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Coordinator's Corner: Utes DC Colton Swan on what happened at CU, Tomorrow vs No. 14 Houston, Adjustments + more · ESPN 700 & 92.1 FM | Utah's #1 Sports Talk

0:00
Speaker 1: Here on the Sean O'Connell show, where we catch up
0:02
Speaker 1: with one of the coordinators at the university of Utah
0:04
Speaker 1: this week, it is defensive coordinator, Colton Swan, anticipating a
0:10
Speaker 1: game day matchup against Houston. Looking back at a tough
0:14
Speaker 1: one in Colorado, all of that and more here in
0:18
Speaker 1: coordinator's corner brought to you by mountain home services on
0:21
Speaker 1: the Sean O'Connell show.
0:22
Speaker 2: Colton Swan. Welcome back. How are you, sir?
0:25
Speaker 3: Good, OC. How are you?
0:26
Speaker 2: Doing all right, man.
0:28
Speaker 1: It was a tight one in that second half, especially
0:31
Speaker 1: against the Colorado Buffaloes.
0:32
Speaker 2: Let's look back at it. Let's talk about it. What
0:35
Speaker 2: were you seeing?
0:35
Speaker 1: What were your guys seeing out there that made that
0:38
Speaker 1: third quarter a little bit nerve-wracking for all of us watching?
0:43
Speaker 3: Yeah. And it's, we've got to find a way defensively
0:47
Speaker 3: to close people out. You know, we'll have really good
0:50
Speaker 3: three quarters in a game and then there will be
0:52
Speaker 3: a quarter here and there that, you know, we are
0:55
Speaker 3: giving up more than we want to. You look at
0:58
Speaker 3: like the first half and I think they had 70
1:00
Speaker 3: total yards of offense. you know, zero points and stuff
1:03
Speaker 3: like that. And you're sitting there going, so you got to,
1:05
Speaker 3: as a coach, you're sitting there going, okay, is our
1:07
Speaker 3: mentality changing on the defensive side? Is the lack of motivation,
1:12
Speaker 3: you know, what's, what's causing this. So you try to
1:15
Speaker 3: internalize that and figure out what's going on. And, and
1:19
Speaker 3: you know, we've got to, we've got to be able
1:20
Speaker 3: to close people out. You know, when you got them down,
1:22
Speaker 3: you got to be able to hold them down and,
1:24
Speaker 3: and keep them there. And so that's one thing that
1:26
Speaker 3: we've really stressed and talked to the guys and, this,
1:30
Speaker 3: this week and looking at it and review, I don't,
1:34
Speaker 3: wouldn't say it's anything that like Colorado, you know, threw
1:37
Speaker 3: at us. Yes. There was a few plays here and
1:39
Speaker 3: there that, okay, they beat us on that. They beat
1:41
Speaker 3: us on that. But majority of those explosive plays that
1:44
Speaker 3: happened in that second half where things of, you know,
1:47
Speaker 3: that we let them have, you know, not covering a
1:50
Speaker 3: guy here, you know, not combo incorrectly here, not doing
1:54
Speaker 3: the things that we should have done better and things
1:57
Speaker 3: that I felt like we gave them rather than, you know,
2:00
Speaker 3: them taking from us.
2:01
Speaker 1: Speaker 0 7, I want to stay focused on the
2:04
Speaker 1: fact that you guys won the game still undefeated, right? 6-0,
2:09
Speaker 1: heading into a big matchup against Houston. And I know
2:13
Speaker 1: that as a coach, it's hard to kind of enjoy
2:15
Speaker 1: the journey while you're in it. There's so much hard
2:16
Speaker 1: work involved. And even for players, that can be the case. But,
2:20
Speaker 1: you know, what was the play ride like? What was the,
2:23
Speaker 1: you know... the first meeting after that Colorado game, like
2:26
Speaker 1: for you and your guys, because it was a win,
2:29
Speaker 1: but because the standard is, has been set so high
2:32
Speaker 1: and the expectations are what they are. It feels like
2:35
Speaker 1: even the fan base didn't enjoy this win for what
2:37
Speaker 1: it was a win. Right.
