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Women's Tennis
vs ITA All-American Championships
QUOTES FROM KYLE WHITTINGHAM’S WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
Opening statement
Obviously it was a disappointing loss Saturday. We thought we played the game exactly how it needed to be played in terms of giving us a chance to win but we didn’t come up with the play at the end to get a victory. I’m proud of our guys. They fought, battled and erased another 14-point deficit so we have to stop making a habit of that. It was a hard-fought game and credit to Cal. They’re a talented team in all phases, high octane and very difficult to defend. We did what we needed to do to get the victory but now it’s on to Arizona. They’ve had our number the last four years and we will try and get that corrected. We have not responded like we need to and that’s our challenge this week to beat the Wildcats.
On what Arizona has been able to do effectively in the running game vs. Utah
We’ve been watching the last four years of film and last year, we did the best job, but they’ve gashed us. Structurally there’s only so much you can do with how many guys are in the box. It’s a lot like playing Air Force. It’s assignment football with the read option and we’re just going to have to do a better job of playing assignment football
On the injuries
It’s to be determined. We have some MRI’s scheduled for later today but we will be here for 30 minutes if we went down the list. But no, no season-ending injuries
On positive takeaways from the Cal game
Things we did positively were control the football, we chewed the clock up. Time of possession was 42 minutes and we had 30 first downs, zero turnovers. If you told me going in those were the numbers we’d produce, I’d say we’re going to win the game going away. But, we faltered in the red zone. We were 3-of-6 in the red zone with three touchdowns. All you’re after in the red zone are touchdowns, field goals don’t cut it. We have to get touchdowns in the red zone. Had we got that last touchdown, that’s 4-of-6 and we win the game
On the last play
It was blocked up pretty good Zack Moss thought he saw penetration out of the corner of his eye so he pulled it back. Consequently, there was much not daylight on the backside. It was blocked up pretty good.
On if they will change anything schematically at the goal line offensively
We need to be more creative and add a few things, which we will. That’s our challenge this week, figure out ways to punch it in and not stall in the red zone.
On the timeout situation at the end of the game
It sure had a huge impact. It was gigantic. We can’t run the ball twice because you only have one timeout so it limited our options. It was very, very, very unfortunate it ruined out that way
On the high rate of going for it on fourth downs
It’s a combination of things. I mentioned last week we have come up with more fourth-and-shorts in the last two games than you sometimes do in a season. We have a lot of confidence in our offensive line. We have physical running backs and we have converted nine out of 10. It’s had a positive impact on our offense and the other part is that we have changed our philosophy to be more aggressive on offense
On the running back situation
We have three that have completely separated themselves from the pack. Troy McCormick is banged up and so we have two. Armand Shyne will get the start this week. He had an excellent week and was just shy of 100 yards. He is running with a lot of violence and good vision so he starts
On Cory Butler-Byrd
He was not available for us physically. We hope he can play this week with about a dozen more guys
On Julian Blackmon and other freshmen cornerbacks
We saw some good and some bad. We gave up a score but both of them have bright futures. We are excited about what will bring to the table at some point down the road. I thought Terrell Burgess made some plays, one in particular. It’s a learning process and that’s a big challenge to get thrown in against the no. 1 passing offense in the country. They’ll get better and they both have a lot of upside.
On Arizona’s injuries and what they expect at quarterback
[Khalil Tate} is a great athletes and a big, strong kid that can run and throw. I think they wanted to originally redshirt him. They have some unsettled issues at quarterback and I’m not sure what we are going to see. Obviously we have a lot of video on Anu Solomon from over the years and Brandon Dawkins has played a lot this year, not so much on tape, and then what we saw at UCLA
On shotgun vs. under center
We’ve been very good in the gun and that’s our base offense. All nine of the first downs on fourth down have been out of the shotgun. So, we do go under center. We planned on using it more this year. We did it in spring ball and fall camp so that’s something we are looking at, but it would not have made a dramatic impact thus far.
On Utah’s wide receivers after Tim Patrick’s injury
I thought they stepped up, especially Raelon Singleton. I’m very proud of what he did and he is playing how we envisioned when we recruited him. He picked up the slack for us. Kyle Fulks played well before he went down with an injury. Tyrone Smith I still banged up and not 100 percent but made some plays when he was in there.
On rebounding from a loss
We need to bounce back and you want to win every single game. Maybe one team goes undefeated when it’s all said and done. Being a good team is learning to bounce back. If you want to be a good team you cant get beat by the same team twice. It was an emotional game that came down to literally the last play. It takes a toll and you have to be able to rebound and respond. That’s the challenge this week
On the team’s goals
The primary goal is winning the Pac-12 South. I think Colorado is the only team without a loss and I don’t think anyone in the division is going to go undefeated. It’s very competitive. Two losses should win it and we have seen it happen with three losses. We control our own destiny and this loss, by no means, does anything to eliminate that goal. If you want to lose to a team, you want to lose to a team in the North Division. The bottom line is that our destiny is still in our hands and there’s a ton of football left so we have to find a way to beat Arizona
On Arizona’s running attack
They might not be putting up the numbers they did in the past. Nick Wilson is a terrific player. They haven’t been as prolific as years past but the last four years they’ve been prolific against us. We are not concerned with what they’ve done the first four or five weeks because we’ve struggled with them the last couple years
On what they saw from Arizona in the Washington game
They played very well in that game and it went down to the wire in overtime. They played hard and well there was nothing different schematically. They just played well.
