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Postgame Quotes: Utah vs. Oregon
10/28/2023 5:31 PM | Football
UTAH QUOTES
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement…
"Not a lot of positives in that game for us. That's as thoroughly as we've been beaten in a long time, particularly at home. [I] give Oregon credit, they're a complete football team, just like I've been saying all week long. Size, quickness, athleticism, depth, all sides of the ball. They took it to us, we didn't get much done in any phase of the game. The two emphases were to win the line of scrimmage and to win the turnover battle and we didn't do either of those, among a lot of other things we didn't do. But again, they're very deserving of their ranking, they took it to us today. We have to regroup, get back into the film on Monday and figure out what our deficiencies were, which appear to be a lot. We had a good week of preparation, practices were really good last week, we just couldn't get anything going tonight. Credit to Dan Lanning for what he's getting done up there. For us, don't want to say back to the drawing board, but we have to figure things out. Good teams respond and we will respond. I've got a lot of players in that locker room that are very disappointed obviously. We have to come back. Sometimes you get knocked down on your butt in life and you have to pick yourself up and come back, and regroup, and just figure things out and get things going the next week. That's where we're at right now, we've got a lot of football left. We have to regroup, pick ourselves up and get back on track."
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On coming back from a tough loss…
"Well, in adversity and tough times like this we build character and I believe we've got a lot of character in our locker room. A lot of guys that are very prideful and we'll come back and respond and work harder this week and work to get back on track. If you get beat like that you don't want to go in and barrage your team, what happened out there was enough. You've got to still believe in them, which I do believe in them, I believe in the coaches. It's one football game and we don't want to overreact, but we didn't play very well."
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On injured players and working with replacements catching up to the team…
"Nobody cares if you're injured. I never want to play that card. Whatever guys you've got, you have to figure it out and make the most with what you've got around. Certainly, we're missing a lot of good players we wish we had, but a lot of teams in the country are in the same boat. There are teams that are also missing a lot of players. Injuries are an unfortunate part of this game. My least favorite part of the game and this job is seeing these young men get hurt. But to answer the question, we've got to make do with what we have."
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On learning from coming off a loss like today and having to play next week…
"Sure we will. We did that after Oregon State. It's one team that's going to go undefeated in the season, maybe not even one. Everyone is going to be in that same situation, and you have to resolve and pick yourself up and just keep swinging."
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On biggest thing the team lacked…
"Not winning the line of scrimmage. Them [Oregon] being more physical. We very rarely get out-physical but today we got out-physical. If I had to say what was the single biggest problem in the entire game, that was it."
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On Oregon's tempo throwing off the team…
"Not really the tempo, the quarterback was lights-out and the running game was strong. It wasn't really the tempo that did its thing it was the lack of our physicality not matching their physicality, as mentioned, not tackling well enough, and Bo Nix being an extremely accurate thrower. I think he's leading the nation and if not he's up there close."
#16 Bryson Barnes, Quarterback
On Oregon's defensive performance…
"I just feel like they were doing a good job covering things, getting to the quarterback. But you know at the end of the day, we'll just find out on Monday and find out where we need to get better."
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On the cause of offensive turnovers: offensive difficulty or strong Oregon defense…
"I would say it's both, at the same time, if it's a bad play from a quarterback perspective, it's a bad play. Got to protect the ball, protect the team, can't be giving the ball away."
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#17 Devaughn Vele, Wide Receiver
On how injuries impacted the team's performance…
"I personally don't believe so. We got a lot of guys in that locker room that are hard working. They understand the situation, it's not a shock to anybody that we have a lot of guys down. So I mean, we're expecting a lot of the young guys, we're expecting a lot of backups, we're expecting big things from them. And so those kinds of things, we don't try to dwell on that. We just try to look at the tape, see what we have to work on and just go from there."
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#21 Karene Reid, Linebacker
On Oregon's offensive persistence…
"They were pushing the tempo on us, which a lot of teams have done and that shouldn't have been a problem, but we've got to win on third down. I think there's a lot of times that we stopped them. Third down, came along and [they] completed a nice pass or were able to run the ball past the first down."
