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Morgan Scalley Weekly Press Conference - Week 8 vs No. 14 Houston · ESPN 700 & 92.1 FM | Utah's #1 Sports Talk

0:01
Speaker 1: Tournament that will be in Georgia in November. So congrats
0:05
Speaker 1: to Sarah. Obviously, it's a big weekend for all of
0:08
Speaker 1: the University of Utah as College Game Day is coming
0:11
Speaker 1: to host. I believe this is the seventh time they
0:15
Speaker 1: will be coming to campus. Present Circle is going to
0:17
Speaker 1: be hopping. We know that our fans and our students
0:20
Speaker 1: are going to be great in representing. And you know
0:24
Speaker 1: when the first time was that they hosted College Game
0:28
Speaker 1: Day here in Salt Lake City? 2004, brother. My senior year.
0:35
Speaker 1: And if you want to know who the first Rhino was,
0:40
Speaker 1: it was Steve Fafita. He scored a touchdown in that
0:43
Speaker 1: game as they hand the ball off to him. So
0:46
Speaker 1: that was a pretty cool experience. But excited. Saturday's game
0:51
Speaker 1: obviously would mark the 100th sellout at Rice-Eccles Stadium. So
0:57
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. In terms of the game... that we
1:01
Speaker 1: just played at Colorado. Again, can't say enough great things
1:04
Speaker 1: about what that staff did there with Colorado. They had defense,
1:08
Speaker 1: played lights out. Very physical game. We obviously did enough
1:12
Speaker 1: to stub our toe and make it a game. Thought
1:17
Speaker 1: with two minutes, 30-something seconds left in the first half,
1:22
Speaker 1: that could have been a 17-0 game and then another opportunity.
1:26
Speaker 1: Three chances in the red zone. come up with six
1:28
Speaker 1: points as opposed to 24-0 going into halftime, really allowed
1:33
Speaker 1: them to stay in it. First possession, second half, we
1:38
Speaker 1: give up a long touchdown coming off coverage. Start off
1:44
Speaker 1: on offense with a penalty. So again, self-inflicted stuff that
1:47
Speaker 1: really didn't allow us to get things going. I thought
1:50
Speaker 1: the defense did a really nice job on Devin's turnover
1:55
Speaker 1: of keeping that to a field goal. And that stemmed
1:59
Speaker 1: the tide, and defense from then on out, you know, stop, stop.
2:04
Speaker 1: Offense started to click, and we were able to finish
2:07
Speaker 1: the game. You know, I mentioned the performances of Creed
2:11
Speaker 1: Widmore and Bobo Chenault. Also, I think Hunter Andrews, I
2:17
Speaker 1: was really pleased with the reps that he got, not
2:19
Speaker 1: only running the football but blocking. That guy is a
2:22
Speaker 1: consistent player for us. So some really good things from
2:26
Speaker 1: that game. Also some, obviously, things that we need to
2:30
Speaker 1: clean up. But a win is a win, and we'll
2:36
Speaker 1: take it. With that, a little bit more of a
2:41
Speaker 1: preview on Houston. Coach Fritz, so much respect for him.
2:46
Speaker 1: And he's had success wherever he's been. And you see
2:51
Speaker 1: what they're doing. Very veteran group, 6-1 right now on
2:55
Speaker 1: the season. top 25 team that we're going to be hosting,
2:59
Speaker 1: very good offense, and a defense that ranks, I believe,
3:03
Speaker 1: second in the top 10 in the country in rush defense.
3:06
Speaker 1: So 10th in total offense, 12th in scoring offense. They're
3:10
Speaker 1: putting up 39 points a game. Sixth in pass efficiency,
3:13
Speaker 1: which you know is a big stat of mine. And
3:17
Speaker 1: then their first and third down conversions. So they're sustaining
3:20
Speaker 1: drives by converting on third down. and sixth in the country,
3:25
Speaker 1: sixth in the country in rush defense. So doing it
3:27
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, this would be a
3:29
Speaker 1: great challenge for us, and we are excited for this opportunity. So, Justin,
3:36
Speaker 1: who's got your question for me right now?
