October 8, 2025 • 10 mins
The Utah FB Head Coach on their preparation for #21 ASU coming to Rice Eccles, The work they got done during the bye, Playing in nasty weather + more
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kyle Whittingham joins us right off the top, as promised
the head coach of your utes.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Coach, welcome to the Shot of Conna Show. How are
you sir?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Thank you O see how you doing doing all right?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
How is how is the bye week for your team?
Did you win the bye week? So to speak?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I would say yes. And you know, we try to
have an opportunity to get our guys freshened up and
healthy and as at the same time not to you know,
get rusty. You got to spend you know, enough time
on the field where you can stay sharp. And so
I think we struck a good balance this this bye week.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Do you do it? Is that formula the same every year?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Do you handle it kind of on a year by
year basis based on you know, bump spruces, injuries, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, that the ladder, it's it's based on the healthier team.
Also the timing of it. You know, if it's earlier
in the season, you can get a little more work
done than if it's a mid or late season. And
so the timing of it, how we played in the
previous ball game, you know, that has a lot to
do with it. Well as well, and so with having
a good showing against West Virginia, we're able to give
(01:03):
him a little more time off last week than if
we had it done so well.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
All right, So now you've got a tough one Saturday
night against a good Arizona State team, last year's Big
Twelve Conference champion. They've got the best, the most productive
running back in the league right now. They've got a
wide receiver who a lot of people think is going
to be a first round pick. They've got a dual
threat quarterback that we have seen do some really really
(01:28):
good things. How do you attack this Arizona State offense.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, well, first of all, you hit on the you know,
the real playmakers that they have. The receiver might be
the best in the country. I mean, he's really good
and I would think certainly a top or a first
round raft choice. And the running back, as you mentioned,
is leading the league in yardage per game. And then Levett,
the quarterback is a true dual threat who really you know,
his legs are what has done the most damage to
(01:55):
other teams. And he seems to have a great knack
for you know, a third and long breaking the pocket
and you know, ripping off a long run to move
the change, and so we've got to make sure that
we try to, you know, keep the damage to a
minimum with those three guys. And it's difficult, you know,
when you have a quarterback, running back and wide receiver
that you have to pay particular attention to. But that's
(02:16):
that's the challenge for coach Galley of the defense, and
we'll see how we do.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Can you spy a guy like Levit?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I mean, that's a reductive and simplistic way, but you
know he's so dangerous when he's back there and he
doesn't see what he wants to see. We saw it
last year when you guys were down in timp. You know,
he'll just pulled the ball down like your quarterback is
capable of doing, and extend drives and plays that way.
Can you solve a problem like that by just putting
one of your great athletes on him and saying you
(02:44):
follow him wherever he goes?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That can be part of the equation, without a doubt.
That's not an every down thing, but spying him is
certainly does have its place. And as you mentioned, the
spy better be a good athlete because it doesn't do
any good to spy a guy that can't do in
the open field. So so as long as you have
the right guy spying is you know, that could be effective.
And in addition to that, you've got to be very
(03:07):
disciplined in your in your pass rush lanes. And that
really is the probably the starting point is to keep
him in a cage and make sure that you're very
disciplined and you know, not necessarily trying to sack him
as much as contain him and keep him in the pocket.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I don't expect you to give me specific names because
there's no advantage in telling us.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
But what we saw some guys get banged up.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And you've been asked about the injury report, and we'll
get the official injury report. But at the safety position,
which is so massively important in this Utah defense against
the quarterback like this, against the receiver like this, against
an offense like this, do you have to this point
in the practice week, do you have a solution worked
out for you that you consider to be satisfactory at
(03:53):
that safety spot.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, we think so. And it's tough losing Nate Richie.
You know, he's playing good football for us, and as
a physical safety and very smart but but you know,
Nate will not be available. We know we can say
that for certain, and it's not season ending, but unfortunately
he's gonna he's gonna be out for a while. But
we have some other options and I've been working on
(04:15):
a few different combinations and really the key is to
get your best athletes on the field, and however you
got to do configuration wise to get that done. That's
that's what you need to do. So so we'll, you know,
shuffle some people around and make sure we get the
best guys out there.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Got Whitningham, head coach at the University of Utah, our
guest here on the Sean O'Connell show. Let's talk about
your offense, Devin dan Pier, and I thought the offense
as a whole had really nice bounce back week against
West Virginia, as you already alluded to. And it was
particularly interesting for me with Dev because you know, we
see him and he's been so productive with his mobility
(04:50):
and clearly he was a little bit limited in that
aspect against Tech and then against West Virginia, but still
found ways to be efficient, productive, et cetera. You never
want a guy to be hurt and less than one
hundred percent, But was there some value in finding out
what he is as a pocket passer.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I guess that there is a silver lining to that
that would be it. But you know, his game is
based so much on extending the play and using his
legs to you know, avoid rushes and you know, stand
and get the ball downfield or pull it down and
run with it. So so it's good to have him
back at full strength. And you know, he was a
little bit slowed down there for a few weeks. But
(05:32):
but Devin's done a great job this year as far
as protecting the ball. His completion percentage is up almost
twenty percent over last year fifteen percent something like that.
