Coach Whittingham held his weekly press conference Monday where he discussed the USU game and the Utes upcoming conference clash against San Diego State Saturday.
"It was a good win against Utah State. We played well. I saw improvement virtually across the board from week two, in all areas. The storyline of the game was the defense. I've been coaching football for a long time and I don't think I've ever been involved, at least not as a coordinator, in such a dominating performance. Less than 100 yards allowed, six takeaways, scored twice on defense and allowed seven first downs. So, just an absolute dominating performance by our defense. We set the tone early with the defense, with the interception for a touchdown by Eric Shyne."
It's tough to get too excited over a dominate win against a terrible team like Utah State. However, the Utes looked pretty solid and very well could have played down to their opponent but did not. As for this being the most dominate performance Whittingham has ever seen, I think he may need to go re-watch the entire 2004 season.
"Offensively, we were solid and put up about 400 yards of total offense. We only turned the ball over one time. That's once too many, but one turnover combined with six takeaways, we can live with that result. The receivers put together another good performance, both blocking and catching the football."
Utah continued to prove it may have the best receiving core in the conference, even with two of their best receivers out with injury. It will be interesting to see how well they play against a more talented defense in San Diego State.
Whittingham didn't spend much time talking about Utah State as most of the press conference was centered around Utah's game against San Diego State.
"They're [San Diego State] an athletic team. What you see in San Diego State is what we've seen for years ... speed and skill, especially at the secondary and wide receiver positions. Their quarterback is hurt. But the second guy is his clone - the same physical stature, the same style of quarterback. You can't tell the two apart other than the jersey number. Up front, they're typical San Diego State - tough and quick on the defensive line and some good size players on the offensive line.
The Aztecs defensive line is fairly impressive, though I'm not sure their offensive line is much this year. If this is the case, Utah's defensive line could bully them all night long and make it difficult for San Diego State to get anything going offensively.
"(Offensively), very similar to what you saw at Oklahoma. A lot of three-wide sets. One running back, one tight end and three wides is their base set. A lot of shotgun, like what you saw and still see at Oklahoma. Defensively, they've got a new coordinator. The coordinator from last year is coaching the secondary. But there are a lot of similarities to last year's defense. Offensively, what you see in Oklahoma is more or less what you're seeing out of San Diego State ... minus Adrian Peterson. Although they've got Lynell Hamilton, who we think is a great back. He has not gotten on track this year. But we've got all the respect in the world for him and know what his capabilities are, even though he hasn't had a lot of success so far this year."
Great, Utah's getting set to play Oklahoma! Man, Whittingham sure knows how to talk up an opponent, yeesh. Not that Lynell Hamilton isn't a good back, however he ain't no Peterson and never will be. San Diego State's offense is not nearly as smooth as Oklahoma's and I think they may have some problems against the Utes stingy defense. I'm more concerened about the Aztecs defense, which I think can hurt Utah's passing game. If this is the case, the Utes will need a ground game to even have a prayer of winning.
