Takeaways From Kyle Whittingham’s Utah/Colorado Week Press Conference

Nov 11, 2024, 4:36 PM | Updated: Nov 12, 2024, 4:37 pm

Utah Utes Football head coach Kyle Whittingham...

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 19: Kyle Whittingham head coach of the Utah Utes watches a replay during the first half of their game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Rice Eccles Stadium on October 19, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah.(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

BY STEVE BARTLE

Utah Insider

SALT LAKE CITY – On Monday, Utah Football head coach Kyle Whittingham addressed members of the media for his Colorado Buffaloes week week press conference of 2024.

Coming off of a tough rivalry loss, Utah looks to move forward this week, which will be a challenge.

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To begin the week, Whittingham met with the media as he always does. After the 15-minute presser, here are five key takeaways from Utah’s head coach press conference.

Onto the Colorado Buffaloes

Utah has entered Colorado week. The Buffs are playing genuinely good football thanks in large part to their two star players, Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders.

“They arguably have one of the best players in college football, maybe the best, in (Travis) Hunter, he’s tremendous, and the quarterback’s outstanding,” Whittingham said. “They’re playing really good football; 7-2, an early loss to Nebraska and a close loss to K-State.”

Colorado is not just a great quarterback and dynamic playmaker, they are a much-improved squad compared to last season.

“Coach Sanders is doing a great job, and his staff have made a lot of adjustments and improvements over the last year,” he shared. “They’re much better at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.”

An already tough matchup is made more difficult by the BYU loss. It’s difficult, but this group has to find a way to put an emotionally charged game behind them.

“That’s tough and that’s a challenge for us, without a doubt,” Whittingham said. “We poured everything we had into that game, obviously as we do every week but that game takes a little more of an emotional toll.”

Moving forward at tight end without Brant Kuithe

“Carsen Ryan is a player that is right up there toward the top. Of course, Dallen Bentley’s been seeing plenty of time all season long. Landen King becomes more of a factor for us, as does our big tight end in Caleb Lohner and Miki Suguturaga. Suguturaga has had his role all season long; not as much as last year…but he’s another guy that we’ll mix in. So we still have plenty of depth, plenty of bodies in that room and guys that can get it done.”

Utah will absolutely miss Kuithe’s dynamic ability. He proved to be one of the top playmakers for Utah this season and despite all the offensive struggles, he finished the year with 35 receptions for 505 yards and 6 touchdowns.

The guys behind him have combined for 10 receptions that have generated 96 yards and 4 touchdowns. Landen King will be the immediate option to fill in for Kuithe, and playing time has been sporadic at best. Yet, he’s continued to work and stay committed to the process, despite the uncertainty of playing time. This is a big opportunity for King to step up and he will be chomping at the bit.

Smith Snowden played a lot of good football

“Smith Snowden is a really good football player playing that nickel position, slot corner—which is one of the most, if not the most, difficult positions on the defensive side of the ball. We ask a lot of that guy.”

He truly did a great job in coverage. He finished the game allowing just 2 receptions on 6 targets, including a pass breakup. Where Snowden provided some additional juice was on kick return, where he returned 3 kicks for 92 yards, including a long of 36 and an average of just under 31 yards.

“Smith did an outstanding job and really did a nice job on the kickoff return opportunity that he had,” Whittingham said. “He’s going to stay back there on kickoff return, you’ll see him continue to fill that role.”

Beyond Snowden, each of Utah’s cornerbacks actually played a good game. Elijah Davis allowed just 1 reception for -2 yards. Zemaiah Vaughn gave up just 1 reception for 22 yards. Cam Calhoun limited BYU to 3 receptions on 6 targets, an interception on BYU’s 2-point conversion, and another near-interception that would’ve sealed the game for Utah.

“I thought Zemaiah (Vaughn) played an exceptional football game and wouldn’t have coached him any differently on the one,” Whittingham said. “He, among others, played exceptionally well and it’s just unfortunate that we weren’t able to get the victory.”

BYU’s success in throwing the ball came on blown coverages. Communication is key to zone coverage, and Utah had two big breakdowns on BYU’s lone touchdown drive. This secondary is still young and inexperienced. It has shown a lot of potential this season, but it obviously needs to make strides, particularly in those clutch moments.

Big 12 vs Pac-12 refereeing

“They let you play more in the secondary, typically,” Whittingham said of the difference between refereeing in the two conferences. “Contact and things we’re used to, having penalties called either for us or against us in the old league is more allowable.”

College football programs have access to stats that provide a “scouting report” on referees and their teams. A college football data hub such as SportsSourceAnalytics has profiles of referees organized by conference and breakdowns of their penalty calls.

“The Pac-12 was typically the most officious conference in the country, and the Big 12 was more in the middle,” Whittingham said. Yes, “officious” is a word.

Preparing for the Transfer Portal cycle

“Regardless of how you’re doing, recruiting never ends,” Whittingham said. “We’re constantly watching other teams and lower level football, FCS, to see what players are really standing out, flashing, and that’s an ongoing process.”

Utah welcomed 45 new players to the program this past year. The recruiting was split nearly 50/50 between typical high school and the transfer portal. Utah is expected to be quite active in the transfer portal this year. In fact, Utah will likely end up around and probably even surpass the 45 they brought in last season.

The House v NCAA settlement is on the horizon. It will enable programs to pay athletes directly. It also means there will be new oversight on third-party NIL deals. Stricter guidelines will require a detailed explanation of the value athletes provide to these third parties.

These supposed new guidelines won’t go into effect until this summer, however. That means the next six to seven months will be the last-gasp opportunity to secure NIL deals under the current mode of operation— i.e., the wild wild west.

That means we can expect many players (across the country) to enter the portal. This will likely lead to a great deal of portal recruiting activity. Lastly, some of those players will secure pretty big NIL numbers.