So so he has done a really nice job and
we're you know, we're excited to see what he can
do this week because it'll be a big challenge against
the Sun Devils.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Coach, with that in mind, I know that there's a
balance to be struck from a coaching standpoint. You want
to treat every game like it's the same, and you
want to you don't want to, you know, put too
much weight on a particular matchup. And the Texas Tech
game was obviously like this huge national stage opportunity and
(06:11):
the stakes are incredibly high in every Big twelve game,
and the same is true Saturday night at Rice Cycles Stadium.
It feels like your players probably know how important a
game like this is. But how do you coach it
so you get the best version? You get guys to
rise to the occasion and do things the right way
without letting it become you know, a too daunting in
(06:32):
their minds. How do you how do you get people
to play a big game like it's a big game?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Well, yeah, that's a that's a good question. And really
the simple answer is is we have a process and
a preparation model that we follow, and we follow it
every week. And I've said it many times before. If
there was a better model and a better way to
do things, we wouldn't save it for particular weeks. You know,
we'd do it every single week. And so just you know,
the players are smart, they understand that, you know, challenges, Uh,
(07:00):
some weeks are bigger than others. But but if you
approach things the same way and take the take the
same uh, you know, practice preparation and and go through
your your film study and do everything that that you
do on a weekend and week out basis, then that
gets your best opportunity to win. You can't be too high,
you can't be too low. You can't uh, you know,
take anybody for granted, that's for certain. And you can't
(07:22):
get all tense and and uptight if you're if you're
playing a more highly ranked team or whatever the situation is.
So the key really is to just be even keeled
and go through your process, go through your preparation, and
then come out and play as hard as you can
on game day.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Which which games did you sit down and watch live
during the bye week?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Let's see, I was out watching grandkids playing soccer and
baseball and football and all that, so I didn't get
to see a whole lot of games uh this past weekend,
So I'm not sure I sat down and watched any
of them from start to finish?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
In general?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Do you enjoy that when you do get the rare
opportunity to do it? Do you like watching football games
as a fan or because you've been a coach for
so long and you're used to the all twenty two
and the cutups and you know you can fast forward
and rewind.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Do you enjoy watching football on TV.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Oh. Absolutely, And I'm a huge NFL guy. I love
I love watching NFL games in particular, and you know
that's usually an opportunity for me to see more of
those games in the college games. But I'm a I'm
a football fan, and you know, choose to, you know,
sit down and watch the games that are on if
I don't have more important things going like grandkids.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So yeah, coach, I know your time is short, so
we appreciate you giving us a few minutes here on
a game week before we let you go. It's supposed
to be a little blustery, a little cold, a little rainy,
And I already asked your your your offensive coordinator about this.
I already asked Devin dan Pier about this. But do
you have to make any significant adjustments to your week
(08:56):
of preparation knowing that it might be a little wet
on Saturday night?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
No, not really. I mean you have enough in your
plan every week to be able to function in whatever
the weather scenario is, and so you know, you do
do a few things different during the week. You know,
have what ball drills where you're you know, for both
the specialists and the offensive personnel. As far as practicing
with the ball soaking wet, and so there's a few
(09:21):
things you do differently, but as far as a major
overhaul or modification of the game plan, though, we feel
like we got enough to handle it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Does this still feel as we head into week six
like the team you thought it was heading into the year,
a team capable of competing for a Big twelve championship
knowing how deep the league is, how competitive the league is.
Have you learned enough about this team through the first
five weeks of competition and the bye week that you
know you've been at the championship level before?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Coach, is this one of those teams.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I think it can be? Yeah? We have really, you know,
a good group of guys, a really good group of
leaders too. In particular, that's that's always a key to
have a a special season is to have captains and
your leadership council that really take charge and own the program.
And these guys have done a great job of that.
Their war habits are exceptional Monday through Friday, and we've
(10:12):
got some really talented players, and so yeah, we absolutely
have an opportunity to make some noise in this conference.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Again, Coach, appreciate your time good luck on Saturday night.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Thank you, okay, we see do you take care.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Kyle Whittingham, head coach of your University of Utah football team,
big thanks to him joining us on a week like
this one.