On the linebacker situation
Sunia Tauteoli has been consistent for us since the beginning of the year. Kavika Luafatasaga is coming on and playing better football and got the start last week.
Chase Hansen isn’t a linebacker on paper but in the game this week, on four-receiver sets, he came down in the box like a linebacker in a 4-1-6 package. His physical skill set allows him to play down there and he handled it well.
On Arizona’s tempo
We cant do anything about their pace of play offensively. They’re similar to Cal in terms of pace. There’s a lot of carry over from the Cal game tempo wise and ironically enough we are not a hurry-up offense but we doubled Cal’s snaps this past weekend . We feel like we’re doing what’s right for us abut you are right in that they run a fast tempo. We definitely alter our practice periods and how we handle the scout teams. We have a couple scout teams ready to run at a high tempo to get the feel for the speed of the game
On who the players of the game were on Saturday
Nobody. We have no players of the game when we lose. We have a Champions Club and something for winning effort and we don’t do that when we lose.
On keeping a spread offense off the field
When a team throws the ball the way Cal does, the No. 1 team in the nation, it’s an advantage. The game is not played on paper but we did exactly what we thought we needed to do to win the game except for that last play. We felt we handled things well and everything we tried to manufacture we were able to do except getting that score.
On playing some weird games
That’s why football is such a great game. You have different matchups and different schemes that are intriguing and that’s why it’s so popular. Football is king in America
On gaining some separation in these games
Well we would like to have a comfortable margin of victory every week. We’ve played some good football teams. Cal obviously beat Texas and they are a high- octane team. Maybe we’d like to show a little more physical superiority in order to beat a team handily but our guys have handled things well and we are 4-1, not ideal, we’d rather be 5-0, but 4-1 is a pretty good spot to be.
On having never beaten Rich Rodriguez at Arizona
It’s not on my mind because I didn’t know that until you told me. I guess it better be because they’ve beaten us the last four years. That’s something we have to get turned around. We will have our home crowd and that’s a big advantage for us.
Obviously it was a disappointing loss Saturday. We thought we played the game exactly how it needed to be played in terms of giving us a chance to win but we didn’t come up with the play at the end to get a victory. I’m proud of our guys. They fought, battled and erased another 14-point deficit so we have to stop making a habit of that. It was a hard-fought game and credit to Cal. They’re a talented team in all phases, high octane and very difficult to defend. We did what we needed to do to get the victory but now it’s on to Arizona. They’ve had our number the last four years and we will try and get that corrected. We have not responded like we need to and that’s our challenge this week to beat the Wildcats.
On what Arizona has been able to do effectively in the running game vs. Utah
We’ve been watching the last four years of film and last year, we did the best job, but they’ve gashed us. Structurally there’s only so much you can do with how many guys are in the box. It’s a lot like playing Air Force. It’s assignment football with the read option and we’re just going to have to do a better job of playing assignment football
On the injuries
It’s to be determined. We have some MRI’s scheduled for later today but we will be here for 30 minutes if we went down the list. But no, no season-ending injuries
On positive takeaways from the Cal game
Things we did positively were control the football, we chewed the clock up. Time of possession was 42 minutes and we had 30 first downs, zero turnovers. If you told me going in those were the numbers we’d produce, I’d say we’re going to win the game going away. But, we faltered in the red zone. We were 3-of-6 in the red zone with three touchdowns. All you’re after in the red zone are touchdowns, field goals don’t cut it. We have to get touchdowns in the red zone. Had we got that last touchdown, that’s 4-of-6 and we win the game
On the last play
It was blocked up pretty good Zack Moss thought he saw penetration out of the corner of his eye so he pulled it back. Consequently, there was much not daylight on the backside. It was blocked up pretty good.
On if they will change anything schematically at the goal line offensively
We need to be more creative and add a few things, which we will. That’s our challenge this week, figure out ways to punch it in and not stall in the red zone.