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On defending against Oregon's up-tempo offense…
"I mean, we've seen it before. Teams have been doing that to us. It's all about how fast can we align and assign and it comes down to technique. I feel like a majority of the times we're able to line up and be okay, but just like Bryson [Barnes] said, looking forward to watching the film because not too sure right now."
OREGON QUOTES
Head Coach Dan Lanning
Opening Statement...
"Extremely proud of our team. I thought this was our most complete game. We played a four-quarter game. From start to finish, we faced moments of adversity. Our guys never flinched. It was really complimentary football from offense, defense, special teams, field position. I thought we played our most complete game since I've been the head coach here against a really good team. We expected it to be a battle. We talked about winning in the trenches, we talked about winning the takeaway battle and that showed up today."
On scoring on their first four possessions...
"Yeah, we don't generally take the ball, but this was a game we talked about bringing the fight and we knew this was going to be a battle, a 15-rounder, and we wanted to try and set the tone early. We felt really good about our openers, felt good about our team and we said lets go be aggressive and that's the way the game started and I think that really set the tone for the rest of the game for us."
On Bo Nix's performance...
"I was say it again: Bo Nix is the best quarterback in the nation. Just to be really clear, I don't think there's any doubt about it and again, its not just the plays he makes on the field. I think a lot of people can talk about chasing stats and all the other things. This guy just plays consistent. He gets us in the right calls, he comes to the sideline and helps us through adjustments, he tells us what he sees and then he's an unbelievable person. When you have a good team like we have and we have a quarterback like we have, that's a special recipe for success."
On the defensive line play...
"Strength in numbers, guys playing selfless football. If we went out there and started rushing the passer on first down, we wouldn't have been successful. Being advantageous when the opportunity comes. To be able to rush, we knew he's an elusive quarterback who can move in the pocket, we had to finish on him. I think there's a couple missed opportunities out there for us to, but our guys are really dialed in to the plan and knew when they had a chance to go be successful in the rush and took advantage of it."
#10 Bo Nix, Quarterback
On talk about the Heisman Trophy winner . . .Â
"I think that's something that comes with playing really good team football. My goal is to do whatever it takes to win games. The guys in the locker room know I want to win a championship. We are going to do everything we can when we go back to work on Monday to do that. We have it right in front of us, we can feel it and that's all we want to take care of. Really all the talk is just chatter and noise and we need to make sure we don't get distracted by it. Myself included."Â
On beating Utah . . .Â
"That's a really good football team. I think it speaks to the way we played today. We played well in every facet of the game. Each group did what they were supposed to do. We started really quickly and we got the crowd out of it. We want to be more efficient and when we have a chance to close out the game we do it."
On Oregon's offensive performance . . .Â
"I think the other 10 players on the field played good or better than myself. When we're in sync like that, it shows that we can move the ball. They were a really good defense and we did what we were supposed to do to execute. We were efficient and we hit some key third downs. We put touchdowns on the board and we played with great tempo. We came on the road in a really good environment against a really good football team and we won and that means a lot to our program."
#58 Jackson Powers-Johnson, OLÂ
On the offensive line performance…Â
"The preparation we did this week and how we attacked helped. My tackles did wonderful today, the team did a great job and made me look good."
On the 2021 loss…Â
"It's awesome to come back home and play with a team I grew up with and being able to get a win out of that. I am really happy for our team and we're excited to be better."
On the win and Utah's defense…Â
"It's really hard to win a college football game, especially against a team with great defense. How we came out with fire, excitement, and love for each other is a state of mind."
#6 Jahlil Florence, DBÂ
On tacking…Â
"I'm super proud. We knew it was going to be a big game for the corners and when we saw corners around the tackles we showed out and did what we had to do."
