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The University of Utah Athletics
Coaches Corner: TCU on Tap
10/16/2024 10:41 AM | Football
The Utes are preparing to renew acquaintances with an old rival on Saturday
SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah football team is preparing to take the field in front of its home fans for the fourth time in 2024 and they'll be back under the bright lights of Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday when they entertain the TCU Horned Frogs in a contest set for an 8:30 p.m. kickoff.
The Utes and Horned Frogs will renew acquaintances as conference foes once again, having previously spent time fighting for supremacy in the Mountain West Conference from 2005-10. The all-time series between the programs stands at 5-3 in Utah's favor.
"We had some great battles," said head coach Kyle Whittingham on Monday. "A lot of memorable games with the Horned Frogs. Those stand out in your mind because they were so competitive."
With gameday approaching, Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley discussed the state of their units and how the team is preparing to bounce back from consecutive defeats.
Offensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig
On where the disconnect is with the offense in the red zone…
In the passing game. Completing passes and executing the details of the assignments in the red zone, particularly in the passing game. That's been an emphasis for us since the Arizona game and the bye week. It obviously didn't come to fruition the other night, but we'll continue to work on it and I know there is improvement coming.
On how much the offense will open up now…
As [Isaac Wilson] continues to grow and mature into the position, the book will continue to expand with his knowledge and his confidence level. It's his show, so we're going to let him roll with it.
On how he helps Isaac deal with pressure…
You have to be committed to running the football, first and foremost and then a little more extra protection for him, whether its an extra tight end staying in. Play action pass is a great equalizer for that and we'll lean on all those components moving forward. The screen game needs to be a part of that.
On if there was a conversation about replacing Cameron Rising at halftime against Arizona State…
We were going to roll with Cam. He wanted to play. The medical team didn't hook him. I want to ride with Cam as long as we can. That's the decision that was made. We thought about it again in the second half, but then he took us down for a touchdown drive and made some big time plays, but obviously as the game wore on in the fourth quarter, that leg started to really hamper him and disrupt some things in the passing game.
On how much having uncertainty at quarterback impacted the gameplan each week and if that changes now…
There are some components we went to to compensate for Cam's hand injury. Some of the plays that are usually under center were not under center, so we'll go back to that and a little bit more of true Utah football. We make the adjustments based on the individual players in the program and we're going to Isaac's strengths and the team's strengths moving forward.
Defensive Coordinator Morgan Scalley
On the mindset of his defense…
Next game. Control what we can control and fix what we need to fix, tackling being one of the bigger issues and it's a matter of wrapping up, not throwing shoulders and understanding you have to get guys legs to get them down. Our guys know that. It's no different. We have to control what we can control, fix what we need to fix and obviously tackling and we're addressing that. I want to say something about Junior Tafuna. It takes a lot of courage to face the media after losses. I love that kid. He's a warrior and you can tell how much it means to him and how much it means to our guys, so I'm grateful for guys like that. I love our group, love our attitude. They're fighters and we're doing some really good things. There are obviously things we need to fix. We need to be able to take the ball away and we need to be able to tackle better, but there are some really good things going on and you need to be able to focus on what you're doing right as well as where our deficiencies are. We're continually looking at that and guys are competing.
On if knowing who the starting quarterback is each week solidifies the team more…
On the defensive side of the ball, our deficiencies have nothing to do with the offense. Our job is to keep points off the board and we need to do that better.
On the development and play of Rabbit Evans…
His biggest thing has been picking up the defensive scheme, has been the communication aspect of being down there in the box and communicating with the linebackers. Obviously, we would not have put him out there if we didn't feel he was ready and he did some really good things. There were some misses and he's going to grow from that. I feel good about [Alaka'i] Gilman, I feel good about Rabbit and [Nate] Ritchie and the safeties are doing some good things. A little bit more consistency in terms of terminating the play when its there to be terminated, but I'm happy with all those guys.
On how he tries to help the defense be consistently effective…
You just try to practice the situations as much as you can. Like I said, we're doing some good things. We're second in the country in first downs given up, [fifth] in the country in third down defense, our pass efficiency defense is 11th in the country. We're doing some really good things. You get in some of these critical situations where you have to get a stop and it just seems like we're not terminating the play when we need to. You take one of those early drives, two third downs where we've got the edge and we don't contain them. That's stuff that elite defense do and we're not doing quite yet. We're a very good defense, we're not elite and it takes us terminating those plays to became elite and we're working towards that. We've got guys who are competing, they care, it matters to them and its fun to come to work every day. Losing is no fun for anybody and it hurts, but you have to control what you can control and focus on deficiencies and where we can get better and we're doing that.