On the timeout situation at the end of the game
It sure had a huge impact. It was gigantic. We can’t run the ball twice because you only have one timeout so it limited our options. It was very, very, very unfortunate it ruined out that way
On the high rate of going for it on fourth downs
It’s a combination of things. I mentioned last week we have come up with more fourth-and-shorts in the last two games than you sometimes do in a season. We have a lot of confidence in our offensive line. We have physical running backs and we have converted nine out of 10. It’s had a positive impact on our offense and the other part is that we have changed our philosophy to be more aggressive on offense
On the running back situation
We have three that have completely separated themselves from the pack. Troy McCormick is banged up and so we have two. Armand Shyne will get the start this week. He had an excellent week and was just shy of 100 yards. He is running with a lot of violence and good vision so he starts
On Cory Butler-Byrd
He was not available for us physically. We hope he can play this week with about a dozen more guys
On Julian Blackmon and other freshmen cornerbacks
We saw some good and some bad. We gave up a score but both of them have bright futures. We are excited about what will bring to the table at some point down the road. I thought Terrell Burgess made some plays, one in particular. It’s a learning process and that’s a big challenge to get thrown in against the no. 1 passing offense in the country. They’ll get better and they both have a lot of upside.
On Arizona’s injuries and what they expect at quarterback
[Khalil Tate} is a great athletes and a big, strong kid that can run and throw. I think they wanted to originally redshirt him. They have some unsettled issues at quarterback and I’m not sure what we are going to see. Obviously we have a lot of video on Anu Solomon from over the years and Brandon Dawkins has played a lot this year, not so much on tape, and then what we saw at UCLA
On shotgun vs. under center
We’ve been very good in the gun and that’s our base offense. All nine of the first downs on fourth down have been out of the shotgun. So, we do go under center. We planned on using it more this year. We did it in spring ball and fall camp so that’s something we are looking at, but it would not have made a dramatic impact thus far.
On Utah’s wide receivers after Tim Patrick’s injury
I thought they stepped up, especially Raelon Singleton. I’m very proud of what he did and he is playing how we envisioned when we recruited him. He picked up the slack for us. Kyle Fulks played well before he went down with an injury. Tyrone Smith I still banged up and not 100 percent but made some plays when he was in there.
On rebounding from a loss
We need to bounce back and you want to win every single game. Maybe one team goes undefeated when it’s all said and done. Being a good team is learning to bounce back. If you want to be a good team you cant get beat by the same team twice. It was an emotional game that came down to literally the last play. It takes a toll and you have to be able to rebound and respond. That’s the challenge this week
On the team’s goals
The primary goal is winning the Pac-12 South. I think Colorado is the only team without a loss and I don’t think anyone in the division is going to go undefeated. It’s very competitive. Two losses should win it and we have seen it happen with three losses. We control our own destiny and this loss, by no means, does anything to eliminate that goal. If you want to lose to a team, you want to lose to a team in the North Division. The bottom line is that our destiny is still in our hands and there’s a ton of football left so we have to find a way to beat Arizona
On Arizona’s running attack
They might not be putting up the numbers they did in the past. Nick Wilson is a terrific player. They haven’t been as prolific as years past but the last four years they’ve been prolific against us. We are not concerned with what they’ve done the first four or five weeks because we’ve struggled with them the last couple years
On what they saw from Arizona in the Washington game
They played very well in that game and it went down to the wire in overtime. They played hard and well there was nothing different schematically. They just played well.
On the linebacker situation
Sunia Tauteoli has been consistent for us since the beginning of the year. Kavika Luafatasaga is coming on and playing better football and got the start last week.
Chase Hansen isn’t a linebacker on paper but in the game this week, on four-receiver sets, he came down in the box like a linebacker in a 4-1-6 package. His physical skill set allows him to play down there and he handled it well.
On Arizona’s tempo
We cant do anything about their pace of play offensively. They’re similar to Cal in terms of pace. There’s a lot of carry over from the Cal game tempo wise and ironically enough we are not a hurry-up offense but we doubled Cal’s snaps this past weekend . We feel like we’re doing what’s right for us abut you are right in that they run a fast tempo. We definitely alter our practice periods and how we handle the scout teams. We have a couple scout teams ready to run at a high tempo to get the feel for the speed of the game
On who the players of the game were on Saturday
Nobody. We have no players of the game when we lose. We have a Champions Club and something for winning effort and we don’t do that when we lose.
On keeping a spread offense off the field
When a team throws the ball the way Cal does, the No. 1 team in the nation, it’s an advantage. The game is not played on paper but we did exactly what we thought we needed to do to win the game except for that last play. We felt we handled things well and everything we tried to manufacture we were able to do except getting that score.
On playing some weird games
That’s why football is such a great game. You have different matchups and different schemes that are intriguing and that’s why it’s so popular. Football is king in America
On gaining some separation in these games
Well we would like to have a comfortable margin of victory every week. We’ve played some good football teams. Cal obviously beat Texas and they are a high- octane team. Maybe we’d like to show a little more physical superiority in order to beat a team handily but our guys have handled things well and we are 4-1, not ideal, we’d rather be 5-0, but 4-1 is a pretty good spot to be.
On having never beaten Rich Rodriguez at Arizona
It’s not on my mind because I didn’t know that until you told me. I guess it better be because they’ve beaten us the last four years. That’s something we have to get turned around. We will have our home crowd and that’s a big advantage for us.