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Postgame Quotes: Iowa State at Utah
11/23/2024 10:05 PM | Football
UTAH QUOTES
Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement…
The first thing I'll say is how much I appreciate this senior class. Great group of guys. A lot of them have won so many games for us through the years and they've done so much for the program. Tough to see them go, but as a I say every year, that's the circle of life in college football is seniors go, new guys come and that's just how it works, but they'll be missed. Very proud of what they've accomplished academically while they were here. We've got guys with master's degrees. I think every one of them by May will have their bachelor's degree. I think 90-something percent of them have it now. Very proud of what they have accomplished. They deserved better this season. They deserved better tonight. Tough loss. The team battled from start to finish. Kind of the story of the season, didn't get enough offense generated, only found the end zone one time offensively. Defense had a pick-six, blocked punt for a touchdown, did some good things. That was a very positive thing to see, making a big play on special teams. I thought Luke Bottari really came in and did some good things. I'm proud of Luke. On offense, nine first downs and only a couple hundred total yards, that's just not enough. Defensively, again, we had a chance to make the stop at the end to clinch and we just can't seem to make that final stop we need. Guys have a reason to hold their head high. They sold out, they gave it everything they have and it just wasn't enough again tonight.
On Isaac Wilson holding on to the ball…
I think there's probably a combination of things. Not wanting to make a mistake is probably at the top of the list. We've turned the ball over excessively this year and in order to have a chance, you can't do that and we didn't turn it over excessively tonight, so that was one of the reasons why we were in the ballgame. He's young, which matters. He's a freshman, although he's had maybe 600 reps now, 500+, so we just have to evaluate everything. He's a work in progress and we'll just continue to see how things play out.
On Isaac Wilson's development…
We need to be better. We need to be better as coaches. I need to be better. We're not pinning this on Isaac Wilson by any means. We'll evaluate the whole body of work at the end of the season. We evaluate it every week, but at the end of the year, we'll look at what he was able to do and what the numbers were because statistics matter for a quarterback. They matter a lot. That's one of the positions that's really statistically driven. We'll make those decisions once we get the game completed next week. We have Central Florida on Friday, so six days left before the season is over. We know we're not going to a bowl game, which is unfortunate for those seniors because they really deserve that and just came up short.
On what went wrong on the final defensive series…
"The quarterback was executing, throwing the ball. He's a really good quarterback. His efficiency rating is like third in the league. He's a veteran and does a great job for them, a lot of respect for him and he just executed that drive almost flawlessly. To our credit, we march right back down the field the other way, really good field goal range until the intentional grounding penalty. That made it a 54-yarder. Cole hit it pretty decently, but just a little bit wide right. Cole has been pretty reliable this year. That was the difference."
On what it meant to honor Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe tonight…
"It means a ton. To have their families here, I got to spend some time with their families yesterday. They would've been seniors, obviously. That's the reason we had the honoring of those two young men and we miss them. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of guys left on our team that know them because they both came five years ago. It was really special to honor them and have their families here."
Quarterback Luke Bottari
On what he told the offense after Isaac Wilson left the game…
"No flinch. It doesn't matter who's in there, we play as one on offense and on defense. I just told the boys, no flinch. Just go. Keep rolling."
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On Friday's season finale at UCF…
"I have no doubt we'll come out fighting. Every game's closeness speaks to the character of our team. I have no doubt we'll come out fighting and try to finish on a high note."
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On the final drive of the game…
"Mistake on my part, the intentional grounding. We gained that yardage back, but just couldn't finish the drive. Tried to get closer for a field goal but couldn't finish."
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 Linebacker Lander Barton
On his pick-six…
"It was fun at the time, I just didn't want to go down. But overall, just wanted to get the win."
Â
On the impact of the seniors in the locker room…
"They may be so easy to learn and to become a better player. They're great leaders. They're great teachers. Coming into a good linebacker room with Karene [Reid] even when I got here, they just make it easy…I can sit down and watch film with them…With Connor [O' Toole], he's defensive end so I can watch pass rushing, see how a tackle kicks. It makes it easy. Junior [Tafuna], he makes our life really easy. He's a monster up front, and it keeps lineman off us. I'm just grateful to them, grateful to learn from them."
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Defensive Tackle Junior Tafuna
On his time at Utah…
"Just grateful. It's just life. I'm thankful for everything here. Just love everyone here, our fans, everyone who stayed faithful with us, even until now. I'm grateful for it all."
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On moving forward from the loss…
"It's life. We live by our culture, the R.S.M.B (relentless, smart, nasty, ballhawks), we have to fight. We can't fold. We can't give up. Every opportunity we have, every Saturday, we have to fight. Unfortunately, we came up short today. But we'll just keep continuing and getting better."