3:38
Speaker 2: Hey, over here. What does it say to have college
3:42
Speaker 2: game day highlight the state of Utah twice in the
3:44
Speaker 2: last two weeks, and how do you prepare for the
3:45
Speaker 2: most prolific passing offense you will face all year?
3:50
Speaker 1: You're calling it already. The most prolific offense we'll face
3:53
Speaker 1: all year. Passing offense. All right. You're calling it out.
3:57
Speaker 1: I think it's awesome that game day is coming. How
4:00
Speaker 1: many teams are left undefeated in the country? Six. And
4:03
Speaker 1: two of them are sitting right here within 30 minutes
4:06
Speaker 1: of each other. That's pretty awesome. So, yeah, any time
4:11
Speaker 1: we get to show off our campus and our student
4:17
Speaker 1: body and everything that's great about Salt Lake City and
4:20
Speaker 1: the University of Utah, I think it's fantastic for the
4:22
Speaker 1: nation to see. In terms of how are we preparing
4:27
Speaker 1: for this offense, the same way we prepare every week,
4:31
Speaker 1: and that is what are they great at? Obviously, they're
4:36
Speaker 1: moving the ball. They're sustaining drives. They've got playmakers both
4:39
Speaker 1: at the wide receiver spot, at the running back spot
4:41
Speaker 1: as well, good speed. The quarterback, He does not make
4:48
Speaker 1: a living running the ball, but man is he effective
4:50
Speaker 1: when he does. He's a competitor. We've got our hands
4:55
Speaker 1: full for sure, but I also believe in our coaching
4:57
Speaker 1: staff and we'll put a good game plan together.
5:01
Speaker 3: You talked about how games like Saturday can help your
5:04
Speaker 3: team develop and do that.
5:06
Speaker 4: Speaking to you specifically and the coaching staff, how does
5:08
Speaker 4: that help you as a coach, especially in your first
5:10
Speaker 4: year as a.
5:10
Speaker 1: Head coach trying to call all the shots and games
5:12
Speaker 1: like that? Well, I think first and foremost, you just
5:16
Speaker 1: need to know with the communication that goes on, okay,
5:21
Speaker 1: what are the issues? Legitimately, what are the issues? How
5:27
Speaker 1: do we fix them? Can we fix them? Is it
5:30
Speaker 1: just an athleticism issue, which it wasn't in this game.
5:34
Speaker 1: It was simply some of it was assignments. Some of
5:37
Speaker 1: it was them scheming a little bit of what we
5:40
Speaker 1: were doing and and us being able to respond. I
5:44
Speaker 1: think Colton did a really nice job responding to the
5:46
Speaker 1: defensive side. You know, offensively, going back and looking at
5:52
Speaker 1: that film, I'm, you know, the saying goes it's never
5:55
Speaker 1: as good as it seems, never as bad as it seems.
5:57
Speaker 1: It was definitely not as bad as it seemed. There
6:00
Speaker 1: were definitely options there that we just missed on. And so,
6:06
Speaker 1: you know, the– End of the game, third down, clock's
6:11
Speaker 1: got to be running, don't throw that ball. That is
6:15
Speaker 1: completely on us as a coaching staff, making sure that's clear.
6:19
Speaker 1: And so that's one of those as well. But, yeah,
6:25
Speaker 1: it's definitely important that the communication is such that, okay,
6:30
Speaker 1: you know what the problem is and you know how
6:32
Speaker 1: to fix it and we can go forward.
6:36
Speaker 3: Morgan, Colorado seemed to load up on Wayshon Parker, a
6:40
Speaker 3: lot of heavy man boxes. How do you counter against that?
6:44
Speaker 3: It seemed like Hunter Andrews was a good option. Why
6:47
Speaker 3: go away from that Hunter Andrews triple option stuff?
6:51
Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know that we went away from it necessarily.
