and changing his launch point. Running the quarterback occasionally, but not a ton. This is exactly what we hoped would happen and now we've got to keep it going."
Â
On Tyler's progression…
"Tyler is the team leader. He's doing things at practice you want to see your quarterback do. He's taking charge and making sure guys are lined up right and doing the right things. He's acting like a field general which is what you want to see from your quarterback."
Â
On Samson filling in for Covey…
"Samson did a nice job. He had one drop, but he's a very good football player. I was on him this week telling him this is his time. This is your time and you need to rise up. He's got a ton of ability being 6-3 plus and 200 pounds. He runs well and has a really good feel for finding space. He contributed and proud of him and what he did tonight."
Utah Player Quotes
QB #1 Tyler Huntley
On the impact Andy Ludwig is making…
"He's great at what he's been doing. He has been around a long time and has great attention to detail and that's what makes him great."
On if they missed Zack Moss tonight…
"We miss Zack Moss so much, but the running backs are doing a great job of stepping in and taking advantage of all their reps. We know that we miss Zack, so we need others to step up."
On looking like a more potent offense…
"We executed every play."
On the element of tonight's game he is most proud of…
"I'm most proud of taking care of the ball."
LB #13 Francis Bernard
On his interception…
"I was watching film all week and as soon as I saw No. 2 I thought this is coming right to me so I bailed out. The quarterback was looking at me and threw it and I made the most of my opportunity."
On whether he was surprised how much they slowed down their offense…
"Going into this week we worked our butts off and had a chip on our shoulder knowing what we're capable of. We put the time in this week, and came out today and showed it."
CB #1 Jaylon Johnson
On bouncing back from last week…
"We always have had a chip on our shoulder. I take that personal as a defensive back. We didn't have our best showing. We're the same team we've always been just fighting."
On last week being a motivation for this week…
"We couldn't sit there and sulk. Last week is what it was. We just came out and tried to get better and showed that today."
On being surprised at how dominant they were against Washington State…
"We knew what we were coming up against. He threw for nine touchdowns last week and we looked at it as an opportunity in the secondary and as a defense. We didn't do anything too fancy, but went out there and executed the game plan like we always do."
Washington State Quotes
Head Coach Mike Leach
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On how he evaluated his team's performance…
"It's difficult to say because you saw a pretty tough football team play a pretty soft football team. And it's difficult to say how tough Utah is because they had token resistance on both sides of the ball from us. We're very soft. We get a lot of good press, we like to read it a lot. We like to pat ourselves on the back. But if we get any kind of resistance, we fold. What's amazing about this is most of these guys were on this team last year and that was a tough team. Last year's team was a tough team for us. Then all of the sudden they're not tough. We're fat, dumb and happy and entitled."
Â
On if his team is lacking some of the leadership it had last year…
"I don't know if it's that. I think it's more individual than that. We've got a bunch of free agents running around that think they're pretty special. And as soon as something doesn't go their way they want to pout. I think it's more collectively soft."
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On how difficult it is to turn this into a tough team…
"I think that at some point they have to embrace the effort themselves. I think they have to look at themselves. What somebody is or who somebody is, is what they think about when nobody is around. And whatever we're doing with that right now is no good."
Â
On pass coverage tonight…
"We weren't even close. I think we're soft. I think we go out there and play street ball and do our own thing. I don't think we listen to the call necessarily. We have to examine how we're getting the calls in. I think on a certain number of the calls we got the calls in slow."
Â
On how QB Anthony Gordon played…
"He was about like the rest of them. He didn't pout at all. He tried to continue to lead. I thought he got aggressive and forced a few things."
Â
NT - Dallas Hobbs
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On the breakdowns in Washington State's pass coverage…
"Just miscues here and there and random mishaps and stuff. We just have to piece together a few things. We'll get back in Pullman tomorrow and we'll shape it all up and figure it out."
Â
On the play of Utah's Tyler Huntley…
"He's a good player in all. I feel like we should have put more pressure on him. We're just going to go back to Pullman and we just have to piece together a few things that we were missing, and we can handle a lot of things."
Â
On the team's tackling…
"I feel like we definitely stepped it up. We worked a lot in practice to get better at it and we're just going to continue to work at it. There's a few little things we just have to bring together."
Â
WR – Rodrick Fisher
On how the team gets tougher…
"We need to focus in on every play for every day that we have in our bye week. We need to lock in and focus in on those little things that we've been failing at, and continue to improve as a team together and play for each other."
Â
On what Utah did to complicate things for them…
"I don't think they did anything that complicated things for us. I think that our coaches had us very well prepared for the game and the game plan. The looks that we got were everything that we practiced in practice. I just think that we need to execute better as a team, as a whole, and focus on each play."
Â
Opening Statement…
"Great to see our guys rebound after a disappointing tough loss last week. It was great to see our guys put together a complete game on offense, defense and special teams. Tyler was outstanding again. He's playing by far his best football since he's been a Ute and he's one of the best quarterbacks in the country in my opinion. On defense, that offense is one of the most high-powered in the country averaging 600 yards per game and 50-plus points and to hold them to what we did tonight was outstanding. It's great to go into a bye week with a win. You don't want to go into a bye week and sit on a loss for two weeks. We've got some momentum back in our favor. We'll go into the bye week and get some rest and hopefully get our tailback back and get ready for the next one."
Â
Shutting down their passing attack…
"Our secondary played much better. They wanted redemption because we didn't play well back there last week. We know we're better than that. This week, they came out with purpose. Give credit to Coach Scalley and the defensive coaches on having a great game plan. Showed them some looks we haven't showed before, but I'm sure they've seen them before. It worked and it was outstanding. Our best defense tonight was our offense. They kept moving the ball and moving the chains and making first downs. There was a lot of production out there and it was a team win. All three phases were working."
