Kyle Whittingham, Utah Head Football Coach

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One-year upgrade requires financing, qualifying, device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. We continue it as the Zach Geld show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Let's go out to the guest line right now and welcome in one of my favorite programs in the country to talk about. Love what they've done the last few years. Back to Backpack 12 championships and that of course is the Utah Utes with their football program.

2-0 to start off the season. Taking care of Florida and then over the weekend Baylor as well. Utah plays Weber State next up and they are now ranked 12th in the AP poll and now joining us is their football coach.

He's been the HC of Utah since 2005 and that is Kyle Whittingham. Coach, always appreciate the time. Thanks for it. How are you? Zach and thank you for having me on.

Thanks so much for coming on. We know how sensational the player, your quarterback Cam Rising is recovering from the ACL tear. Not being able to get on the field with you guys the last two weeks. To be 2-0 without Cam, what does it say about the toughness of your football team? Yeah, well it's obviously what we're open for but we had to have some guys step up. There's no doubt about that. Cam is our leader.

He's the leader of the leaders. As Cam goes, so goes our team. So without him I had to have several guys step up. Starting with the backup quarterbacks. We had a two-man system, two QB system for the first couple weeks. Now that's going to change this week but Bryson Barnes and Nate Johnson both stepped up and did just enough to win. Defense played lights out for two weeks, kept us in the ball games and allowed the offense to, at least last week, win it at the end.

Great start, like I said. It was two quality opponents and one on the road and so proud of our guys. You guys got off to a slow start offensively, only putting up six points.

You discussed both quarterbacks getting in. Nate goes on that long drive. You guys get a touchdown to tie up the game and it took off eight minutes on the clock. Just how did he change up the pace and what did he display to you? He showed a lot of poise, a lot of confidence. Did a great job executing.

He was seven out of eight, I believe, throwing on that particular drive. It was a 15-play, eight-minute plus drive. We had to have it. We hadn't scored on that drive. The game was essentially over. Our back was definitely going to be to the wall.

It was great to see Nate execute and operate and make the decisions that he made and march right down the field. The first credit has got to go to the defense. If we had not played outstanding defense the entire game and kept points off the board, we would have been in no position to still have a chance to win based on how we had played offensively to that point. Defense saved our bacon in that respect, but the offense came through and scored when we absolutely had to. What did you say to your defense after the game, just wondering?

I gave them the game ball, first of all. They did a great job. Anytime you give up 13 points in this day and age of college football, it's tough to lose when you do that. They did a phenomenal job hanging in there, playing the full 60 minutes. Of course, that huge turnover or takeaway that we got on the last drive that set up the final touchdown for our offense, which was ultimately the game winner.

Head Coach of the Utah Utes, Kyle Whittingham, here with us. When we get to this week, do you expect Cam Rising to play? What's the latest? We sure hope so. It's been day to day for two and a half weeks now. We're just waiting complete clearance from the medical people. We're just waiting for that determination. As soon as we get to clearance, he's good to go. He will be our guy. Until then, we'll just keep trying to win without him. It sure would be nice to get him back sooner rather than later. He's an incredible player. When you come back from an ACL, there's one thing where you're at physically, there's another thing mentally. What are your expectations from him with how much rust there could be to knock off early?

You're exactly right. One positive is he has been practicing without limitation. I say without limitation, we're not hitting him.

Of course, we would never hit him regardless of his health. He's been practicing and doing everything, evasive moves on the scout team and that type of thing. He's gaining confidence bit by bit. Probably not quite 100% of the way there yet.

He's a tough kid. He's chomping at the bit to play. As soon as we get to clearance, if it happens this week, you'll see him in the game this week.

If not, we'll just have to keep waiting until they give us the okay. This may be a weird analogy, but right now with how close he is as you're explaining Kyle Winningham, do you feel as if you're a kid the night before Christmas just waiting for those presents to get called down to unwrap? Pretty much.

That is a good analogy. Although we know what the present is, it's our leader, but we're just anxiously anticipating and awaiting the thumbs up from the medical team. I've got to ask you about the end of the game. The no PI call has been talked about everywhere. When you look back at the tape, do you think you guys got away with one or was that the right no call? No, I believe absolutely that that was the right no call. Both guys have a right to the football.

Our guy went up simultaneously. To me, that's a no call 10 out of 10 times, but I realize that that's probably not going to be 10 out of 10. There may be a couple, one, two or three that does get flagged, but we had been called for several holding calls and I never complained about the risks. I believe that ultimately everything evens out, but we certainly had our share of holding calls during the course of that game. So it was nice to see a no call on that last one. So if you were on the other side, let's just say you're in Dave Aranda's shoes, you would have been fine with the no call? Absolutely.

I'm a defensive guy and secondary play is really what I focus on. I would say that it's a no call situation. First of all, we should have never been in that situation. We let them get behind us in a situation where there was 13 seconds left in the game or 9 seconds.

