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Postgame Quotes: Utah at UCF
11/29/2024 10:53 PM | Football
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement…
It was good to send our seniors out in their last game with a win. Great effort on defense. That was the No. 1 offense in the Big 12 statistically coming in and the defensive guys did a great job. Scored twice on defense, held them to way less than what they've been averaging and very pleased with that. Offense did just enough to win the game. I don't believe we turned the ball over, so that's a big positive offensively. We didn't have real gaudy numbers on offense, but we didn't put the defense in any bad situations, so that was the formula. We had to play great defense and take care of the ball offensively and that's what we did. Some real positives, Micah Bernard goes over 1,000 yards with his production tonight. It was great to see Zacharyus Williams, a true freshman, do some really good things. I think he's going to be a really good player. He caught a bunch of balls, leading receiver for us. He's a tough kid, got good size, good speed. Good to see the defense perform as a whole and two pick-sixes in one game. That's three pick-sixes in the last three games. That's a big plus for us. Field goal kickers did a nice job. We lost Cole Becker in the first half, so our true freshman [Trey] Coleman, who's been kicking off most of the year came in and seemed very comfortable kicking field goals and kicking the ball. Really positive way to end the season, had a lot of adversity this year that we faced, but these guys just kept hanging in there. For the last two months, no drop off in their work ethic, no drop off in their focus, their concentration, how they approach their business. A pleasure to coach even though we're far from where we wanted to be, different season than what we hoped for, still can't say how much I think of these seniors and this team as a whole.
On Zemaiah Vaughn's pick-six and how that helped the defense…
A pick-six is always an igniter for a lot of emotion, particularly on your defensive side of the ball. That was a great pick and an exceptional run by him. You saw how fast he is. Great job by the defense executing the interception return process that we drill every single week. It definitely gave us a spark and really a shot of adrenaline for us.
On what about UCF's offense allowed the defense to capitalize…
Coach Scalley does a great job every week with his preparation and his film study. Nobody prepares any better for a game than Morgan Scalley, but then, it doesn't matter what the coach knows. It matters what the players know. He does a great job of conveying information and knowledge to his players and tips and tendencies for the week. That really was a product of that, just knowing what was coming before it was coming because of film study and really good coaching. The whole coaching staff does a good job.
On how important the win was to propel the team towards next season…
It's a positive. You certainly want to go out with a win. It's better than the alternative, but it does give you some momentum going into the offseason. It's a positive, but still far away from where we wanted to be and a lot of circumstances this year have contributed to that, but very positive and proud of our guys and mainly for hanging in there because you start having week-after-week of no success and a lot teams would just cash it in and not give any effort. These guys have continued to give great effort every single week.
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Senior Cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn
On what it felt like to have a pick-six in his last game…
That was amazing. I've been waiting for that my whole career. I'm glad I got to finally do it before the season came to an end.
On how the play on defense factored into the game…
We just do what we do every week, come out and work. Our main goal is to get the offense back the ball and I felt like we did a good job of that today.
Senior Running Back Micah Bernard
On how it feels to get a win…
It felt good, but at the same time its bittersweet. That's the last one, the last one of our careers here at Utah. It felt good to finally sing Utah Man and smile and have fun.
On what it means to him to break 1,000 yards rushing for the season…
It meant a lot. I knew how much I needed going into the game. After the first quarter, I knew I needed about 50 more. To hit it, that was my goal in the beginning of the season, 1,000-yard rusher. I'm glad I got to check it off my list.
Senior Quarterback Luke Bottari
On what it's meant to play for Kyle Whittingham…
He's a legend. He's been doing this for a long time. He's always done more with less. Personally, I love him. He gave me the opportunity to come into this program and come back, so I just thank him for that opportunity.
On what it means to get to 2-0 as a starter…
It's pretty surreal. You're sitting in fall camp thinking this is never going to happen and it happens two years in-a-row. I'm just happy they gave me the opportunity to come in and get the win and I'm happy we won.
