UCLA Football: Utah Head Coach Kyle Whittingham Low-Key Shades Bruins Ahead of Matchup

Did Utah's head coach just offer some bulletin board material for the Bruins?

This weekend's Pac-12 clash between the No. 11 Utah Utes and No. 22 UCLA Bruins is one of many significant games within the conference. 

Saturday's slate also includes No. 19 Colorado heading to No. 10 Oregon, as well as No. 14 Oregon State at No. 21 Washington State. 

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham had his weekly press conference on Monday. Of course, the subject of UCLA was brought up by the group of reporters present. Among other things, Whittingham had some rather eye-opening comments pertaining to the Bruins (all quotes via the video below courtesy of the University of Utah Athletics YouTube channel). 

When first mentioning UCLA, Whittingham had this to say (starting at the 0:54 mark): 

"Good football team. Well coached. Ton of talent. Ton of really good players. They really have done a good job with the portal guys they've brought in. They're a team that is going to be a great matchup for us."

-

Whittingham per YouTube Video

This seems to be a sincere albeit generic comment coming from the opposing head coach. Normally, there's no upside in insulting the opposing team ahead of what looks like a very significant game in terms of the conference title race. From there, he made a rather fascinating comment pertaining to UCLA and the injury situation his team is currently facing (starting at the 15:00 mark): 

"Typically...you have offensively and defensively 35 guys...36 guys that figure in prominently to what you're doing. When you're down 16 of those and have 20 guys left, it starts to get really thin. Like I said before, I'm sure nobody cares.

I'm sure UCLA is very thankful that we're beat up.

- Whittingham via his Monday press conference (

per YouTube

) 

Now this is an interesting comment. As has widely been covered across various platforms, Utah has been ravaged by injury to start the year. Over the course of the first three games, the Utes have been missing double-digit players who all are considered to be two-deep participants. This includes veteran quarterback Cam Rising -- who's status for Saturday remains a mystery (and likely will remain so until game time). 

The 'thankful' part is what's most interesting. Remember, UCLA soundly beat the Utes last year in the Rose Bowl -- with a healthy Rising -- by a score of 42-32 (in a game that wasn't all that close). 

Is the insinuation that Whittingham thinks his team would walk all over this current Bruin squad assuming they were at full strength? Was there a bit of a Freudian slip here? 

Kyle Whittingham is hoping to get at least some of the 16 players out with injuries back for the UCLA game this week. pic.twitter.com/m5Eef80SJX

— Dana Greene (@dana_greene) September 18, 2023

Some gamesmanship is likely at play. Utah reportedly rested more than a handful of guys this past weekend versus Weber State. There's a high likelihood that Chip Kelly and the Bruins will see the closest thing to a full-strength Utah team on Saturday in Salt Lake City. 

Regardless, this comment -- whether meant to be innocuous or not -- may have added a further wrinkle into what should be a highly competitive slugfest. 

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