2:40
Speaker 3: That's very interesting, isn't it? Because you do, you get
2:44
Speaker 3: used to winning and you get used to the expectation
2:47
Speaker 3: and you get all these things. And so when it
2:49
Speaker 3: doesn't come to fruition, you're like, it almost feels like, OK,
2:53
Speaker 3: that was a letdown because we didn't kill him how
2:56
Speaker 3: we thought we were going to kill him. You know,
2:57
Speaker 3: we won, but we didn't kill him like we wanted to.
3:00
Speaker 3: And so. it's a balancing act. It's a fine line
3:03
Speaker 3: and it's, you know, that's the frustrating part is, is yeah,
3:07
Speaker 3: you didn't play up to your expectations. You got the wind,
3:09
Speaker 3: but you know, you want to, you want to, as
3:12
Speaker 3: a coach, you want to do a great job of
3:13
Speaker 3: sitting there going, okay guys, we won, but here's where
3:16
Speaker 3: we can be better. And, uh, and so, yeah, you're right. The,
3:20
Speaker 3: the mojo and all that, the feel after the game was, uh,
3:24
Speaker 3: was not like it should have been. And I think
3:27
Speaker 3: our guys really understood that. They watched the film and
3:30
Speaker 3: they saw that, hey, we didn't play as well as
3:32
Speaker 3: we should have. And so I think the same testament of,
3:37
Speaker 3: you know, the mojo and the juice and energy wasn't
3:39
Speaker 3: there with them as well.
3:42
Speaker 1: We did see in this game a couple of timely
3:46
Speaker 1: plays made on the offense and by your defense as well.
3:49
Speaker 1: When it got tight and when things maybe were a
3:51
Speaker 1: little bit dicey, you know, Bobo came up with a
3:53
Speaker 1: big Creed Whittemore came up with a couple of big
3:57
Speaker 1: catches and I know it was far from perfect, but
4:00
Speaker 1: for me as an observer, there's a silver lining to
4:03
Speaker 1: be found in the fact that guys were making plays
4:07
Speaker 1: when they had to make the plays, even if it
4:08
Speaker 1: was nerve wracking. And even if it got closer than
4:10
Speaker 1: we wanted it to be, ultimately some big plays were
4:14
Speaker 1: made in order to keep this on the right side
4:16
Speaker 1: of the wind column.
4:18
Speaker 3: Right. Yeah. That's, and that's huge. And when you're in
4:20
Speaker 3: those meetings after the game with the defense, you're sitting
4:23
Speaker 3: there and going, okay, these are the things we fixed,
4:24
Speaker 3: but look at what we did do. Good. We play
4:27
Speaker 3: like this all the time. You're holding the 70 yards
4:29
Speaker 3: and zero points in the first half, like, like things
4:32
Speaker 3: like that. And, and that come up clutch in big moments,
4:35
Speaker 3: like the interception that bubble had. I mean, that, that was,
4:38
Speaker 3: that was a game changer. And so yeah, you got
4:42
Speaker 3: to do a really good job of, you know, not
4:44
Speaker 3: only teaching and coaching, but also freaking giving praise when
4:48
Speaker 3: it's due and making sure the positivity is there or else,
4:51
Speaker 3: you know, you do hang your head on a win.
4:55
Speaker 3: And college football is hard, as you know, OC, and
4:59
Speaker 3: you definitely want to have the mentality of when you win,
5:03
Speaker 3: it's positive and it's good. And, you know, hey, let's
5:07
Speaker 3: fix the things we've got to fix, but let's move
5:09
Speaker 3: on as well.
5:10
Speaker 1: Rabbit Evans also with an interception in this game, and
5:13
Speaker 1: we did because you're at the halfway point six games in.
5:16
Speaker 1: We did the lazy sports talk radio thing yesterday, and
5:19
Speaker 1: I said, all right, who's the offensive MVP? Who's the
5:22
Speaker 1: defensive MVP? Who's the breakout player to this point? And
5:26
Speaker 1: Rabbit Evans, it was decided by the fan base, at
5:29
Speaker 1: least the one that listens to my show, that Rabbit
5:31
Speaker 1: Evans was your defensive MVP so far this year. And
5:35
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you to name one individual player,
5:37
Speaker 1: but with respect to Rabbit, When you evaluate his play
5:42
Speaker 1: and you see what he has done week in and
5:44
Speaker 1: week out, is he at least in that conversation inside
5:47
Speaker 1: the building as well as with the fan base?
