What Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said ahead of matchup with Houston
The preseason favorite to win the Big 12, Utah has fallen on hard times.
The Utes were ranked No. 10 in the country heading into their Week 5 game vs. Arizona. They lost that game 23-10, then dropped games to Arizona State and TCU to fall out of the national rankings.
Now they come to Houston with a 4-3 record, and a new offensive coordinator. Longtime OC Andy Ludwig resigned on Sunday after a three-game stretch where Utah averaged just 12 points per game.
The Utes have struggled to put points on the board since seventh-year senior Cam Rising, widely considered one of the best quarterbacks in the country, was injured vs. Baylor on Sept. 7. Rising is out for the season, and true freshman Isaac Wilson, the younger brother of Denver Broncos backup quarterback Zach Wilson, is trying to get the offense back on track.
But Wilson has struggled. He has completed just 54.8 percent of his passes, with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. In Utah's 13-7 loss to TCU on Saturday, backup quarterback Brandon Rose was seen warming up on the sideline.
"Well you're always looking for a spark when you're in the situation that we were in," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in his weekly press conference. "It was just get him ready because we hadn't been able to generate much offense at all at that point.
Rose never went in, but the message is clear: Wilson and the Utes offense need to perform.
Here's what Whittingham said ahead of Saturday's Big 12 road game at Houston:
Whittingham on his confidence in interim offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian:
"Confident. He's a very dynamic personality. He's got a lot of energy. He's upbeat. I think that the players will respond. That's the hope."
Whittingham on Wilson apologizing to the defense after the TCU loss:
"It says a lot. I wasn't aware of that until you just said that. That's a stand up thing to do. Isaac is a tough kid. He's confident. He's a guy that has leadership qualities that you look for in a quarterback. So it doesn't surprise me that he did that. But I see that as a positive."
Whittingham on what needs to change to end the three-game losing streak:
"We're playing really good on defense. It's not like we have a team-wide problem going on right now. We just need to get some things generated offensively. ... Ever since Cam [Rising] slid into that Gatorade cart it's been a struggle."
Whittingham on if he's seeing any division in the locker room:
"Absolutely none of that from what I've obsvered. We've talked to the team. It's been a conversation in other years as well. Can't detect any sort of division, divisiveness, none of that going on. We've got a lot of high character players in that locker room. I would be very surprised if that crept in."
"The mentality is if we score seven points, we better allow six or less. That's how it is. That's the mentality you have to have. Because once you start thinking one side of the ball has got all the answers then that's when you really have problems."
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Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.