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Whittingham quotes from weekly press conference

By JazzyUte

0-2 for the first time in seven years, team is facing possible domination and Whittingham seems upbeat. Either he's munchin' on some fine peyote, or he's trying a new coaching tactic.

I thought that we'd be more efficient but the same issues that we had against Oregon State showed up against Air Force. We were unable to run ball and were not able to stop the run. I thought that we made strides with our running game against Air Force but we didn't make enough.

Yup, same poor play from week one. Utah needs to find a running game if they're going to have anything close to a successful season. They fail there and they will fail to even sniff .500 this year.

Offensively, I thought that Tommy Grady got off to a slow start, but he did much better in the second half. Defensively, Air Force ran a similar option-style offense that we were used to seeing. In the end, the Falcons went back to what they always hang their hat on.

Grady played ok in the second half and decent the final two drives. But c'mon, Kyle, Air Force was in total prevent defense, which made it far easier for Grady to exploit the secondary. And while the Bruins defense definitely has some question marks, I think Grady's offensive ability is a far bigger unknown. But hey, maybe I'll be proven wrong and he'll eat up their defense like termites on wood.

I thought that Louie Sakoda was a bright spot for us. He nearly averaged 50 yards per punt and kicked two field goals for us.

The degree of difficulty increases for us when UCLA comes to town this week. We are facing adversity right now, and the only way out is to pick up our swords and battle out of it. That's where this team is at right now.

It's never really good when your kicker appears to be your best player. If only it were 1920 and games could actually be won 3-0...oh wait, flashback to the 2003 Holy War for that. But the point is still the same, you can't win by just kicking field goals. So c'mon offense, get in it gear and move the damn ball!

On Utah's running game [oxymoron alert]

The separation we wanted among our running backs did not occur last week like we had hoped. Darrell Mack is probably going to be our starter against UCLA. It's unfortunate that we haven't sorted out our running back situation, but there's a lot of football season left and we hope to see that separation come soon.

The running game is an unmitigated mess. If you needed a football definition for disaster, Utah's run game would suffice.

I think that problem lies equally between the running backs and the offensive line. The offensive line isn't functioning at a high level. It has to be one cohesive unit and, right now, it isn't. The offensive line hasn't stepped up, and it needs to. But, on the whole, I think that both the line and the running backs have played an equal part in the problem.

Finally, Whittingham realizes the offensive line is woefully underperforming. The first step to solving your problem is admitting you have a problem, so good for you, Kyle! The next step would be to call Charlie Dickey (o-line coach) and Andy Ludwig into your office and demand they fix things, or catch the next train out of town.

On BJ and not that kinda bj!

Brian Johnson is progressing with his rehab. He's not going to play this week, but we hope to have him back in two weeks against UNLV.

That means only one more game without BJ. Thank the Celtic Gods and Goddesses!

On UCLA

We're dooooomed!

Ok, so he didn't say that, this is what he really said.

I've only spent time watching UCLA's offense. They have a great running back (Kahlil Bell) and a couple of great receivers. They have Ben Olson at quarterback, and we remember him from last year. UCLA also returns most of their offensive line. They're a good team, and they are well-deserving of their national ranking.

A great running game + Utah's inability to stop the run = hell on earth. Ben Olson won't need to pass, all he'll have to do is just hand it off for the entire freaking game.

So there is the press conference. Nothing earth shattering was said, but then again I didn't expect that. Hopefully it's a more positive press conference next week...at least we can pray it is. I mean, pretty, pretty please? And I even added an extra pretty for good measure!

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