Postgame Quotes: Utah vs. Stanford

Postgame Quotes
(at) No. 13 Utah 42, Stanford 7
Salt Lake City, Utah (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
Sat., Nov. 12, 2022
Kick: 8:15 p.m. MT | End: 11:28 p.m.
Attendance: 51,951 (sellout)

Utah Quotes

Head Coach Kyle Whittingham
Opening Statement…
This was a great effort by our football team. We needed to be more productive and efficient in the first half, and in the second half, we got things going, got control of the game completely in the third quarter, and never looked back. We did another great job of rushing the football. Tavian Thomas had a big game, and it was great to see him in his last game here at Rice-Eccles get back to his old self. I am proud of him and glad that he has weathered the storm. Cameron [Rising] had a good outing and was very efficient offensively. We had over 500 yards of total offense. The defense played outstanding as we held Stanford to single-digit first downs and less than 200 yards rushing. A lot of really good plays by our defense. I am proud of our guys, and it's great to send the seniors and the guys leaving early, sending them out the right way."
 
On the defenses' level over the last three games…
"It is great preparation by our ours and the defense studies film constantly. They often know what will happen before the ball is snapped because they study so much film and put themselves in good situations. That stems from their coach Morgan Scalley, their coordinator, and their assistant coaches on the defensive side doing a phenomenal job and all our staff. I couldn't be more proud, pleased, and grateful for the staff."
 
On the progress of the defense over the season…
"Our defense played outstanding, and we have had some weeks we weren't quite as good, but those were really good offenses we played. When you look at our body of work as a whole defensively, it's been very good, and we're number one in the league, and we have been first, second or third in the league for years. That speaks to the hard work and dedication of our coaching staff. They're recruiting efforts and getting the right guys in to develop."
 
What have you seen from Simote Pepa the last few weeks…
"He is turning into a really good football player. This year he has made a concerted effort to get himself into better shape. He has much quicker and more stamina, and he's just a young buck. He has a lot of football left in him. We settled in mid-season on that three-tackle rotation with Junior Tafuna, Aliki Vimahi, and Pepa being that third guy."

#9 Tavion Thomas, Running Back
On what was working tonight…
"First of all, I just want to say I was so happy to be out there with my teammates, all of the seniors wanted to be out there and perform for each other and play hard for each other, that's all I was really worried about. I wasn't worried about the carries; I was just worried about finishing this thing and playing with these guys."
 
On his recent step back from football…
"It's been challenging but you can't run from it, you have to attack it. I got these great guys right here with a great support system here and they got me back right slowly but surely. Right now, I'm just focused and ready to get back with these guys and finish the season out and repeat back-to-back for the Pac-12 Championship."
 
On his final game in Rice-Eccles Stadium…
"It's just been fun. Like I said before, it's been a long journey, great fans and a great atmosphere, just unbelievable. I've never been a part of something like that so it's pretty awesome."
 
#7 Cameron Rising, Quarterback
On adjustments in the second half…
"We just cleaned it up, stopped having some holding calls and stuff like that. Anytime you set your offense back, it's going to be rough. We eliminated the mistakes and things started to go our way."
 
On freshman quarterback Nate Johnson…
"He's been phenomenal. Anytime you can have a guy run that fast, the self-proclaimed fastest player on the team, he does a good job with the ball in his hands. He makes smart decisions, and has a good head on his shoulders, especially for a freshman. It's impressive to see."
 
On Johnson's touchdown pass to Logan Kendall…
"That was great. Anytime you can get the 'Rhino' going downhill and getting him in open space like that with the ball, he's going to make a play. I know the whole team was just up and at him after that."
 
On if this was his final game in Rice-Eccles Stadium…
"I believe so."
 
#3 Mohamoud Diabate, Linebacker
On what contributed to tonight's defensive effort…
"Preparation. Coach always emphasizes preparation and being prepared for the game, knowing what to anticipate and knowing how to react to something when you see it. We just did a great job listening to our coaches throughout the week and putting in the work behind the scenes and being able to produce."
 