On offensive success..Â
"We practice turnovers every single week, we waited for them to miss to attack the ball, everybody was greedy, everybody wanted the ball. We knew that they have a great defense and if we got more turnovers than their defense we knew that it was going to be good"
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement…
"Not a lot of positives in that game for us. That's as thoroughly as we've been beaten in a long time, particularly at home. [I] give Oregon credit, they're a complete football team, just like I've been saying all week long. Size, quickness, athleticism, depth, all sides of the ball. They took it to us, we didn't get much done in any phase of the game. The two emphases were to win the line of scrimmage and to win the turnover battle and we didn't do either of those, among a lot of other things we didn't do. But again, they're very deserving of their ranking, they took it to us today. We have to regroup, get back into the film on Monday and figure out what our deficiencies were, which appear to be a lot. We had a good week of preparation, practices were really good last week, we just couldn't get anything going tonight. Credit to Dan Lanning for what he's getting done up there. For us, don't want to say back to the drawing board, but we have to figure things out. Good teams respond and we will respond. I've got a lot of players in that locker room that are very disappointed obviously. We have to come back. Sometimes you get knocked down on your butt in life and you have to pick yourself up and come back, and regroup, and just figure things out and get things going the next week. That's where we're at right now, we've got a lot of football left. We have to regroup, pick ourselves up and get back on track."
Â
On coming back from a tough loss…
"Well, in adversity and tough times like this we build character and I believe we've got a lot of character in our locker room. A lot of guys that are very prideful and we'll come back and respond and work harder this week and work to get back on track. If you get beat like that you don't want to go in and barrage your team, what happened out there was enough. You've got to still believe in them, which I do believe in them, I believe in the coaches. It's one football game and we don't want to overreact, but we didn't play very well."
Â
On injured players and working with replacements catching up to the team…
"Nobody cares if you're injured. I never want to play that card. Whatever guys you've got, you have to figure it out and make the most with what you've got around. Certainly, we're missing a lot of good players we wish we had, but a lot of teams in the country are in the same boat. There are teams that are also missing a lot of players. Injuries are an unfortunate part of this game. My least favorite part of the game and this job is seeing these young men get hurt. But to answer the question, we've got to make do with what we have."
Â
On learning from coming off a loss like today and having to play next week…
"Sure we will. We did that after Oregon State. It's one team that's going to go undefeated in the season, maybe not even one. Everyone is going to be in that same situation, and you have to resolve and pick yourself up and just keep swinging."
Â
On biggest thing the team lacked…
"Not winning the line of scrimmage. Them [Oregon] being more physical. We very rarely get out-physical but today we got out-physical. If I had to say what was the single biggest problem in the entire game, that was it."
Â
On Oregon's tempo throwing off the team…
"Not really the tempo, the quarterback was lights-out and the running game was strong. It wasn't really the tempo that did its thing it was the lack of our physicality not matching their physicality, as mentioned, not tackling well enough, and Bo Nix being an extremely accurate thrower. I think he's leading the nation and if not he's up there close."
#16 Bryson Barnes, Quarterback
On Oregon's defensive performance…
"I just feel like they were doing a good job covering things, getting to the quarterback. But you know at the end of the day, we'll just find out on Monday and find out where we need to get better."
Â
On the cause of offensive turnovers: offensive difficulty or strong Oregon defense…
"I would say it's both, at the same time, if it's a bad play from a quarterback perspective, it's a bad play. Got to protect the ball, protect the team, can't be giving the ball away."
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#17 Devaughn Vele, Wide Receiver
On how injuries impacted the team's performance…
"I personally don't believe so. We got a lot of guys in that locker room that are hard working. They understand the situation, it's not a shock to anybody that we have a lot of guys down. So I mean, we're expecting a lot of the young guys, we're expecting a lot of backups, we're expecting big things from them. And so those kinds of things, we don't try to dwell on that. We just try to look at the tape, see what we have to work on and just go from there."
Â
#21 Karene Reid, Linebacker
On Oregon's offensive persistence…
"They were pushing the tempo on us, which a lot of teams have done and that shouldn't have been a problem, but we've got to win on third down. I think there's a lot of times that we stopped them. Third down, came along and [they] completed a nice pass or were able to run the ball past the first down."