The Utes and Horned Frogs will renew acquaintances as conference foes once again, having previously spent time fighting for supremacy in the Mountain West Conference from 2005-10. The all-time series between the programs stands at 5-3 in Utah's favor.
"We had some great battles," said head coach Kyle Whittingham on Monday. "A lot of memorable games with the Horned Frogs. Those stand out in your mind because they were so competitive."
With gameday approaching, Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig and defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley discussed the state of their units and how the team is preparing to bounce back from consecutive defeats.
Offensive Coordinator Andy Ludwig
On where the disconnect is with the offense in the red zone…
In the passing game. Completing passes and executing the details of the assignments in the red zone, particularly in the passing game. That's been an emphasis for us since the Arizona game and the bye week. It obviously didn't come to fruition the other night, but we'll continue to work on it and I know there is improvement coming.
On how much the offense will open up now…
As [Isaac Wilson] continues to grow and mature into the position, the book will continue to expand with his knowledge and his confidence level. It's his show, so we're going to let him roll with it.
On how he helps Isaac deal with pressure…
You have to be committed to running the football, first and foremost and then a little more extra protection for him, whether its an extra tight end staying in. Play action pass is a great equalizer for that and we'll lean on all those components moving forward. The screen game needs to be a part of that.
On if there was a conversation about replacing Cameron Rising at halftime against Arizona State…
We were going to roll with Cam. He wanted to play. The medical team didn't hook him. I want to ride with Cam as long as we can. That's the decision that was made. We thought about it again in the second half, but then he took us down for a touchdown drive and made some big time plays, but obviously as the game wore on in the fourth quarter, that leg started to really hamper him and disrupt some things in the passing game.
On how much having uncertainty at quarterback impacted the gameplan each week and if that changes now…
There are some components we went to to compensate for Cam's hand injury. Some of the plays that are usually under center were not under center, so we'll go back to that and a little bit more of true Utah football. We make the adjustments based on the individual players in the program and we're going to Isaac's strengths and the team's strengths moving forward.
Defensive Coordinator Morgan Scalley
On the mindset of his defense…
Next game. Control what we can control and fix what we need to fix, tackling being one of the bigger issues and it's a matter of wrapping up, not throwing shoulders and understanding you have to get guys legs to get them down. Our guys know that. It's no different. We have to control what we can control, fix what we need to fix and obviously tackling and we're addressing that. I want to say something about Junior Tafuna. It takes a lot of courage to face the media after losses. I love that kid. He's a warrior and you can tell how much it means to him and how much it means to our guys, so I'm grateful for guys like that. I love our group, love our attitude. They're fighters and we're doing some really good things. There are obviously things we need to fix. We need to be able to take the ball away and we need to be able to tackle better, but there are some really good things going on and you need to be able to focus on what you're doing right as well as where our deficiencies are. We're continually looking at that and guys are competing.
On if knowing who the starting quarterback is each week solidifies the team more…
On the defensive side of the ball, our deficiencies have nothing to do with the offense. Our job is to keep points off the board and we need to do that better.
On the development and play of Rabbit Evans…
His biggest thing has been picking up the defensive scheme, has been the communication aspect of being down there in the box and communicating with the linebackers. Obviously, we would not have put him out there if we didn't feel he was ready and he did some really good things. There were some misses and he's going to grow from that. I feel good about [Alaka'i] Gilman, I feel good about Rabbit and [Nate] Ritchie and the safeties are doing some good things. A little bit more consistency in terms of terminating the play when its there to be terminated, but I'm happy with all those guys.
On how he tries to help the defense be consistently effective…
You just try to practice the situations as much as you can. Like I said, we're doing some good things. We're second in the country in first downs given up, [fifth] in the country in third down defense, our pass efficiency defense is 11th in the country. We're doing some really good things. You get in some of these critical situations where you have to get a stop and it just seems like we're not terminating the play when we need to. You take one of those early drives, two third downs where we've got the edge and we don't contain them. That's stuff that elite defense do and we're not doing quite yet. We're a very good defense, we're not elite and it takes us terminating those plays to became elite and we're working towards that. We've got guys who are competing, they care, it matters to them and its fun to come to work every day. Losing is no fun for anybody and it hurts, but you have to control what you can control and focus on deficiencies and where we can get better and we're doing that.
Players Mentioned
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/ Football
QB
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QB
/ FootballFormer Utah Football Head Coach Urban Meyer inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
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