5:50
Speaker 3: No, no doubt. Yeah. From, you know, a coach's standpoint
5:53
Speaker 3: and a coordinator's standpoint, he's, man, is he a guy
5:57
Speaker 3: that he's got really good instincts. Excuse me. He, you know,
6:02
Speaker 3: has the ability to find the ball. Whether he is
6:05
Speaker 3: scraping on a fourth and one and, you know, fourth
6:08
Speaker 3: and goal at the one, and, and making a tackle
6:11
Speaker 3: or whether it's a seam route by the tight end
6:13
Speaker 3: in the Colorado game, or, you know, just play after
6:16
Speaker 3: play this kid makes he's got great vision, great instincts,
6:21
Speaker 3: and he's doing a lot for us, you know, defensively
6:23
Speaker 3: he's a utility knife as all those safeties are. He does,
6:28
Speaker 3: he does a ton of stuff for us. He can
6:29
Speaker 3: play in the post. He comes down in the box. Uh,
6:32
Speaker 3: he's very multiple in his, his style and, and man,
6:36
Speaker 3: I couldn't agree with you more as far as just
6:38
Speaker 3: what he's doing for our defense.
6:41
Speaker 1: How did your, uh, your defensive front, how'd your defensive
6:44
Speaker 1: line grayed out against Colorado? Much has been made of
6:47
Speaker 1: the numbers associated with pressure and sacks and things like that.
6:51
Speaker 1: Morgan gave a really thoughtful answer to a question about
6:53
Speaker 1: it at his press conference. I'm not sure if you
6:55
Speaker 1: heard that talking about how quickly the ball is getting
6:58
Speaker 1: out from some of these opposing quarterbacks and, things like that. But,
7:02
Speaker 1: you know, we, we lose sight of some of the
7:04
Speaker 1: details as fans and you just want big sacks and
7:08
Speaker 1: big numbers like that. But I'm asking you both, I'm
7:12
Speaker 1: asking you with the whole picture in mind, how those,
7:16
Speaker 1: how that defensive front graded out.
7:18
Speaker 3: Speaker 4 0 1 0. You know, first off Colorado's
7:21
Speaker 3: offense line is really good, really talented players. I thought
7:25
Speaker 3: that our defensive line played really well in all things considered,
7:30
Speaker 3: you know, stopping the run, being able to defend the path,
7:33
Speaker 3: stuff like that. I will say the ball, you know,
7:36
Speaker 3: teams versus us, maybe because we are a high pressure team.
7:39
Speaker 3: Like you look at Um, you know, our total calls
7:43
Speaker 3: throughout the third down control down, stuff like that. Uh, we,
7:47
Speaker 3: we are very high in our pressure rate, if that
7:50
Speaker 3: makes sense. And so teams are, I think seeing that
7:53
Speaker 3: and their max pro on, you know, they're not six
7:55
Speaker 3: man pro and just with the old line in the back.
7:58
Speaker 3: or scatting with that. They're, they're leaving a tight end
8:01
Speaker 3: and we're seeing a lot of slide protections with seven
8:04
Speaker 3: and sometimes eight man protections we saw versus Kansas. So
8:08
Speaker 3: I think teams are really kind of sitting there going, okay,
8:09
Speaker 3: this team pressures a lot. How can we combat that?
8:12
Speaker 3: And we're getting a lot of, a lot of max
8:14
Speaker 3: pro we're getting the ball out quite a bit. You know,
8:18
Speaker 3: like you said, you know, do you and I want
8:20
Speaker 3: more sacks? Absolutely. You know, we are doing some really
8:24
Speaker 3: good stuff. We're getting our hands on the ball at
8:26
Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage a lot, you know, when those
8:28
Speaker 3: balls are coming out quick. But yeah, we got to be,
8:32
Speaker 3: we got to continue to find ways to get to
8:34
Speaker 3: the quarterback. That's the number one thing is being, you know,
8:36
Speaker 3: disrupting him. and, and just be creative and, and having,
8:41
Speaker 3: you know, guys turn loose, whether it's, you know, defensive ends,
8:44
Speaker 3: D tackles, linebackers, just guys having the ability to get
8:47
Speaker 3: to them.
