Here’s what Kyle Whittingham told Utah players after frustrating loss to Arizona

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham walks off the field in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Utah lost 23-10. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The frustration was visible on the faces of every Utah player — quarterback Isaac Wilson, running back Micah Bernard and safety Tao Johnson — during the Utes’ postgame press conference.

“You see it all over my face. Not many words. I’m just pissed,” Bernard said.

Later, Utah’s senior running back summed up the overall feeling in the locker room neatly.

“I don’t get too upset, I don’t get too mad. I just almost want to just smack something right now, so I’m going to use that this whole next two weeks and when we go to (Arizona State), they gonna feel me. They gonna feel me,” Bernard said.

While Utah’s players might want to play as soon as possible to get the taste of a 23-10 home loss to Arizona out of their mouths, the first of two bye weeks comes at the perfect time. Just like Arizona used their bye week to its advantage last week, looking like a new-and-improved team on Saturday after two disappointing games prior, the Utes need to reset and fix some glaring issues.

Priority No. 1? Fixing the red zone inefficiencies that have plagued the team for much of the season. After last night’s end-of-drive debacle, the Utes rank No. 87 in FBS in red-zone scoring, which includes field goals and touchdowns, cashing in on just 81% of their possessions inside the opposing 20-yard-line.

Against Arizona, three straight red-zone trips to open up the game ended with only three points for the Utes after two failed fourth-down attempts. Instead of potentially leading 21-10 or 17-10 at halftime, Utah trailed 10-3.

Aided by true freshman Isaac Wilson, who had a great connection with receiver Dorian Singer, and some timely runs by Bernard, Utah marched up and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kyle-whittingham-told-utah-players-004040781.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-09-30 00:40:40

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.