Postgame Quotes: No. 19 Utah vs. Colorado

Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham

On the game overall …
"I thought our defense played exceptionally well today, only giving up 148 yards and zero touchdowns. That's about as good as it gets. Proud of those guys. Offensively, we weren't quite as efficient and didn't execute as well as we have been over the last stretch of six to seven weeks, but we did enough to win the football game."
 
"Credit Colorado. They played hard, had a good plan coming in and slowed us down a little bit. But, a good conclusion to the regular season. We did what we needed to do in the final analysis. Now we have to sit back and find out who our opponent is going to be this coming Friday in Las Vegas."
 
"The week of practice was very good. We just didn't have the look in our eye like we did last week. But, we did play well enough to win and credit to Colorado for what they did."
 
On having played all three teams they could face in the Pac-12 Championship …
"We wish we knew which one so that we could go over to the office right now and get started. By playing each of the teams, there's no advantage. They've played us as well, so there really is no big deal in that. We didn't do so well against Oregon State. We got wins against the other two teams, but that will all be out the window. This game will be its own entity and we will need to play well."
 
On what his team takes from today's game …
"The key was to stay healthy tonight and we did that. We might have a few bumps and bruises, but it will be a full week and not a short week so we should get some guys healed up. It was a positive ending to a very positive season. But we still have work to do."
 
On holding Colorado to under 250 yards …
"This day in age that's not easy to do. Great job by our defense. They only had nine first downs. Lots of good stuff by that defense. They were flying around and just gave up those couple of field goals. The touchdown came on that kickoff return, which was something that I thought we had corrected, but not this afternoon."
 
On wearing the decal paying tribute to Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe on their helmets …
"It was great, and just to have that tribute one more time between the third and fourth quarters was awesome. It's emotional for me every time I see it. We love those guys. They are in the forefront of our minds all the time."
 
"Our players deserve so much credit for how they've gotten through this and the way they've handled it. They leadership group on this team are the ones who are really responsible for that. The captains like Britain Covey and all the other upperclassmen."

#18 Britain Covey
 
On ending the regular season and going into next week...
"Well, I think it's obvious we didn't play our best but at this point it doesn't matter. We sent those upperclassmen out right in Rice-Eccles and it's nice being able to focus on what we really want to focus on right now. It took a lot to really focus on this game throughout the week because our whole entire off season, we've been talking about the PAC-12 Championship, so we are excited to be able to look forward now. We're not even going to celebrate this victory. The moment we get home we're just preparing."
 
On how hard it was to play this game coming off of the Oregon game and looking forward to next week...
"I think it's difficult for both teams, not just us. I think both teams were a little bit sluggish, but we had a great week of practice and it doesn't always translate to the game and it's not like we looked past them or anything. We knew they were a great team so credit to them, honestly. They were playing to ruin our season and sometimes that is more motivation than anything. I think that it was just tough but the thing that helped it was sending the upperclassmen out. That's, when I was young, what motivated me and so vice versa."
 
On the fan's chanting Britain Covey's name...
"Normally, I don't let myself kind of get in that head space, but today I just listened to it. I was thinking of directing it like a chorus or something because it was beautiful and I loved it and I am just a Utah man. I love this stadium. I love the fans, so it means a lot that they would do that and like I said, normally I don't indulge in it, but today I did."
 
#7 Cameron Rising 
 
On recovering from the ball sailing on him in the first quarter...
"The way I try to approach the game is one play at a time and that wasn't a good play, so I had to go to the next one. That's pretty much how it is, and I had all my teammates over there telling me that they still believe in me and all that, so that always helps."
 
On the shovel pass to Britain Covey...
"I was planning on running it then 26 triggered on me, or I think it was 26, or someone out there. The defender came to me so I saw Covey running scott free...it was nice."
 
On playing in the PAC-12 Championship...
"It's amazing. I mean, I know it's a bigger game, but I still treat every game as the same. No game is bigger than the last and it is still a game that I intend on wanting to go win and play good."
 
#0 Devin Lloyd
 
On playing in honor of Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe...
"Just playing for them, playing in their memory and really just commemorating them in everything we do. I've said it multiple times. I know they are out there with us and I know they're the reason why we've been as successful as we've been and so we just continue to play for them. We will remember them forever and miss them forever." 
 
On playing against Colorado and his last game at Rice Eccles...
"Yeah, definitely a good team, but my guys definitely really stepped up and showed out today. That was something special to just be able to do that especially with it being my last time in this stadium. I wouldn't have rather gone out any other way with these guys."
 
