Kyle Whittingham Quotations

Like everyone in America, we're a little thin particularly on the defensive side. So we'll have to limit things on Saturday. We still hope to have a game format with a running clock and so forth. If we hold up we should be able to get that done. If we get a little more banged up we may have to adjust.

No doubt about it, it was the sweetest victory I've ever been a part of. I could not be prouder of a football team than I am of those guys.

I don't know what his numbers were. But they weren't good.

Getting players on this campus for visits is key for us. We have a very good track record of getting commitments from people who visit campus. If we can get people on campus, see what we're all about and get around our players, we have a good chance to sign any of them.

I don't think it's overrated. They've done a nice job on defense all season long. They're ranked No. 10 in the country (defending the run) because they've got good players and they play hard. But by the same token, it's a great opportunity for us and great challenge for our guys to line up against a quality defense like Georgia Tech and see what we can do.

I expect him to be the best defensive tackle in the Mountain West Conference.

Had he not had a bad ankle this year, I'm telling you he would have caught 90 balls. That's how good he is. He missed a third of the year essentially.

He was doing a nice job. He was making some plays.

He had some huge runs . . . just the spark that he gives us. He's a huge competitor. He picks everybody else up.

Today is like a Wednesday-type practice. We got a lot of work done. It was a fairly clean practice. It was a good work day.

We've been very good penalty-wise up until this game, ... All I can say is I'm quite thankful we don't have to play a game with an ACC refereeing crew again this year. That was miserable and I'll leave it at that.

We've been very good penalty-wise up until this game. All I can say is I'm quite thankful we don't have to play a game with an ACC refereeing crew again this year. That was miserable and I'll leave it at that.

Recruiting is the most hectic part of the year. It is far more hectic than the season. You're on planes, trains and automobiles, running around the country trying to get these guys to come to your university. It's a big sigh of relief when those letters come over the fax machine, and you have them in the bank.

Players have changes of heart all the time and for whatever reason they decided they want to go in a different direction. . . . For whatever reason they've made the decision to take their game and their education ? whatever the case may be ? elsewhere. I'm not sure if they're going to play anymore or not. It's up to them. I haven't talked to them about that.

Last year, as great as it was, it was like a fairy tale season. I think we appreciate this a heck of a lot more than we did the Fiesta Bowl bid last year.

Last season was a great ride and was fantastic how things happened, but this year we'll have opportunities to deal with adversity,

Just about everyone we recruited had a BCS school (scholarship) offer. That was our competition this year. Other than in-state competition with BYU, we had very little competition with Mountain West schools. It was all BCS schools, which is a good thing.

I think the defensive line is going to be the most depleted area. We lost two excellent players, and we've had a couple years of defensive line recruiting that we didn't have as many numbers as we would like to have had.

It feels extremely good to get this game behind us. Air Force is a pain . . . to defense, and it is nice to have them in the rearview mirror.

I think it speaks to the preparation of our players and the mindset. It's awesome, everything that is attached to this victory.

I think we've had a good spring. We've progressed, I think, in virtually every area. Spring is all about fundamentals and technique. It's not about out scheming each other offensively or defensively. It's about making every player on your football team better fundamentally and technique-wise ? and I think we've done that.

I thought Daryl Poston was a bright spot, he obviously has great speed, great quickness. He had ball-security issues last year, but he appears to have those corrected. If he can hang on to the ball and do what he did (Saturday) this fall, then we might have ourselves another 1,000-yard back.

I thought we played poorly in the first half, ... Utah State deserves a lot of credit.

It hurts. You don't want to lose players. We'll definitely feel the effects, but team rules and regulations are more important.

We have three guys who are ready right now, in my opinion. And one guy that's hurt.

My comment regarding ACC officials was unfortunate and poor judgment on my part. You can't beat a good team when you commit five turnovers.

We're blessed with a good quarterback situation that Utah's never had. We're not ready to determine the pecking order yet.

We couldn't put 'em away, ... That's going to be something we need to address. It's happened, it's shown up consistently now, but we need to be able to take a game and put it away when we have the opportunity. Sign of a young defense, I'm telling you right now. We've got seven new starters. That is a tell-tale sign of a young defense. But Game 4 now, we should be starting to grow up a little bit.

We have a lot of guys who have not been in that situation, and I'm just anxious to see how they react.

That's the toughest loss I've ever been a part of, as a player or coach.

That was a quality football team we beat out there. Not only beat them, we dominated them, 38-10. Getting in the bowl game is one thing, but winning it is the objective ... Did I see a 38-10 victory? Absolutely not. Did I see us playing well? Absolutely yes.

That was the major turning point in the game, when they mishandled the punt and we took it right in and scored. That was essentially the play that put the game away.

We prepared very well for them. I thought we would play well, but I didn't think that we would win like this. They're the 10th-ranked defense in the country and we put up over 500 yards on them. They're a very good football team and we were able to dominate them. It's quite an achievement for us.

We played about 55 minutes of very good football,

We stayed pretty healthy during spring, so that's not an issue. We've got to get the guys back that missed spring ball.

When we went to 12 games, everybody kind of went into panic mode because scheduling a game is not quite as easy as you might think. Usually, these games are scheduled five, six, seven years in advance.

We're going to continue to hit the islands and make that a point of emphasis. We've got very good front guys out of the state of Hawaii, but this year a majority of our front guys come from in-state. It was an exceptional year in-state for front guys.