6:55
Speaker 1: Usually when teams load up like that, you have your
6:59
Speaker 1: quick RPO hits, which I think Devin did a nice
7:01
Speaker 1: job of. you can escape the pocket, which I think
7:04
Speaker 1: he did a nice job of, and some sprint outs
7:06
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. And those were a couple where
7:08
Speaker 1: we thought we may have missed some options that were
7:11
Speaker 1: open in those situations. And then we got some completed
7:16
Speaker 1: on those as well. So, you know, the triple comes
7:21
Speaker 1: in different ways, and you can see sometimes it's hunters
7:26
Speaker 1: that pitch man, sometimes it's bray, sometimes it's bird. So,
7:30
Speaker 1: I don't think we went away from the triple. It
7:33
Speaker 1: may not have been the one that you saw with Hunter,
7:38
Speaker 1: but a lot of the plays that really stifled us
7:42
Speaker 1: were more interior stunts than anything. Like I said, I
7:46
Speaker 1: was very pleased. The offensive line, Kelvin goes down, Toa
7:53
Speaker 1: comes up. I thought he did a nice job. Then
7:56
Speaker 1: Roger Alderman comes in. I thought he did a nice job.
7:59
Speaker 1: There were some really good things on the offensive line
8:00
Speaker 1: that I saw. Definitely things have to be cleaned up,
8:06
Speaker 1: but a lot of promise in the film that I saw.
8:08
Speaker 4: Morgan, I'm curious about the pass coverage. You said after
8:13
Speaker 4: the game there were some breakdowns that you saw that
8:15
Speaker 4: you wanted to look at the tape.
8:16
Speaker 1: What did you see?
8:17
Speaker 4: Is it more of just man coverage being man coverage
8:20
Speaker 4: or the quarterback having too much time in the pocket
8:22
Speaker 4: or a little bit of both of those factors?
8:24
Speaker 1: A lot of times in man coverage when your coverage
8:29
Speaker 1: may stop running their route. And you may lose eyes
8:34
Speaker 1: and think, oh, okay, what's going on? And, oh, potentially
8:38
Speaker 1: there's a sack there. But then he escapes and you've
8:39
Speaker 1: already lost eyes on your coverage. That's kind of what happened. Yeah, twice,
8:44
Speaker 1: twice in a row.
8:46
Speaker 2: Gordon, you said you've dealt with game day here many
8:48
Speaker 2: times before. A lot of these players have, at least
8:50
Speaker 2: in the last year. How do you kind of deal
8:53
Speaker 2: with the distractions that it could bring, but also embrace...
8:58
Speaker 2: what it means to this university and have fun with
9:00
Speaker 2: it and actually.
9:01
Speaker 1: Use it as motivation? Well, I think the biggest recruiting
9:05
Speaker 1: tool you have is winning games. It's the biggest recruiting
9:10
Speaker 1: tool you have. And so our players understand that it's
9:13
Speaker 1: all about game day and what they do on the field.
9:19
Speaker 1: And the best thing they can do to maximize the
9:24
Speaker 1: college game day experience is to win. And so we're
9:28
Speaker 1: putting all our efforts into that. And, yes, we're going
9:30
Speaker 1: to put our best foot forward and make sure that
9:32
Speaker 1: they understand what's important to us and hope the country
9:36
Speaker 1: understands what's important to us. And, yes, it can be
9:40
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. But ultimately, at the end of
9:42
Speaker 1: the day, it's only fun if you win that game.
9:46
Speaker 1: And so our guys are prepared for that. And ESPN
9:50
Speaker 1: College Game does a great job of making sure that
9:52
Speaker 1: they don't interfere with the week's preparation. They want to
9:57
Speaker 1: be there to highlight us, highlight our university and what's
9:59
Speaker 1: great about us, but also prep the entire country for
10:03
Speaker 1: all of game day, right, and all the different games
10:06
Speaker 1: that are going on.
10:09
Speaker 4: Last week you were talking about there were different issues
10:11
Speaker 4: in the past defense, and one of them was somebody
10:14
Speaker 4: being misaligned at the snap, and then you had it
10:16
Speaker 4: happen in the end zone in this game. What do
10:19
Speaker 4: you do to clean that up? What is the process?
10:23
Speaker 1: Oh, man. Well, in that particular instance, it was simply
10:28
Speaker 1: a matter of him not getting the signal, and that's
10:32
Speaker 1: on us. Whereas the previous game, signals were being received.