#1 Nephi Sewell 
 
On playing against Colorado with the upperclassmen in their last game...
"Just to be out there and just to play for the seniors that's really what it is. I've invested a lot of time into the program. I want it just as much as they do. Some of us may have been here longer but just being around everyone, and with where everyone's mindset is, I'm just very proud of us."
 
On playing with Devin Lloyd...
"It means a lot. I've learned a lot from him. He's the reason I go out, even if I'm hurt. I'm going to ride for him and I know he'd do the same. That's why I'm always playing for him. That's my brother for real, more than a teammate, more than anything. That's my brother."

Colorado Head Coach Karl Dorrell

On tonight's game…
"We didn't play as well as we should've been able to play. We felt we had some opportunities to do some positive things but unfortunately, we did not. We showed spurts of doing some really good things, I know special teams was a bit of a lift for us. We had a couple nice drives, one drive didn't end up with any points, a missed field goal, but other than that we had trouble. We struggled with protection, we struggled with creating any type of production in the running game."

On the fight of the team and laying foundations…
"The fight does tell me a lot about that. We talked about that at the end of the game. Everybody feels we're heading in the right direction. Everyone feels that we have that foundation to build from moving forward. And it's unfortunate, I would have loved to start the off season with a win, winning this game and kind of using that as a boost to get some things going for us in a positive way, but there's enough of a good feel in this team that we feel that we're close. We play with a lot of young players, we have some veteran players here that are going to get bigger, better and stronger, so we feel like the foundation is set. We want to make sure we're relevant in the conference."

On positive plays early on…
"I do believe this team knows it can make plays. We talked about those things before the game and at the hotel. Those are the things we expect to do, we expect to have good judgement on our positions and make the next plays. I felt defensively we had a great week last week versus Washington where we created some turnovers and we were opportunistic. We didn't have as many today but that series did tell me that this team is starting to take a strong stance about making plays."

On offensive issues during the season…
"It's been challenging. We have to continue to bring these guys forward and make improvements week after week. That's where my disappointment is. I've felt there have been good weeks where we have shown signs of that, but there have been weeks where we haven't taken a step back but we didn't make much growth at all."

On Utah's performance and difficulties during the game…
"It's inconsistencies. I don't think we generated enough positive plays on first or second down. I think that's the challenge. You know, being a former play-caller myself, first and second down are critical downs to get yourself to second and five scenarios to keep the defense off balance. And secondly, they put some pressure on us and that was taking some things away."
 
#5 Mark Perry, Safety

On the fight of the team and what kept them in the game…
"No one has really given us a shot all year, so nothing has changed. We came here, we really didn't have much to lose. They've already won the South so why not just come and play. In that locker room we believe in each other, we believe in the coaches, we believe in the work we've been putting in, so I feel like nothing has really changed today."

On the interception…
"Coming in, we knew the two biggest targets were Britain Covey and Brant Kuithe. Initially he [Cameron Rising] wanted to hit Covey but Isaiah did a good job of getting his hands around him. He looked to Kuithe and he didn't look off him so I just broke it and he threw it right to me so, I'm just trying to do my part by contributing. I think early on it gave us some energy."

On playing without #53, Nate Landman, in the future…
"#53 is a leader. I came in as a freshman and he was a big dog on campus. He's taught me a lot, just about reading formations and different stuff like that and he's helped me just to be confident in myself so I'll always appreciate Nate for that. But I think we have guys that will step up. They've been in the same room with him and have a lot of the same qualities that he does. I think eventually we'll get to a point where we'll have people who can contribute just like Nate."
 
#38 Brady Russell, Tight End

On the fight of the team and what kept them in the game…
"This is the closest team I've been on since I've been here. In terms of comradery, we trust each other, we believe in each other and I think our off season and the things we did leading up to it helped that. Loving each other and being so close made us want to fight for each other. And you want to win for the guy next to you. It's not a you're out there by yourself kind of thing, you want to win for the guy next to you. So, I think that's the biggest change."

On inconsistencies being frustrating…
"Yeah, that was really frustrating. They did a good job sending pressure at times that were hard to pick up. We were trying to find ways to protect the quarterback, but we just weren't able to get that done and we weren't able to establish the run like we have in the past. So, I think that's where those issues arose."

On what will be key to the program…
"I think so much of it is keeping the mental discipline and building on it this off season and toughening our guys up. We have shown we can fight but now we have to build upon that and we have to be able to be the ones delivering the bows every play. Physically, we were getting kind of dominated with some of those pressures but if we can be bigger, stronger, faster and we can execute our job with better mental discipline then I think that's going to be one of the biggest keys in the off season to get better."