We explored a whole lot of different avenues and decided NAU was the best available to us.

Did I expect us to play well? Yes, I did. Did I expect us to win 38-10? No, I didn't.

At the beginning, we forced some things. But it didn't take us long to find ourselves and get it rolling,

You can never have enough quality front guys. All you've gotta do is have a couple of years where you're not too good up front to teach you the value of being strong on both lines. It's something we never want to have, a situation here where we are weak up front. That being the case, we probably allot more scholarships up front than other schools for that very reason.

We've got to be able to take a game and put it away when we have the opportunity. It's the sign of a young defense. By game four now, we should be starting to grow up a little bit.

We've got to get every athlete in the program bigger, faster and stronger between now and August. We've got to have a heck of a summer conditioning program.

We're very aware that Arizona is coming in with an excellent football team. This is the second year under coach Stoops' system and they're coming off a big win at the end of the season against Arizona State. We'll have our hands full.

We feel Northern Arizona is a quality I-AA team. And that was the best scenario for us.

We should have put the game away long before that.

We've had a great time since we've been here. This beats the heck out of Memphis, Tenn., that's for sure, and one of the best places to see Las Vegas is in your rearview mirror.

Brian Johnson has answered every bell. The only thing we can't construct is the game itself.

We had so many guys make plays today it was unbelievable.

We had so many guys making plays today, it was unbelievable. (Georgia Tech) was a quality football team, and not only did we beat them, we dominated them.

Ratliff was unbelievable. What he's done in two ballgames is phenomenal.

No question about it. We will get the best of Quinton. We have got that all year long. I think everybody likes to play in front of their home crowd and their own people. There's about 150 of them out here that are his family. He's got a big family and he's very excited about this game. We will definitely get his best shot.

No questions asked. Just bring them back and go on your way. I won't even bother to worry about who did it or why.

Coming into this year, people already know what (the head coach) is all about and have seen the success the year before. We're at or within one of our allotted scholarships for each position. We feel like we're in great shape right now. It's hard to say exactly how it will pan out, but as of right now we addressed all our needs.

As poorly as our defense tackled in the first half and as much as they controlled the football, the bottom line is still points allowed. And we only allowed seven points, which is a very good outing for the defense.

A series with Boise State makes sense for a lot of reasons. For the last several years they have been very successful and we're excited to have a quality program like Boise State on our schedule

Quarterback is a position where everybody's got to know who The Guy is.

Eric Weddle is stepping up. He's stepped up his work habits. Eric is so gifted and so talented. In the past he's had little lulls in practice where he zones out a little bit,

There's nothing better on defense than a shut-down corner that you can put on their best guy. That is the most valuable thing you can have.

Thomas and Ryan decided to go in a different direction. We appreciate the contribution they made to the team while they were here and we wish them well.

This is an entirely different group of players, we have a new coaching staff and there are a lot of things going on in this program that will take time to come to fruition. Are we where we need to be right now? Absolutely not. But I feel good about the potential of this football team.

I'm very pleased with his work ethic and leadership, ... He's stepped up into leadership role.

I had some issues, obviously. But one thing I cannot stand and never will be able to understand is coaches who put blame on officials and whine about officials. I will never do that. That's just not how I'm built.

I'm glad we got a look at the option, but the Air Force option with its complexities is light years ahead of what we saw at TCU, and I'm not knocking TCU. It's just that TCU is a mixer whereas Air Force uses the option game as their staple.

I'm extremely pleased with the recruiting class from top to bottom.

Nothing lasts forever. One streak was not going to go to infinity, that's obvious.

The feeling hasn't been different, but the routine has. It's such a departure from what I was used to as defensive coordinator. It's definitely different. But as far as the anxiety and the stress level, it doesn't feel different to me at all.

It was good to get that win and maybe have some people realize that we're not done yet.

It will be two teams in desperate need of a win.

In the second half, we came back and played better. ... The turning point of the game was when they mishandled the punt. We were able to turn around and score and put the game away.

He's the dean of the safeties back there and actually in the secondary. He's the guy back there with the most experience, and we rely on him a bunch.

It wasn't a good first half. Utah State deserves a lot of credit. ... They controlled the ball well in the first half, and we missed a lot of tackles.

It's an accomplishment and a lot of these guys on the team have been a part of all of them, ... It's great for the guys and definitely a very positive thing.

A lot of people are doubting us right now, ... But the reality is that we've lost two conference games on the last play of the game. . . . We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores running around out there, and they're good players. You look at us on paper, and I think we have the chance to develop into a very good football team this year and into next.

It's always great to get a Pac-10 team on the schedule. That's a positive thing, in terms of recruiting and things of that nature.

It's not huge. I mean, it's a goal of ours to win the first game . . . and win the Mountain West Conference. But it's not a make-or-break-your-season type of a game.

It's a great surface. Whether there's snow on it or not, it's not a big issue.

We have to constantly remind people that we have about 15 players that are still coming along,

It?s a good situation for us. You win up front. You can never be caught short-handed in the front.

We have a lot of work to do,

It's for disciplinary reasons, and his future with the team will be pending the resolution of his issues.

If he had not hurt his shoulder . . . you probably would have seen him as the starting stud linebacker long before now, ... He's just a guy who's a naturally athletic kid - he had 30-something interceptions in high school - and he's a playmaker.