Kyle Whittingham joins us right off the top, as promised
the head coach of your utes.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Coach, welcome to the Shot of Conna Show. How are
you sir?
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Thank you O see how you doing doing all right?
Speaker 1 (00:10):
How is how is the bye week for your team?
Did you win the bye week? So to speak?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I would say yes. And you know, we try to
have an opportunity to get our guys freshened up and
healthy and as at the same time not to you know,
get rusty. You got to spend you know, enough time
on the field where you can stay sharp. And so
I think we struck a good balance this this bye week.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Do you do it? Is that formula the same every year?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Do you handle it kind of on a year by
year basis based on you know, bump spruces, injuries, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, that the ladder, it's it's based on the healthier team.
Also the timing of it. You know, if it's earlier
in the season, you can get a little more work
done than if it's a mid or late season. And
so the timing of it, how we played in the
previous ball game, you know, that has a lot to
do with it. Well as well, and so with having
a good showing against West Virginia, we're able to give
(01:03):
him a little more time off last week than if
we had it done so well.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
All right, So now you've got a tough one Saturday
night against a good Arizona State team, last year's Big
Twelve Conference champion. They've got the best, the most productive
running back in the league right now. They've got a
wide receiver who a lot of people think is going
to be a first round pick. They've got a dual
threat quarterback that we have seen do some really really
(01:28):
good things. How do you attack this Arizona State offense.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, well, first of all, you hit on the you know,
the real playmakers that they have. The receiver might be
the best in the country. I mean, he's really good
and I would think certainly a top or a first
round raft choice. And the running back, as you mentioned,
is leading the league in yardage per game. And then Levett,
the quarterback is a true dual threat who really you know,
his legs are what has done the most damage to
(01:55):
other teams. And he seems to have a great knack
for you know, a third and long breaking the pocket
and you know, ripping off a long run to move
the change, and so we've got to make sure that
we try to, you know, keep the damage to a
minimum with those three guys. And it's difficult, you know,
when you have a quarterback, running back and wide receiver
that you have to pay particular attention to. But that's
(02:16):
that's the challenge for coach Galley of the defense, and
we'll see how we do.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Can you spy a guy like Levit?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I mean, that's a reductive and simplistic way, but you
know he's so dangerous when he's back there and he
doesn't see what he wants to see. We saw it
last year when you guys were down in timp. You know,
he'll just pulled the ball down like your quarterback is
capable of doing, and extend drives and plays that way.
Can you solve a problem like that by just putting
one of your great athletes on him and saying you
(02:44):
follow him wherever he goes?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That can be part of the equation, without a doubt.
That's not an every down thing, but spying him is
certainly does have its place. And as you mentioned, the
spy better be a good athlete because it doesn't do
any good to spy a guy that can't do in
the open field. So so as long as you have
the right guy spying is you know, that could be effective.
And in addition to that, you've got to be very
(03:07):
disciplined in your in your pass rush lanes. And that
really is the probably the starting point is to keep
him in a cage and make sure that you're very
disciplined and you know, not necessarily trying to sack him
as much as contain him and keep him in the pocket.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I don't expect you to give me specific names because
there's no advantage in telling us.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
But what we saw some guys get banged up.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And you've been asked about the injury report, and we'll
get the official injury report. But at the safety position,
which is so massively important in this Utah defense against
the quarterback like this, against the receiver like this, against
an offense like this, do you have to this point
in the practice week, do you have a solution worked
out for you that you consider to be satisfactory at
(03:53):
that safety spot.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, we think so. And it's tough losing Nate Richie.
You know, he's playing good football for us, and as
a physical safety and very smart but but you know,
Nate will not be available. We know we can say
that for certain, and it's not season ending, but unfortunately
he's gonna he's gonna be out for a while. But
we have some other options and I've been working on
(04:15):
a few different combinations and really the key is to
get your best athletes on the field, and however you
got to do configuration wise to get that done. That's
that's what you need to do. So so we'll, you know,
shuffle some people around and make sure we get the
best guys out there.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Got Whitningham, head coach at the University of Utah, our
guest here on the Sean O'Connell show. Let's talk about
your offense, Devin dan Pier, and I thought the offense
as a whole had really nice bounce back week against
West Virginia, as you already alluded to. And it was
particularly interesting for me with Dev because you know, we
see him and he's been so productive with his mobility
(04:50):
and clearly he was a little bit limited in that
aspect against Tech and then against West Virginia, but still
found ways to be efficient, productive, et cetera. You never
want a guy to be hurt and less than one
hundred percent, But was there some value in finding out
what he is as a pocket passer.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I guess that there is a silver lining to that
that would be it. But you know, his game is
based so much on extending the play and using his
legs to you know, avoid rushes and you know, stand
and get the ball downfield or pull it down and
run with it. So so it's good to have him
back at full strength. And you know, he was a
little bit slowed down there for a few weeks. But
(05:32):
but Devin's done a great job this year as far
as protecting the ball. His completion percentage is up almost
twenty percent over last year fifteen percent something like that.