10:40
Speaker 1: We didn't have enough urgency to get lined up.
10:42
Speaker 4: You talked a lot about Weishan and his play on
10:47
Speaker 4: the field. What has he meant to this team as
10:50
Speaker 4: a leader and a locker room presence this season?
10:53
Speaker 1: Oh, Wayshon's been fantastic. And what you don't see is
10:56
Speaker 1: the stuff in practice, right? His energy in practice, his
11:00
Speaker 1: work ethic in practice. And he's not the only one. But, man,
11:05
Speaker 1: he brings so much energy. And, you know, he's willing
11:09
Speaker 1: to have uncomfortable conversations with people, letting them know, hey,
11:12
Speaker 1: what you're giving is not enough and we need more
11:15
Speaker 1: out of you. He's definitely compelling. The more you have
11:19
Speaker 1: of those guys, the better your team's going to be.
11:22
Speaker 2: With college game day coming to town, Nick Saban, is
11:25
Speaker 2: there anything from him you've ever taken as a head
11:27
Speaker 2: coach yourself now to try to implement with your team
11:29
Speaker 2: and your program now as success like he did?
11:34
Speaker 1: Yes. He's one of the best to ever do it.
11:38
Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to visit Alabama. I can't remember
11:42
Speaker 1: when that was. It would have been... Maybe it was 2018.
11:48
Speaker 1: But anyway, they were... We did some development. Alabama then
11:54
Speaker 1: went to Georgia. But the number one thing that I think...
12:00
Speaker 1: He always understood that it was about the player, and
12:03
Speaker 1: he was so good at recruiting. That guy recruited every day.
12:08
Speaker 1: And I read one of his books, and just... He
12:14
Speaker 1: was all about the player. I think... Also, with the
12:17
Speaker 1: game evolving and recruiting evolving, he was able to evolve
12:20
Speaker 1: with the times. And, you know, so much respect for him.
12:24
Speaker 1: And he was here last year, came to one of
12:27
Speaker 1: our walkthroughs, and just all class and all business. So,
12:32
Speaker 1: I mean, he did it the right way, but it
12:34
Speaker 1: was all about recruiting and recruiting the right people.
12:39
Speaker 2: Morgan, when a team like Houston is so proficient in
12:43
Speaker 2: converting third downs and moving the chance on that down,
12:46
Speaker 2: What does your team have to do as a defense
12:48
Speaker 2: to kind of make that down more uncomfortable and more challenging?
12:53
Speaker 1: Well, I think we're doing a pretty good job on
12:55
Speaker 1: the defensive side at third downs as well. I think
12:57
Speaker 1: we're top 20 in the country at third down stop rate.
13:00
Speaker 1: And so it'll be good versus good. And, you know,
13:05
Speaker 1: situational football shows up in a lot of different areas.
13:07
Speaker 1: Third down is just one of them. And so it's
13:09
Speaker 1: just understanding who an offense is and how to attack it.
13:12
Speaker 1: I think Coach Swan and that crew is doing a
13:15
Speaker 1: really good job of identifying throughout the week how they
13:19
Speaker 1: think that teams are going to attack us.
13:23
Speaker 3: Coach, Connor Wegman has been great against the Blitz this year.
13:26
Speaker 2: What does it take to make.
13:27
Speaker 3: A guy like that uncomfortable?
13:30
Speaker 1: Oh. What does it take to make him uncomfortable? You
13:38
Speaker 1: may not make him uncomfortable. Just you may just need
13:41
Speaker 1: to force him into bad things, bad throws, throws that
13:43
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to make. And a lot of that
13:47
Speaker 1: comes with pre-snap disguises and stuff like that. But he's
13:52
Speaker 1: a veteran that's seen a lot and been through a lot.
13:56
Speaker 1: So I have a lot of respect for that young man,
14:00
Speaker 1: how competitive he is.
14:01
Speaker 5: Morgan, after the game on Saturday, Devin made it clear
14:05
Speaker 5: that it was a win, but they were not happy
14:07
Speaker 5: and they were not pleased as a unit, as players.
