Kyle Whittingham – Utah Football Press Conference 9.11.23

[Tony (admin)]

[Waybackutefan]

Interesting comments about Bernard, looks like he will practice this week and may see reps this weekend.

[Central Coast Ute]

I thought I heard him reiterate that Bernard is still out for the season and due to thar Curry’s time table will need to speed up and Vincent will also need to step up.

[RedRocks]

Like Central Coast Ute mentioned, I believe Kyle was speaking about Curry when he mentioned practice and potentially playing this week.

[Central Coast Ute]

I liked his comments on Mikey Matthew’s. He likened him to Covey.

In the 4th quarter Johnson threw him a pass, Matthew’s had to jump, knowing he was going to get hit to catch it. He caught it, took a good shot and still held onto the ball. I’m super excited for this kid.

[Tony (admin)]

Yeah. You’re going to get hit anyway! Might as well catch it.

[RedRocks]

He mentioned that ‘post-season’ games don’t count against the 4 game redshirt rule. Is that a new rule for this year?

[2008 National Champ]

In December last year, there was a one-time waiver instituted. I haven’t heard that it was codified moving forward though and am not seeing anything online.

[Larry B]

I have a feeling that Caliman is writing a strongly worded email to Whitt telling him that he has some nerve replacing Bryson “Bullet Arm” Barnes with Nate “No Talent” Johnson.

[RoboUte]

lmao

[Utah]

I agree with Whitt that it wasn’t PI. Once the ball is in the air, both players are receivers unless the defender tries to defend. Yes, #1 had his left arm, but he immediately let go and he didn’t impede the Baylor player from going after the ball. The ball was in the air and two receivers went for it and no one caught it.

#1 never looked at the Baylor player, never tried to defend the play. #1 was a receiver the whole way.

It was a good play by both players and a good call by the official.

[UteDuke]

Surprised that he said they would have gone for 2 if there had only been a minute left when they tied it up. I had wondered if they might, but I generally dislike that option because it allows the opponent to kneel out the clock and win if you fail. It certainly feels like Whittingham has a strong aversion to overtime.

[22Ute22]

Kinda surprised too. We seemed to have all the momentum at the end of the game and Baylor’s defense looked GASSED. I’m assuming he just didn’t want Nate to potentially make a mistake in OT, and didn’t want to play any more football than necessary on a 120+ degree field.

[EagleMountainUte]

Road team in OT has terrible chances. The odds are very low.

[UtMtBiker]

That’s not true. The data supports the favored team winning near the rate they typically win based on the spread. Meaning a team that is favored by 7 points like Utah was, would have a 69.14 percent chance of winning in OT while Baylor would be at 30.86. It might seem like home teams win more overtime games but it’s only because home teams are favored to win more games(51 percent) before it even starts. In this case, statistically speaking, going for 2 would have been foolish because teams convert 2pt tries less than <50 percent of the time. There are other models that factor in historical rezone efficiency and 2 pt success/ fail, rezone defense, etc. The most conservative model I could find puts the favored team still winning in overtime 58 percent of the time. Pure win/loss for home team is around 50.8 percent.

[UtMtBiker]

So happy that wasn’t the case. I don’t understand why you’d go for 2 when you’re offense is just getting going and your defense has stopped them all game. I don’t understand his logic of 1min vs 2min. How does that make any sense?

[ProudUte]

Notes:

Hard-fought victory. Credit the D for keeping us in the game until the 4th qtr.

Made a decision in the 4th qtr to turn it over to Nate.

Would have gone for two if there were less than 2 minutes to go when they scored the first TD.

Should not have been PI at the end. Good no-call.

Still trying to get guys healthy. Happy we have two P5 victories.

Said he was sweating from start to finish. Gave some guys IVs before the game. They were well prepared for the extreme temps.

We have good players up front on the D. In the second half we did better at stuffing the run. That helped us win the game. Also, good linebackers and good safeties that will hit you hard.

We thought our D was going to be good. Even with injuries we are doing well. Fotu gave us some good snaps at LB.

Nate Johnson will be the starter if Cam cannot go. Nate was very poised in the 4th qtr. Nate’s passing is improving. He needs to make good decisions to keep the ball out of harm’s way.

Mikey Matthews made some clutch catches.

We need to be more productive in the passing game and we need to put the ball up the field more. He seems to blame the coaches for some of this.

Ultimately we will not be playing FCS teams in the future with super conferences.

We want to win every game. Playing two P5 teams does not allow you to experiment with different game plans and players.

We need to keep balance in our schedule, not too hard or too tough. The PAC 12 is very tough this year.

Curry is progressing and may play some this week.

The Oline is doing a very good job. Doing well in pass protection and run game.

Kump has been doing good at center but when Johnny M. gets back things may change.

Sounds like he thinks some of the holding calls may have been ticky-tack.

The freshmen RBs look good but not enough to crack the top 4.

They talk about redshirting every week in staff meeting. It is a puzzle, because you can play 4 games.

Mikey Matthews – he loves his toughness. He is not intimidated by big-time football. He is a baller. He is a lot like Covey was because he is ready to play now.

Cam is day-to-day-to-day-to-day … Practices without limitations.

[BigUteGuy]

Day by day by day…Amen! -Gaylord Focker, Meet the Parents. That made me laugh when Whit made that reference. What a stud.

[123punt]

Okay I love our Utes, but I chuckled listening to this. Not a direct quote, but what was going through my mind:

“The defense kept us in the game! Somehow we couldn’t find a spark on offense, despite us calling 80+% run plays with the occasional third and long pass-play from a QB who doesn’t have great accuracy, while bringing in another QB to only either hand the ball off or run himself. But, once we were in desperation mode at the end and let the running QB throw, the offense finally started clicking!”

But seriously the play selection and coaching on offense needs to take some accountability. When you beg teams to stack the box and face zero consequences, why act surprised that your run game goes nowhere.

If the focus on offense is taking care of the football, any time we punt it should be measured as an expected, acceptable outcome. You’re not trying to score, you’re trying not to lose.

But, we’re 2-0 and I expect we’ll get better. Go Utes!