I can't remember exactly. So that's our fault for putting ourselves in that situation, but nonetheless, I still believe firmly and without bias. Obviously, it worked in our favor, but as you look at it objectively, I say it's a no call. Coach Kyle Whittingham here with us. Coach, you've been at this for a long time.

I know each year presents a new challenge and a new lesson. Just through the first two weeks, what have you really learned being able to navigate all that you've been able to do to go up against two teams in Florida and Baylor and walk away with two victories? Well, first of all, our defense is pretty good. We've got good personnel there and we're playing without two of our best players. Corenny Reed, our linebacker, and Connor O'Toole, defensive end, and we hope to get back soon as well. We're kind of waiting on them, just like we're waiting on Cam.

Samulte Pepa, our No. 2 D tackle is a big force in the middle. I think we get all our guys back and if they keep playing with the tenacity and the discipline and the toughness they are, we get a chance to be really good. Great to see our left tackle spot on offense being solidified by a true freshman, Spencer Fano. I've been head coach 19 years and never have we started a true freshman anywhere on the offensive line, let alone the left tackle spot. To see him play the way he did against two quality P5 opponents solves a piece of the puzzle for our football team and hopefully he'll continue to get better.

He still needs to improve like everybody else, but he's certainly off to a great start. Coach, I remember last year when I was talking to you right before the start of the season, wrapping up with Coach Kyle Whittingham, Utah, 12th in the country, back to back Pac-12 champions, but I remember after you won the first one, you said now we've got to go do it again and show that we can be consistent. You did that. What was the message to your team then this offseason coming off two Pac-12 championships? Well, the message is nobody has ever three-peated in the Pac-12. That is exactly the message.

It just becomes kind of a monster that you create. The expectation is greater every single year. It doesn't matter that you did win it the year before and last year, you just got to keep doing it. I've always been a huge believer that it's harder to stay on top than it is to get to the top.

Once you get to the top, you've got to work twice as hard to stay there. When you look at the conference, there is no tougher conference right now football-wise in college football. You guys have eight teams this year in the top 25. We know everybody's leaving, including your school, and it's been a mass exodus.

Do you at all just sit there with how long you've been a part of this game? You know that everyone's following the money, but you go, there's eight teams in the top 25 for the Pac-12 and the Pac-12's going away. I know. There's a certain sadness to that, I guess you could say. The Pac-12 has been around so long and had such a prominent place in college football.

To see it just dissolve, it's almost surreal to see it happening. But mark my words, there's a lot more change that's going to happen and a lot more shifting. The landscape of college football is not done making its moves. You're going to see super conferences in the not-too-distant future, and with that is going to come some pretty significant changes. So get used to it, I guess what I'm saying, because it's far from being settled right now. Let me just ask you about two teams inside your conference before we let you run.

You've been at this for a long time. Coach Prime now at Colorado, they're already in the top 25. You play them at the end of the season. Just from afar so far, what has been your reaction with what Deion and Chidor Sanders have been able to do? Well, I haven't had the chance to see him play, but certainly the results speak for themselves. Just tremendous turnaround. How can you have a bigger turnaround?

It might be the biggest turnaround in college football history from one year to the next. Coach Sanders obviously knows exactly what he's doing and manipulating the portal. Probably manipulating is the wrong word. Utilizing the portal and maximizing the change in the rules. You never could have done this back when there was initial scholarship limits and that type of thing.

But that doesn't matter. You can do it now, and he has taken full advantage of it and good for him. He has proven to really be an innovator of sorts. And last thing I'll ask you, we all talk about quarterback play in this conference, whether it's your quarterback, you've got Bo Nix, DJ Ungalale, Chidor Sanders, and then also the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, Caleb Williams. You've been able to see him a few times. You being a great defense of mind, just what's the most challenging part going up against Caleb? Wow, his ability to extend the play. That's maybe the toughest guy to sack that we've ever come across here in Utah. That's a pretty bold statement because we've played against a lot of good quarterbacks.

But the guy is almost unsackable. He's so strong and has such a great pocket presence and feel for the rush and ability to maneuver and get out of jams. And that really is what sets him apart, is his ability to extend the play and then still find somebody downfield. His eyes never leave downfield. His eyes are completely locked downfield as he moves around and extends, and that enables him to find guys open all the time on those types of plays.

And another name I forgot about was Michael Penick Jr. It's like each and every week in this conference. It's an all-star quarterback. It's unbelievable, coach. It is.

It's crazy. And when I first got in the league, there was some pretty darn good quarterbacks. Marcus Mariota and some of the other guys were here.

But this group here has a group surpass anything I've ever seen, and it is definitely the conference of quarterbacks, at least this year. Coach, always enjoy watching your teams play and the things that you've done with this program. Always appreciate the time and good luck this week. Okay, Zach. Thanks for having me on. Take care.

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