Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
On quarterback Charlie Brewer’s play …“I thought he did a good job. His numbers were good, not great. He did throw a pick but that’s not on him because we were just trying throw one up at the end of the half and he did what he was coached up to do. I thought he had some great poise in pocket, did a nice job of keeping his eyes down the field. He was accurate and close to 70 percent. He did a good job of running the offense.”
On what his team can do about dropped passes and other mistakes …“Get better and catch them. We had a bunch of stuff and I got tired of writing it down in the first quarter. We gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown. We dropped a touchdown pass. We had to burn a timeout before a field goal because we only had 10 guys out there. We dropped two more balls. We missed a PAT after a delay of game. We have a whole laundry list of stuff to work on this week. It will keep us busy. As coaches and players we have to be better next week.”
On the running backs and did Tavion Thomas establish himself as the top guy …“We’ll see. You can’t put the ball on the ground so that was the big downside of it. But he did show a taste and a little bit of a glimpse of what he is capable of. We will look at the film and grade it hard and come up with a pecking order. It won’t be a bunch of or, or, or, or this week on the depth chart. We’re going to have a 1-2-3-4 order this week and we’ll see what the film says.”
On the offensive line play …“I don’t think we played well enough up front. Just my first impression. That’s not to pick on those guys because I don’t think we played well enough at a lot of positions.”
On the play of the secondary …
“They made some plays. Their quarterback completed too many balls though. He was nearly 65 percent, but we did come away with the interception on the tipped ball. Devin (Lloyd) made a great play there. We have to get better in the secondary. It’s not just them it’s the under coverage as well. I thought Clark Phillips showed up and made some nice plays. JaTravis Broughton was beat by a couple of steps, recovered and made a big play on that deep ball.”
On the defense’s goal line stand …
“It was a great goal line stand but it was ridiculous that we allowed a 20-play drive, or what seemed like a 20-play drive. They ate up seven or eight minutes on the clock but it had a good ending. That was encouraging.”
On getting more touchdowns in the Red Zone …
“We just have to keep working on it. It’s not for a lack of work. We just have to execute better. We dropped one that was going to be a touchdown. Just need to get better.”
On why his team threw the ball as often as it did …
“We think Charlie (Brewer) is going to be a really good quarterback. I thought Cam (Rising) threw the ball well too. We know we need to throw the football better. We need to throw it more productively and more efficiently than we did last year. If you want to be an elite team, you have to be able to throw the ball with a lot of those big chunk yardage plays.”
On quarterback Charlie Brewer’s play …“I thought he did a good job. His numbers were good, not great. He did throw a pick but that’s not on him because we were just trying throw one up at the end of the half and he did what he was coached up to do. I thought he had some great poise in pocket, did a nice job of keeping his eyes down the field. He was accurate and close to 70 percent. He did a good job of running the offense.”
On what his team can do about dropped passes and other mistakes …“Get better and catch them. We had a bunch of stuff and I got tired of writing it down in the first quarter. We gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown. We dropped a touchdown pass. We had to burn a timeout before a field goal because we only had 10 guys out there. We dropped two more balls. We missed a PAT after a delay of game. We have a whole laundry list of stuff to work on this week. It will keep us busy. As coaches and players we have to be better next week.”
On the running backs and did Tavion Thomas establish himself as the top guy …“We’ll see. You can’t put the ball on the ground so that was the big downside of it. But he did show a taste and a little bit of a glimpse of what he is capable of. We will look at the film and grade it hard and come up with a pecking order. It won’t be a bunch of or, or, or, or this week on the depth chart. We’re going to have a 1-2-3-4 order this week and we’ll see what the film says.”
On the offensive line play …“I don’t think we played well enough up front. Just my first impression. That’s not to pick on those guys because I don’t think we played well enough at a lot of positions.”
On the play of the secondary …
“They made some plays. Their quarterback completed too many balls though. He was nearly 65 percent, but we did come away with the interception on the tipped ball. Devin (Lloyd) made a great play there. We have to get better in the secondary. It’s not just them it’s the under coverage as well. I thought Clark Phillips showed up and made some nice plays. JaTravis Broughton was beat by a couple of steps, recovered and made a big play on that deep ball.”
On the defense’s goal line stand …
“It was a great goal line stand but it was ridiculous that we allowed a 20-play drive, or what seemed like a 20-play drive. They ate up seven or eight minutes on the clock but it had a good ending. That was encouraging.”
On getting more touchdowns in the Red Zone …
“We just have to keep working on it. It’s not for a lack of work. We just have to execute better. We dropped one that was going to be a touchdown. Just need to get better.”
On why his team threw the ball as often as it did …
“We think Charlie (Brewer) is going to be a really good quarterback. I thought Cam (Rising) threw the ball well too. We know we need to throw the football better. We need to throw it more productively and more efficiently than we did last year. If you want to be an elite team, you have to be able to throw the ball with a lot of those big chunk yardage plays.”
