What Whittingham said after Utah's victory over USC

Notable quotes from Kyle Whittingham after the Pac-12 Championship victory.

Opening Statement:

Utah Utes quarterback Cameron Rising hoists the Pac-12 Championship trophy after the game against the Southern California Trojans at Allegiant Stadium / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

"So proud of our guys. Our coaching staff, our players, outstanding effort. Players never stopped believing. I mean, they had a great attitude going into this game. They were not going to be denied.

Didn't look good early. We didn't play very well in the first quarter at all. In fact, if they would have kept that pace, it would have been 100 points and a thousand yards I think I calculated.

Good job by our defense stemming the tide, pulling another 180 just like they did in the (regular season USC) game, although this came in the second quarter rather than the second half.

We owned third down. I believe they were one of 12 on third down. We were much better in that. I think we were five or six of 12. That was a big key to the game.

Our rushing attack was big, being able to pile up the yards, get those physical rushes when we needed them. Cam Rising was outstanding, obviously, Player of the Game, MVP. Well deserved. He's our leader. As Cam goes, so goes the offense. He was on target tonight.

Very proud of the guys that stepped up for guys that weren't able to play. It was great to see those guys pick up the slack and perform very well.

Great job by our players repeating as Pac-12 champs. What more can you say? It's been a good last 12 months. Excited to go to the Rose Bowl again. Got to keep the good luck hair for another month now, so you have to deal with that (smiling). Can't cut it now.

But we're excited. We're excited. I'm proud. Like I said, so much hard work by our assistant coaches. Those guys just work tirelessly around the clock. Our players have a great work ethic and attitude. It's just a pleasure to be around this team and these coaches. Love the culture that we have in our program."

Question: Can you talk about the legacy you have laid here?

Kyle Whittingham: "First of all, it's an anomaly to be at a school as long as I have. That just doesn't happen this day and age. I'm very grateful and blessed to have been at the University of Utah for as long as I have. It's close to 30 years as an assistant coach and head coach. Most coaches in that time frame would have been at 10 or 12 different places. Feel very fortunate.

Love the university. Love the community, love the state of Utah. It's a good fit for me and my family.

As far as the success we've been able to have, I don't really care one bit about what conversation I'm in, I'm not in. That's not what's important. This job, you got to win to keep your job. But it's all about relationships, building those relationships with your players and coaching staff, even coaches from other teams. That's what it really is all about.

Again, if you don't win enough, you won't be around long enough to build relationships. I've been fortunate in that regard. I have no opinion on should I be in whatever conversation. That's where I'm at with that."

Question: How gratifying is this season given you have been here before?

Kyle Whittingham: "As gratifying as any season I can remember. We had our backs against the wall when we got beat by Oregon a couple weeks back. These kids never blinked, never flinched. We kept believing. Once we got the news after the Oregon game that there was a pathway that we could get to this game, our guys just were ecstatic. We knew some things had to line up, one of which we had control of.

It's been a magical season in a lot of ways. Things just fell into place. To have this team, this is the goal way back in January, a bunch of our guys came back instead of opting to the NFL, is to run it back, as they called it. Wanted to do it again. Here they sit with a championship in their Hall of Fame out in front. It will be there tomorrow."

Question: Did you sense that Caleb Williams was hurt and did that change how you defended?

A detailed view of the fingernails of Southern California Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams reacts during the Pac-12 Championship at Allegiant Stadium / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Whittingham: "Yeah, we sensed -- I can't remember the exact point, but it was sometime early in the third quarter I believe. When you see a quarterback become not as mobile as he could be or should be, you smell blood in the water and you start bringing the heat. I mean, that's the strategy you want to use.

Caleb is a tremendous player. Maybe the most difficult quarterback to sack that we ever played against. We banged him up, slowed him down. I don't know how many sacks we ended up with, did we have half a dozen? Somewhere in that neighborhood?

He definitely took some punishment from our guys. We turned up the pressure."

Question: Can you go back to the 2019 season and explain what USC might be feeling right now?

Kyle Whittingham: "Yeah, it's disheartening. We've been there twice, '18 and '19. In '18, we were elated to be

there because we had never been to the championship game. Then in '19 we had that great team; had we won, we would have been in the CFP almost for certain.

We can emphasize and understand what they're going through. But this is a competitive profession. You can just worry about yourself; you can't feel sorry for anybody else. You just keep going about your business."

Question: What does it say about the program to follow up last year with this one?

Utah Utes wide receiver Britain Covey (18), quarterback Cameron Rising (7) and Utah Utes long snapper Keegan Markgraf (93) celebrate after the 2021 Pac-12 Championship Game against the Oregon Ducks at Allegiant Stadium.Utah defeated Oregon 38-10 / Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Whittingham: "Well, I think it speaks to just that: our program. I think we've got a very good football program. That's what you want. You don't want to have a good team every now and then. You want to have a good program. I think that's the point we're at right now.

We have a program that's got some momentum now, a great deal of pride, a great deal of talent on the roster, excellent coaches. That's what you strive for, to be an outstanding program.

Thanks to the hard work of our assistant coaches and players, we're closing in on that."

Question: Can you speak more to the play by the depth? Guys like Thomas Yassmin and Ja'Quinden Jackson?

Utah Utes quarterback Ja'Quinden Jackson (3) runs the ball for a touchdown against the Southern California Trojans during the second half of the PAC-12 Football Championship at Allegiant Stadium / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Kyle Whittingham: "It says we have depth in the roster. That's what we've been trying to achieve ever since we got in the conference. When we first got here, our first 22 were good, but a big drop-off after that. We've been working tirelessly to improve the depth of the roster.

I think we're as deep and talented now as we ever have been. I know we are. I think that was manifest a lot of times this season. A lot of times we were without guys. Other years probably could not have overcome it, not continued to play at the high level we were able to this year. That's because of the recruiting efforts of our coaches, their development of those players, the sheer talent of the roster 1 through 85."

Question: What are your thoughts on the mental toughness of your players tonight?

Kyle Whittingham: "Yeah, no question there, mentally and physically tough. That's a reputation we have in the Pac-12. That's the reputation we had in the Mountain West. That's who we are. A calling card of our program, is physicality. We preach it. We practice it that way. We're physical in practice.

I think mental and physical toughness go hand-in-hand oftentimes. We had some guys play this year in some circumstances that they were pretty banged up. They're so tough mentally, it starts with Cam Rising. I'm certain most quarterbacks would have missed a lot more time than he missed when he had that injury.

Proud of our guys. That's something we take a great deal of pride in, is being mentally tough and physical."

Question: Could you address the miscues in the defense that occurred early on?

Kyle Whittingham: "Yeah, we had a few blown coverages early in the game. Then later in the game we had a defensive back fall down, which created another big play. We never panicked. It was just a situation where I was more disappointed with the missed tackles. The tackling wasn't real sharp at the beginning of the game. We knew those few assignment errors that we made early could be corrected and were corrected.

Felt if we didn't start tackling well, nothing else was going to matter. That was really the biggest turnaround, was the way we tackled, then the way we turned up the heat on the quarterback with the pass-rush.

That really was the difference in the fourth quarter, was our fourth quarter pass-rush. That's how you put a game away, a strong running game and a fourth quarter pass-rush. We had both those tonight."

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