14:10
Speaker 5: Just early in the week, how have you seen maybe
14:12
Speaker 5: the morale of this team? Has there been a newfound
14:16
Speaker 5: determination to kind of get the ship back on track
14:19
Speaker 5: for this week?
14:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, they'll watch the film today with the coaching staff.
14:26
Speaker 1: I'm sure they've already watched it themselves. But there was
14:30
Speaker 1: a lot that we left out there and a lot
14:33
Speaker 1: to clean up. And if you're a competitor, that's exactly
14:36
Speaker 1: how you should feel. And do you celebrate the wins?
14:41
Speaker 1: You bet, because they're hard to come by. But we
14:45
Speaker 1: understand that that type of performance is probably not going
14:50
Speaker 1: to be good enough going forward.
14:52
Speaker 3: Coach, what can be done to develop a pass rush
14:59
Speaker 3: on an individual basis? What can be done over the
15:02
Speaker 3: course of a season to develop a pass rush?
15:05
Speaker 1: Oh, man, if that hadn't been developed... you're going to
15:09
Speaker 1: have a tough time. So the good thing, I think
15:13
Speaker 1: we have good pass rushers. I mean, take a look
15:16
Speaker 1: at the last three games, and I know you don't
15:19
Speaker 1: get the film that we get, but so how long
15:24
Speaker 1: does it take on average to get a sack? Two
15:28
Speaker 1: and a half, three seconds. 2.7 to 3.4, okay?
15:29
Speaker 3: And so.
15:34
Speaker 1: the majority of passes that we have faced in the
15:36
Speaker 1: last three games are under 2.7. I mean, the quarterback's
15:39
Speaker 1: getting it out, and maybe because they know that we pressure, right?
15:45
Speaker 1: And so either that or RPOs, right? RPOs are going
15:48
Speaker 1: to be a lot quicker, right? And so what you're
15:50
Speaker 1: looking for as a defense is are we being disruptive?
15:54
Speaker 1: Are we causing, you know, are we batting balls down? Yes.
15:59
Speaker 1: We have a number of pass breakups at the line
16:02
Speaker 1: of scrimmage And you saw some at Colorado with Benny
16:09
Speaker 1: being one of them coming off the edge on a pressure.
16:12
Speaker 1: And then the other thing is, are you forcing the
16:15
Speaker 1: quarterback to throw the ball before he wants to throw it? Yes,
16:20
Speaker 1: we're getting hurries. Now, if there was a large bulk
16:24
Speaker 1: of plays where we've got a four-man rush and he's
16:28
Speaker 1: got longer than 3.4 seconds to throw the ball, those
16:32
Speaker 1: are the plays we need to identify and say what
16:35
Speaker 1: is the issue why are we not getting home and
16:38
Speaker 1: the good thing is there's just not a lot of
16:40
Speaker 1: those so with the pressure that we are creating we're
16:45
Speaker 1: forcing them to throw the ball sooner than they'd like
16:50
Speaker 1: and we're batting down balls we're getting interceptions so again
16:55
Speaker 1: I believe in the country we're still in the top
16:58
Speaker 1: 10 in pass efficiency defense which is where we want
17:02
Speaker 1: to be jason.
17:04
Speaker 4: Orton you talked a lot about just getting the ball
17:06
Speaker 4: out quick from devin's hands he took a few sacks
17:09
Speaker 4: against colorado just is there anything offensively that you guys
17:13
Speaker 4: can do from a route perspective or just an efficiency
17:16
Speaker 4: perspective to get the ball quicker out of his hands.
17:19
Speaker 1: Uh no it's a decision making deal it's just see
17:23
Speaker 1: it get rid of it yeah and then there are
17:27
Speaker 1: those options there and Like I said, we need to
17:29
Speaker 1: do a better job of making that easier for him.
17:33
Speaker 1: Maybe we're giving him too much of a progression when
17:39
Speaker 1: with the pressure that they're bringing, two's enough. We just
17:43
Speaker 1: need to maybe be a little bit quicker. Devin is fantastic.
17:48
Speaker 1: That guy, for him to lead this team and own
17:54
Speaker 1: up to mistakes, I can't say enough about him. He's
17:58
Speaker 1: just done. He's our guy.