Â
On defending against Oregon's up-tempo offense…
"I mean, we've seen it before. Teams have been doing that to us. It's all about how fast can we align and assign and it comes down to technique. I feel like a majority of the times we're able to line up and be okay, but just like Bryson [Barnes] said, looking forward to watching the film because not too sure right now."
OREGON QUOTES
Head Coach Dan Lanning
Opening Statement...
"Extremely proud of our team. I thought this was our most complete game. We played a four-quarter game. From start to finish, we faced moments of adversity. Our guys never flinched. It was really complimentary football from offense, defense, special teams, field position. I thought we played our most complete game since I've been the head coach here against a really good team. We expected it to be a battle. We talked about winning in the trenches, we talked about winning the takeaway battle and that showed up today."
On scoring on their first four possessions...
"Yeah, we don't generally take the ball, but this was a game we talked about bringing the fight and we knew this was going to be a battle, a 15-rounder, and we wanted to try and set the tone early. We felt really good about our openers, felt good about our team and we said lets go be aggressive and that's the way the game started and I think that really set the tone for the rest of the game for us."
On Bo Nix's performance...
"I was say it again: Bo Nix is the best quarterback in the nation. Just to be really clear, I don't think there's any doubt about it and again, its not just the plays he makes on the field. I think a lot of people can talk about chasing stats and all the other things. This guy just plays consistent. He gets us in the right calls, he comes to the sideline and helps us through adjustments, he tells us what he sees and then he's an unbelievable person. When you have a good team like we have and we have a quarterback like we have, that's a special recipe for success."
On the defensive line play...
"Strength in numbers, guys playing selfless football. If we went out there and started rushing the passer on first down, we wouldn't have been successful. Being advantageous when the opportunity comes. To be able to rush, we knew he's an elusive quarterback who can move in the pocket, we had to finish on him. I think there's a couple missed opportunities out there for us to, but our guys are really dialed in to the plan and knew when they had a chance to go be successful in the rush and took advantage of it."
#10 Bo Nix, Quarterback
On talk about the Heisman Trophy winner . . .Â
"I think that's something that comes with playing really good team football. My goal is to do whatever it takes to win games. The guys in the locker room know I want to win a championship. We are going to do everything we can when we go back to work on Monday to do that. We have it right in front of us, we can feel it and that's all we want to take care of. Really all the talk is just chatter and noise and we need to make sure we don't get distracted by it. Myself included."Â
On beating Utah . . .Â
"That's a really good football team. I think it speaks to the way we played today. We played well in every facet of the game. Each group did what they were supposed to do. We started really quickly and we got the crowd out of it. We want to be more efficient and when we have a chance to close out the game we do it."
On Oregon's offensive performance . . .Â
"I think the other 10 players on the field played good or better than myself. When we're in sync like that, it shows that we can move the ball. They were a really good defense and we did what we were supposed to do to execute. We were efficient and we hit some key third downs. We put touchdowns on the board and we played with great tempo. We came on the road in a really good environment against a really good football team and we won and that means a lot to our program."
#58 Jackson Powers-Johnson, OLÂ
On the offensive line performance…Â
"The preparation we did this week and how we attacked helped. My tackles did wonderful today, the team did a great job and made me look good."
On the 2021 loss…Â
"It's awesome to come back home and play with a team I grew up with and being able to get a win out of that. I am really happy for our team and we're excited to be better."
On the win and Utah's defense…Â
"It's really hard to win a college football game, especially against a team with great defense. How we came out with fire, excitement, and love for each other is a state of mind."
#6 Jahlil Florence, DBÂ
On tacking…Â
"I'm super proud. We knew it was going to be a big game for the corners and when we saw corners around the tackles we showed out and did what we had to do."
On offensive success..Â
"We practice turnovers every single week, we waited for them to miss to attack the ball, everybody was greedy, everybody wanted the ball. We knew that they have a great defense and if we got more turnovers than their defense we knew that it was going to be good"
Players Mentioned
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