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 Defensive End Connor O' Toole
On his final game at Rice-Eccles Stadium…
"It's been an emotional week. Came out here for five years and you have a family with you, and the whole locker room are my brothers for life. So, to be out in Rice-Eccles [Stadium] one last time and take the field with them; it's not about football for me, it's the last time fighting with my brothers…Things haven't fallen our way this year and we haven't got the results that we wanted, but that's life, and that happens. And you get back up tomorrow, the sun still rises, and you go to work."
IOWA STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Matt Campbell
Opening Statement…
"What makes this team really special is we haven't flinched ever or haven't really wavered ever, and quite honestly we just keep playing and it has been good enough. We are still not playing our best and as the head football coach that can be a little bit discerning, but this is team sport and the reality of it is you have to play harder for longer and tonight our guys did that."
On how he feels the team is coming together…
"It would equate the entire season. Everyone counted us out two weeks ago. We didn't flinch, we didn't waver and we will be defined by who we are at the end of the football season. We've got four more quarters to help define that."
On the final stop…
"Emotionally drained. Mentally fried. I think the pressure call by Coach Hancock was huge. On third down, we took the timeout to make sure situationally we put ourselves in the best situation."
Quarterback Rocco Becht
On still having a shot at the Big 12 title game…
"Whatever happens, happens, but we are just focusing on winning against K-State and looking to get that 10th win of the season."
On losing two in a row and coming back to stay in the hunt of the title game…
"It definitely feels far away, but we remember our past, we remember our history and we didn't like losing those two games and we used it as motivation for these last couple of weeks."
Running Back Carson Hansen
On completing the pass…
"I just appreciate the coaches for trusting to do it and the O-Line for having my back to get it out there."
On completing late-game drives…
"Yeah, we love the adversity. When the going gets bad it shows your character and how you come back from that determines a lot."
Cornerback Darien Porter
On the defense having multiple late-game stops this season…
"Obviously learning from our shortcomings, a couple of weeks ago and how to address some of those issues. One of those things was looking at how to close out games and playing hard all the way through."
On having a shot at the title game…
"Obviously, we know there is a lot on the line, but every game is a big game and we just need to take it one game at a time."
Â
Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement…
The first thing I'll say is how much I appreciate this senior class. Great group of guys. A lot of them have won so many games for us through the years and they've done so much for the program. Tough to see them go, but as a I say every year, that's the circle of life in college football is seniors go, new guys come and that's just how it works, but they'll be missed. Very proud of what they've accomplished academically while they were here. We've got guys with master's degrees. I think every one of them by May will have their bachelor's degree. I think 90-something percent of them have it now. Very proud of what they have accomplished. They deserved better this season. They deserved better tonight. Tough loss. The team battled from start to finish. Kind of the story of the season, didn't get enough offense generated, only found the end zone one time offensively. Defense had a pick-six, blocked punt for a touchdown, did some good things. That was a very positive thing to see, making a big play on special teams. I thought Luke Bottari really came in and did some good things. I'm proud of Luke. On offense, nine first downs and only a couple hundred total yards, that's just not enough. Defensively, again, we had a chance to make the stop at the end to clinch and we just can't seem to make that final stop we need. Guys have a reason to hold their head high. They sold out, they gave it everything they have and it just wasn't enough again tonight.
On Isaac Wilson holding on to the ball…
I think there's probably a combination of things. Not wanting to make a mistake is probably at the top of the list. We've turned the ball over excessively this year and in order to have a chance, you can't do that and we didn't turn it over excessively tonight, so that was one of the reasons why we were in the ballgame. He's young, which matters. He's a freshman, although he's had maybe 600 reps now, 500+, so we just have to evaluate everything. He's a work in progress and we'll just continue to see how things play out.
On Isaac Wilson's development…
We need to be better. We need to be better as coaches. I need to be better. We're not pinning this on Isaac Wilson by any means. We'll evaluate the whole body of work at the end of the season. We evaluate it every week, but at the end of the year, we'll look at what he was able to do and what the numbers were because statistics matter for a quarterback. They matter a lot. That's one of the positions that's really statistically driven. We'll make those decisions once we get the game completed next week. We have Central Florida on Friday, so six days left before the season is over. We know we're not going to a bowl game, which is unfortunate for those seniors because they really deserve that and just came up short.