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Opening Statement…
It was good to send our seniors out in their last game with a win. Great effort on defense. That was the No. 1 offense in the Big 12 statistically coming in and the defensive guys did a great job. Scored twice on defense, held them to way less than what they've been averaging and very pleased with that. Offense did just enough to win the game. I don't believe we turned the ball over, so that's a big positive offensively. We didn't have real gaudy numbers on offense, but we didn't put the defense in any bad situations, so that was the formula. We had to play great defense and take care of the ball offensively and that's what we did. Some real positives, Micah Bernard goes over 1,000 yards with his production tonight. It was great to see Zacharyus Williams, a true freshman, do some really good things. I think he's going to be a really good player. He caught a bunch of balls, leading receiver for us. He's a tough kid, got good size, good speed. Good to see the defense perform as a whole and two pick-sixes in one game. That's three pick-sixes in the last three games. That's a big plus for us. Field goal kickers did a nice job. We lost Cole Becker in the first half, so our true freshman [Trey] Coleman, who's been kicking off most of the year came in and seemed very comfortable kicking field goals and kicking the ball. Really positive way to end the season, had a lot of adversity this year that we faced, but these guys just kept hanging in there. For the last two months, no drop off in their work ethic, no drop off in their focus, their concentration, how they approach their business. A pleasure to coach even though we're far from where we wanted to be, different season than what we hoped for, still can't say how much I think of these seniors and this team as a whole.
On Zemaiah Vaughn's pick-six and how that helped the defense…
A pick-six is always an igniter for a lot of emotion, particularly on your defensive side of the ball. That was a great pick and an exceptional run by him. You saw how fast he is. Great job by the defense executing the interception return process that we drill every single week. It definitely gave us a spark and really a shot of adrenaline for us.
On what about UCF's offense allowed the defense to capitalize…
Coach Scalley does a great job every week with his preparation and his film study. Nobody prepares any better for a game than Morgan Scalley, but then, it doesn't matter what the coach knows. It matters what the players know. He does a great job of conveying information and knowledge to his players and tips and tendencies for the week. That really was a product of that, just knowing what was coming before it was coming because of film study and really good coaching. The whole coaching staff does a good job.
On how important the win was to propel the team towards next season…
It's a positive. You certainly want to go out with a win. It's better than the alternative, but it does give you some momentum going into the offseason. It's a positive, but still far away from where we wanted to be and a lot of circumstances this year have contributed to that, but very positive and proud of our guys and mainly for hanging in there because you start having week-after-week of no success and a lot teams would just cash it in and not give any effort. These guys have continued to give great effort every single week.
Â
Senior Cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn
On what it felt like to have a pick-six in his last game…
That was amazing. I've been waiting for that my whole career. I'm glad I got to finally do it before the season came to an end.
On how the play on defense factored into the game…
We just do what we do every week, come out and work. Our main goal is to get the offense back the ball and I felt like we did a good job of that today.
Senior Running Back Micah Bernard
On how it feels to get a win…
It felt good, but at the same time its bittersweet. That's the last one, the last one of our careers here at Utah. It felt good to finally sing Utah Man and smile and have fun.
On what it means to him to break 1,000 yards rushing for the season…
It meant a lot. I knew how much I needed going into the game. After the first quarter, I knew I needed about 50 more. To hit it, that was my goal in the beginning of the season, 1,000-yard rusher. I'm glad I got to check it off my list.
Senior Quarterback Luke Bottari
On what it's meant to play for Kyle Whittingham…
He's a legend. He's been doing this for a long time. He's always done more with less. Personally, I love him. He gave me the opportunity to come into this program and come back, so I just thank him for that opportunity.
On what it means to get to 2-0 as a starter…
It's pretty surreal. You're sitting in fall camp thinking this is never going to happen and it happens two years in-a-row. I'm just happy they gave me the opportunity to come in and get the win and I'm happy we won.
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Players Mentioned
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