On his experience at Rice-Eccles Stadium…
"Great experience. Coming here I didn't really know what to expect, but I've definitely enjoyed every moment in that stadium. The fans and the atmosphere have definitely been special, so it's been a fun ride with these guys, and we look forward to finishing it in these next three weeks and taking what we came here to take."
 
#83 Jonah Elliss, Defensive End
How the defense has adjusted over the past few games…
"It's just about doing our job. Earlier in the season a lot of the mistakes that were happening were that guys were trying to make the big play or were not doing their assignment. The last few weeks we've really just honed in and said that if you just do your job, the play will come to you."

Stanford Quotes

Head Coach David Shaw
Opening statement…
"I can't speak positively enough about the character of the young men I get to coach.They had every excuse to come in here and play flat and not give a great effort but they chose to come in and bite and came out swinging that first half, got a great stop on the defensive side. Offensively, marched downfield, made a big play. We knew dealing with pressure was going to be part of this game plan. And early on, Tanner was able to sidestep it and put it up to Elijah, very similar to what he did in the fourth quarter as well to get the ball down there and score a touchdown. Defensively, obviously short handed, still came out and fought the whole first half. Unfortunate and we knew that there was a potential for a fake punt. We talked about it and we lost our eyes there as we call it. 'Don't lose your eyes. Don't put your eyes where it's not supposed to be', and they got that first down. It could have been interesting if we got that momentum back. That being said, we had it at 14-7 early in that third quarter but we had multiple opportunities and we did not connect. Worked a lot with a lot of our best guys getting in position to where we have a chance to make big plays. And this is a pressure defense and they're gonna come after you and if you don't make them pay, they'll just keep coming after you."

On how Utah converted fourth downs…
"Yeah, that's pretty straightforward. We got them to fourth-down multiple times. They called some great plays. They got after it a little bit. A couple of those plays were close, but they ended up getting them. That's a big change of the game. When you can keep the ball for as long as they did, in particular like they did at the end of the whole second quarter. When you can convert on fourth-down, it just diminishes the chances for the other team to score and that's what they did. We didn't get any of those stops. You know, if there's a chance, they're taking it. If we get one of those times, we get momentum, we get field position, we get a chance to turn around the score, but they got it. All credit to them."

On Levani Damuni being back on defense...
"There's no question about it. Levani, including this year, has lead us in tackles three years in a row. He's got a great feel for the game. He's physical. He's tough, smart, plays with great leverage. And I'll say it just doesn't surprise me. We missed him big time obviously last week. You know, as we missed the other three guys in the middle of our defense and we lost, but having him back was a huge help. Would have been nice to have a few more of those guys back. But yeah, levani is a special football player. It's great to see him out there making those plays."

Levani Damuni, Linebacker
On his 12 tackles…
"I'm from Utah so I have a lot of family and friends pop up for me so yeah, it was just special playing back home. I just know I had to turn up a little bit and yeah. We had a lot of breakdowns but yeah, it was good to get to play in front of a lot of family and friends that don't get the opportunity to get to see me. Especially because, like we're out of state and everything so yeah, it was good. It was good to be back home." 

On the first half...
"If you remember last year's game, we had that in the back of our mind and it was a similar score, but it felt different and you know, especially in that first half last year, they just did whatever they wanted. And this year we were able to stop them on third-down, make them punt a few times. And so yeah, we were solid in the first half. But, you know, we just need to figure out how to carry that out throughout the rest of the game and finish games."

On how to prepare for next weeks game...
"I mean, anytime you're playing for a trophy, especially Cal. That's our biggest rival and so even though there's no bowl contention anymore, we still have a purpose, and we're still playing for a trophy and we need to get that ax back. We lost last year. So now our whole team's locked in on getting that ax back and so yeah, just moving forward, we still have purpose and we still have drive on this team and so yeah, we won't stop till it's over."