On what went wrong on the final defensive series…
"The quarterback was executing, throwing the ball. He's a really good quarterback. His efficiency rating is like third in the league. He's a veteran and does a great job for them, a lot of respect for him and he just executed that drive almost flawlessly. To our credit, we march right back down the field the other way, really good field goal range until the intentional grounding penalty. That made it a 54-yarder. Cole hit it pretty decently, but just a little bit wide right. Cole has been pretty reliable this year. That was the difference."
On what it meant to honor Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe tonight…
"It means a ton. To have their families here, I got to spend some time with their families yesterday. They would've been seniors, obviously. That's the reason we had the honoring of those two young men and we miss them. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of guys left on our team that know them because they both came five years ago. It was really special to honor them and have their families here."
Quarterback Luke Bottari
On what he told the offense after Isaac Wilson left the game…
"No flinch. It doesn't matter who's in there, we play as one on offense and on defense. I just told the boys, no flinch. Just go. Keep rolling."
Â
On Friday's season finale at UCF…
"I have no doubt we'll come out fighting. Every game's closeness speaks to the character of our team. I have no doubt we'll come out fighting and try to finish on a high note."
Â
On the final drive of the game…
"Mistake on my part, the intentional grounding. We gained that yardage back, but just couldn't finish the drive. Tried to get closer for a field goal but couldn't finish."
Â
 Linebacker Lander Barton
On his pick-six…
"It was fun at the time, I just didn't want to go down. But overall, just wanted to get the win."
Â
On the impact of the seniors in the locker room…
"They may be so easy to learn and to become a better player. They're great leaders. They're great teachers. Coming into a good linebacker room with Karene [Reid] even when I got here, they just make it easy…I can sit down and watch film with them…With Connor [O' Toole], he's defensive end so I can watch pass rushing, see how a tackle kicks. It makes it easy. Junior [Tafuna], he makes our life really easy. He's a monster up front, and it keeps lineman off us. I'm just grateful to them, grateful to learn from them."
Â
Defensive Tackle Junior Tafuna
On his time at Utah…
"Just grateful. It's just life. I'm thankful for everything here. Just love everyone here, our fans, everyone who stayed faithful with us, even until now. I'm grateful for it all."
Â
On moving forward from the loss…
"It's life. We live by our culture, the R.S.M.B (relentless, smart, nasty, ballhawks), we have to fight. We can't fold. We can't give up. Every opportunity we have, every Saturday, we have to fight. Unfortunately, we came up short today. But we'll just keep continuing and getting better."
Â
 Defensive End Connor O' Toole
On his final game at Rice-Eccles Stadium…
"It's been an emotional week. Came out here for five years and you have a family with you, and the whole locker room are my brothers for life. So, to be out in Rice-Eccles [Stadium] one last time and take the field with them; it's not about football for me, it's the last time fighting with my brothers…Things haven't fallen our way this year and we haven't got the results that we wanted, but that's life, and that happens. And you get back up tomorrow, the sun still rises, and you go to work."
IOWA STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Matt Campbell
Opening Statement…
"What makes this team really special is we haven't flinched ever or haven't really wavered ever, and quite honestly we just keep playing and it has been good enough. We are still not playing our best and as the head football coach that can be a little bit discerning, but this is team sport and the reality of it is you have to play harder for longer and tonight our guys did that."
On how he feels the team is coming together…
"It would equate the entire season. Everyone counted us out two weeks ago. We didn't flinch, we didn't waver and we will be defined by who we are at the end of the football season. We've got four more quarters to help define that."
On the final stop…
"Emotionally drained. Mentally fried. I think the pressure call by Coach Hancock was huge. On third down, we took the timeout to make sure situationally we put ourselves in the best situation."
Quarterback Rocco Becht
On still having a shot at the Big 12 title game…
"Whatever happens, happens, but we are just focusing on winning against K-State and looking to get that 10th win of the season."
On losing two in a row and coming back to stay in the hunt of the title game…
"It definitely feels far away, but we remember our past, we remember our history and we didn't like losing those two games and we used it as motivation for these last couple of weeks."
Running Back Carson Hansen
On completing the pass…
"I just appreciate the coaches for trusting to do it and the O-Line for having my back to get it out there."
On completing late-game drives…
"Yeah, we love the adversity. When the going gets bad it shows your character and how you come back from that determines a lot."
Cornerback Darien Porter
On the defense having multiple late-game stops this season…
"Obviously learning from our shortcomings, a couple of weeks ago and how to address some of those issues. One of those things was looking at how to close out games and playing hard all the way through."
On having a shot at the title game…
"Obviously, we know there is a lot on the line, but every game is a big game and we just need to take it one game at a time."
Â
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DT
/ Football
QB
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