Postgame Quotes: Utah vs. #18 Arizona State
Utah Quotes
Kyle Whittingham, Head Coach
On getting the win …
"So proud of this team. At halftime, we hadn't played very well in the first half. Obviously, Arizona State had played very well. We left some points on the field at the end of the first half. We were down there and were at least expecting to get a field goal but then we had the turnover."
"We rallied together at halftime. Those guys believed, those players believed. They were not going to be denied. It was 28-0 in the second half. Phenomenal job by our offense. In the first half, we didn't run the ball as effectively as we needed to. In the second half, we were outstanding running the football. Defensively, we stiffened up and started taking some things away."
"The coaching staff did a great job with their plans. The players executed. We must have made five or six plays that were crucial plays on that last drive to go up two scores. (Brant) Kuithe's catch, (Devaughn) Vele's catch, TJ (Pledger) made a couple of big runs. We must have converted four or five third downs on that drive as well. Proud of our guys."
"We are sitting in a great spot right now. We have a lot of football left, a lot of tough games. This thing's just getting started, but right now we are in a great spot. We just have to continue to practice the way we have, have the same attitude and competitive spirit, and see what happens."
On the keys of the second half …
"The offensive line took over in the second half. It all started with that first drive of the second half. We talked about how we left some points out there at the end of the first half. We got the ball first and we thought if we could put one on them then it's game on, and that's exactly what we did. We proceeded to score three more times in the second half and that last one was the dagger. When they got the ball back with 2:40 or whatever it was left, the pass rush took over and essentially ended the game for us."
On if he thought about attempting a field goal instead of going on 4th and 2 from the 37 yard line …
"No, it would have been, what, a 55-yard field goal. We didn't want to give up that field position. Even though a field goal would have been valuable at that point, we felt the chances of converting were better than making a 55-yarder."
On the improvements of the offense in the second half …
"We have a lot of faith in Cam Rising. The players believe in him as well. Tavion Thomas gave us a spark. He didn't give us 100 yards tonight but he was close. The tight ends made their usual contributions. They are an outstanding position group. Wide receivers made plays. Theo Howard and then Devaughn Vele with that one-handed catch to keep the drive alive was huge."
On the better play of the defense in the second half …
"We just started playing our gaps better. We didn't have good gap control in the first half. We were popping out of gaps and getting reach-blocked. We just had a little conversation at halftime about doing your job, staying in your gap and getting some knockback up front. Those guys played very well. We are playing with freshmen defensive tackles. Those guys are going to being incredible in a couple of years."
On how satisfying this win was …
"I can't tell you how rewarding it is. Our players deserved it. They had a great week of practice. It has to be in the top 10 of wins since I've been here in terms of satisfying wins. Proud of the team."
#7 Cameron Rising, QB
On what clicked after halftime …
"Just came together in the locker room. We know what we need to do. It's not something that we're running from. We have to attack this thing. We just talked about it and the defense did a great job of putting us in positions and we kept getting in positions to score."
On the play of the defense after halftime …
"I have all the confidence in the world in those defensive players. They are some bad men out there. I don't like going against them in practice and I'm glad I was going against the Sun Devils rather than these men tonight for sure."
On how he came back from two interceptions in the first half …
"It's easy. I just lean on my teammates and they get me right back where I need to be and made sure I'm in a position to make sure that this offense is going in the direction we need to be going."
On what has changed with this team since the first few weeks …
"I think we just know how to take adversity and know how to do it together. Not just focusing on pointing fingers at what we're doing wrong with this and that, and staying together in those situations."
On leading the Pac-12 South Division …
"We have everything that we want right there in front of us. We just have to go out and take it."
#0 Devin Lloyd, LB
On how the defense played so well in the second half …
"Just priding ourselves on finishing. That's been a staple of this program. We just banded together in that second half and focused on finishing plays and finishing drives. I think it's safe to say we did that."
On what seeing the offense do so well does for the defense …
"To see the offense do what they do, it just gets us pumped up. I just gets me pumped up. I'm trying to get everyone on the sideline pumped up. The positivity is infectious and it spreads throughout the whole team."
On containing Arizona State QB Jayden Daniels …
"He's a very elite quarterback. I think he's one of the best in the Pac-12. You just have to keep your integrity in your rushing lanes, play assignment-sound football, and get after him and make him uncomfortable in the pocket."
#80 Brant Kuithe, TE
On the offense playing so well in the second half …
"It was awesome. First half, we just started out slow. The defense held it down and then the offense just got that spark that we needed. Twenty-eight unanswered points. That's a good game."
Arizona State Quotes
Herm Edwards, Head Coach
On tonight's game…
"It was obviously a game with two halves, and they got the better of us in the second half. They got four touchdowns on us offensively, we could hardly make first downs. We couldn't move the ball to counter what they were doing to us and going into halftime, I told them that this is a second half football team. You need to look out and play. They are good in the second half, and we didn't match it on either side of the ball."
On the defense…
"When you give up four touchdowns in a half, that's too many for our defense. We got to get that fixed obviously. Offensively we struggled. We didn't move the ball, we hardly made any first downs to give our defense a rest. They ran it and made some critical third downs, whether it was a short pass or the quarterback leaving the pocket."
On Utah's offense…
"They continued to make first downs. They went on substantial drives, and we couldn't get off the field, and that kills us defensively. It just puts you in a bad spot. They got some momentum and they scored and scored again, and then all of a sudden the game is tied. Now you can feel the energy all of the sudden. They got the energy back and then offensively, we didn't do anything to counter it. We couldn't move the ball to score points, and that's a little frustrating on both sides."
#41 Tyler Johnson, DL
On how the defense played…
"A lot of us on defense probably started playing with emotion towards the back end of it. I don't think a lot of focus was there as far as coming in at halftime. We made adjustments and then we started seeing other things that we didn't really adjust for, but that still doesn't matter. At the end of the day, we played not so good on the defensive side."
On Utah's offensive line…
"The whole line were sitting pretty tight on the inside and the quarterback was reading it very well. He was starting to step up on the edge rushes and we weren't able to get outside very well. He was taking advantage of that."
On Cameron Rising…
"He basically played like Jayden. He took advantage of the outside edges being pretty short, and he saw the open field and he took it. He has got some good legs on him."