So so he has done a really nice job and
we're you know, we're excited to see what he can
do this week because it'll be a big challenge against
the Sun Devils.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Coach, with that in mind, I know that there's a
balance to be struck from a coaching standpoint. You want
to treat every game like it's the same, and you
want to you don't want to, you know, put too
much weight on a particular matchup. And the Texas Tech
game was obviously like this huge national stage opportunity and
(06:11):
the stakes are incredibly high in every Big twelve game,
and the same is true Saturday night at Rice Cycles Stadium.
It feels like your players probably know how important a
game like this is. But how do you coach it
so you get the best version? You get guys to
rise to the occasion and do things the right way
without letting it become you know, a too daunting in
(06:32):
their minds. How do you how do you get people
to play a big game like it's a big game?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Well, yeah, that's a that's a good question. And really
the simple answer is is we have a process and
a preparation model that we follow, and we follow it
every week. And I've said it many times before. If
there was a better model and a better way to
do things, we wouldn't save it for particular weeks. You know,
we'd do it every single week. And so just you know,
the players are smart, they understand that, you know, challenges, Uh,
(07:00):
some weeks are bigger than others. But but if you
approach things the same way and take the take the
same uh, you know, practice preparation and and go through
your your film study and do everything that that you
do on a weekend and week out basis, then that
gets your best opportunity to win. You can't be too high,
you can't be too low. You can't uh, you know,
take anybody for granted, that's for certain. And you can't
(07:22):
get all tense and and uptight if you're if you're
playing a more highly ranked team or whatever the situation is.
So the key really is to just be even keeled
and go through your process, go through your preparation, and
then come out and play as hard as you can
on game day.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Which which games did you sit down and watch live
during the bye week?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Let's see, I was out watching grandkids playing soccer and
baseball and football and all that, so I didn't get
to see a whole lot of games uh this past weekend,
So I'm not sure I sat down and watched any
of them from start to finish?
Speaker 2 (07:55):
In general?
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Do you enjoy that when you do get the rare
opportunity to do it? Do you like watching football games
as a fan or because you've been a coach for
so long and you're used to the all twenty two
and the cutups and you know you can fast forward
and rewind.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Do you enjoy watching football on TV.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Oh. Absolutely, And I'm a huge NFL guy. I love
I love watching NFL games in particular, and you know
that's usually an opportunity for me to see more of
those games in the college games. But I'm a I'm
a football fan, and you know, choose to, you know,
sit down and watch the games that are on if
I don't have more important things going like grandkids.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So yeah, coach, I know your time is short, so
we appreciate you giving us a few minutes here on
a game week before we let you go. It's supposed
to be a little blustery, a little cold, a little rainy,
And I already asked your your your offensive coordinator about this.
I already asked Devin dan Pier about this. But do
you have to make any significant adjustments to your week
(08:56):
of preparation knowing that it might be a little wet
on Saturday night?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
No, not really. I mean you have enough in your
plan every week to be able to function in whatever
the weather scenario is, and so you know, you do
do a few things different during the week. You know,
have what ball drills where you're you know, for both
the specialists and the offensive personnel. As far as practicing
with the ball soaking wet, and so there's a few
(09:21):
things you do differently, but as far as a major
overhaul or modification of the game plan, though, we feel
like we got enough to handle it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Does this still feel as we head into week six
like the team you thought it was heading into the year,
a team capable of competing for a Big twelve championship
knowing how deep the league is, how competitive the league is.
Have you learned enough about this team through the first
five weeks of competition and the bye week that you
know you've been at the championship level before?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Coach, is this one of those teams.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I think it can be? Yeah? We have really, you know,
a good group of guys, a really good group of
leaders too. In particular, that's that's always a key to
have a a special season is to have captains and
your leadership council that really take charge and own the program.
And these guys have done a great job of that.
Their war habits are exceptional Monday through Friday, and we've
(10:12):
got some really talented players, and so yeah, we absolutely
have an opportunity to make some noise in this conference.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Again, Coach, appreciate your time good luck on Saturday night.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Thank you, okay, we see do you take care.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Kyle Whittingham, head coach of your University of Utah football team,
big thanks to him joining us on a week like
this one.
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