Â
On rushing for 200 yards without Zack Moss…
"The O-Line and the backs that contributed tonight, it's next man up like we always say. We're fairly confident we'll get Zack back for next game and that'll make us that much more potent running the ball. When he's not there, the other guys have got to pick up the slack which they did. Credit to the offensive line."
Â
On what was preparation like this week…
"Preparation was great. Everyone was dialed in. We have great leadership on this team. We haven't had a bad week of practice ever since way back in spring ball, so it's not like they've had bad practices. The leadership made sure they were very sharp this week. Our coaches made sure we kept them fresh and we weren't out there for a very long time. It's about them digesting the game plan and them going out and executing it. We were also much more penalty free this week and we took care of the football."
Â
On Andy Ludwig…
"When we brought Andy back, this is exactly what we envisioned. We've got an offense that begins with the run game which opens up the pass game. Moving Tyler around and changing his launch point. Running the quarterback occasionally, but not a ton. This is exactly what we hoped would happen and now we've got to keep it going."
Â
On Tyler's progression…
"Tyler is the team leader. He's doing things at practice you want to see your quarterback do. He's taking charge and making sure guys are lined up right and doing the right things. He's acting like a field general which is what you want to see from your quarterback."
Â
On Samson filling in for Covey…
"Samson did a nice job. He had one drop, but he's a very good football player. I was on him this week telling him this is his time. This is your time and you need to rise up. He's got a ton of ability being 6-3 plus and 200 pounds. He runs well and has a really good feel for finding space. He contributed and proud of him and what he did tonight."
Utah Player Quotes
QB #1 Tyler Huntley
On the impact Andy Ludwig is making…
"He's great at what he's been doing. He has been around a long time and has great attention to detail and that's what makes him great."
On if they missed Zack Moss tonight…
"We miss Zack Moss so much, but the running backs are doing a great job of stepping in and taking advantage of all their reps. We know that we miss Zack, so we need others to step up."
On looking like a more potent offense…
"We executed every play."
On the element of tonight's game he is most proud of…
"I'm most proud of taking care of the ball."
LB #13 Francis Bernard
On his interception…
"I was watching film all week and as soon as I saw No. 2 I thought this is coming right to me so I bailed out. The quarterback was looking at me and threw it and I made the most of my opportunity."
On whether he was surprised how much they slowed down their offense…
"Going into this week we worked our butts off and had a chip on our shoulder knowing what we're capable of. We put the time in this week, and came out today and showed it."
CB #1 Jaylon Johnson
On bouncing back from last week…
"We always have had a chip on our shoulder. I take that personal as a defensive back. We didn't have our best showing. We're the same team we've always been just fighting."
On last week being a motivation for this week…
"We couldn't sit there and sulk. Last week is what it was. We just came out and tried to get better and showed that today."
On being surprised at how dominant they were against Washington State…
"We knew what we were coming up against. He threw for nine touchdowns last week and we looked at it as an opportunity in the secondary and as a defense. We didn't do anything too fancy, but went out there and executed the game plan like we always do."
Washington State Quotes
Head Coach Mike Leach
Â
On how he evaluated his team's performance…
"It's difficult to say because you saw a pretty tough football team play a pretty soft football team. And it's difficult to say how tough Utah is because they had token resistance on both sides of the ball from us. We're very soft. We get a lot of good press, we like to read it a lot. We like to pat ourselves on the back. But if we get any kind of resistance, we fold. What's amazing about this is most of these guys were on this team last year and that was a tough team. Last year's team was a tough team for us. Then all of the sudden they're not tough. We're fat, dumb and happy and entitled."
Â
On if his team is lacking some of the leadership it had last year…
"I don't know if it's that. I think it's more individual than that. We've got a bunch of free agents running around that think they're pretty special. And as soon as something doesn't go their way they want to pout. I think it's more collectively soft."
Â
On how difficult it is to turn this into a tough team…
"I think that at some point they have to embrace the effort themselves. I think they have to look at themselves. What somebody is or who somebody is, is what they think about when nobody is around. And whatever we're doing with that right now is no good."
Â
On pass coverage tonight…
"We weren't even close. I think we're soft. I think we go out there and play street ball and do our own thing. I don't think we listen to the call necessarily. We have to examine how we're getting the calls in. I think on a certain number of the calls we got the calls in slow."
Â
On how QB Anthony Gordon played…
"He was about like the rest of them. He didn't pout at all. He tried to continue to lead. I thought he got aggressive and forced a few things."
Â
NT - Dallas Hobbs
Â
On the breakdowns in Washington State's pass coverage…
"Just miscues here and there and random mishaps and stuff. We just have to piece together a few things. We'll get back in Pullman tomorrow and we'll shape it all up and figure it out."
Â
On the play of Utah's Tyler Huntley…
"He's a good player in all. I feel like we should have put more pressure on him. We're just going to go back to Pullman and we just have to piece together a few things that we were missing, and we can handle a lot of things."
Â
On the team's tackling…
"I feel like we definitely stepped it up. We worked a lot in practice to get better at it and we're just going to continue to work at it. There's a few little things we just have to bring together."
Â
WR – Rodrick Fisher
On how the team gets tougher…
"We need to focus in on every play for every day that we have in our bye week. We need to lock in and focus in on those little things that we've been failing at, and continue to improve as a team together and play for each other."
Â
On what Utah did to complicate things for them…
"I don't think they did anything that complicated things for us. I think that our coaches had us very well prepared for the game and the game plan. The looks that we got were everything that we practiced in practice. I just think that we need to execute better as a team, as a whole, and focus on each play."
Â
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
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