8:49
Speaker 1: You defensive coordinator, Colton Swan is my guest here on
8:51
Speaker 1: the Sean O'Connell show coordinators corner brought to you by
8:54
Speaker 1: our friends at mountain home services every single week. So
8:57
Speaker 1: now we turn the page as an undefeated six and
9:00
Speaker 1: O top 10 team in the country. And Rice-Eccles Stadium,
9:04
Speaker 1: night game again. This one will be a blackout. College
9:07
Speaker 1: game day in town. And it's a number 14-ranked Houston
9:10
Speaker 1: Cougars squad. The toughest test of the year on paper.
9:13
Speaker 1: I think in a practicality also probably the toughest test
9:17
Speaker 1: of the year. And they do some really nice things offensively.
9:20
Speaker 1: They've got an excellent quarterback. So tell me what you're
9:23
Speaker 1: seeing from Connor Wegman and all of his teammates in
9:26
Speaker 1: that Houston offense.
9:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, they do. They do a great job. Like you
9:30
Speaker 3: mentioned already, they are extremely balanced. They've got, you know,
9:35
Speaker 3: multiple plays from certain looks and you just, you know,
9:39
Speaker 3: they provide a lot of complex looks that can really
9:44
Speaker 3: kind of, you know, look the same to a defender
9:47
Speaker 3: and they're giving you a different type of play. The
9:51
Speaker 3: quarterback really runs this offense. He could get rid of
9:55
Speaker 3: the ball and the throw game really, really fast. I mean,
9:57
Speaker 3: I don't know if we've faced the quarterback so far. that,
10:00
Speaker 3: you know, you look at the times of throwing the ball, he,
10:03
Speaker 3: I mean, this kid gets rid of the ball really well.
10:05
Speaker 3: So he knows where he wants to go with it.
10:07
Speaker 3: He got to do a great job in disguise and
10:09
Speaker 3: coverages because he has got a wealth of knowledge and picking,
10:12
Speaker 3: you know, coverage is a part And, you know, the
10:16
Speaker 3: offensive line, they run the inside and outside zone better
10:19
Speaker 3: than probably we faced anybody so far. And they work
10:22
Speaker 3: really well together. They got really good backs. They got
10:26
Speaker 3: a kind of lightning in the bottle type of running back.
10:29
Speaker 3: And then they've got a bigger back that, you know,
10:30
Speaker 3: will hit it downhill. I think the tight end that
10:33
Speaker 3: they got is a very athletic guy, maybe one of
10:37
Speaker 3: the better tight ends we've seen. So, you know, from
10:39
Speaker 3: an offensive standpoint, really well balanced, well rounded. They run
10:44
Speaker 3: their system extremely well. And like I said, everything kind
10:47
Speaker 3: of the focal point is around that quarterback. He knows
10:50
Speaker 3: exactly what to do with that ball. So it's a
10:53
Speaker 3: good challenge for us and looking forward to it.
10:56
Speaker 1: Obviously you got to call your game and run your stuff,
10:59
Speaker 1: but how much adjustment is there with respect to a
11:03
Speaker 1: quarterback with his level of experience, his talent, things like that?
11:07
Speaker 1: How much do you have to alter your game plan
11:10
Speaker 1: based on the player personnel you're facing?
11:13
Speaker 3: You definitely got to have, you know, an idea of
11:16
Speaker 3: what you want to do from a coverage standpoint and
11:19
Speaker 3: trying to throw a little bit of confusion his way,
11:23
Speaker 3: giving him, you know, pre-snap looks, post-snap looks, moving your
11:28
Speaker 3: safeties around, moving your corners around, you know, definitely moving
11:32
Speaker 3: the front. So there's a lot of adjustment going on.
11:36
Speaker 3: It's a fine line. Like I said, you don't want to,
11:39
Speaker 3: you know... Do too much of it or you're tricking yourself.
11:44
Speaker 3: You've got to be able to align and execute, and
11:46
Speaker 3: that's the number one thing in defenses. If you can
11:49
Speaker 3: get all 11 guys executing at the same time, doing
11:52
Speaker 3: the correct thing, the odds of winning drastically increase. And
11:56
Speaker 3: so it's a fine line in going too far and
12:00
Speaker 3: trying to make things look, you know, one way or
12:04
Speaker 3: trying to trick him. But game plan-wise, yeah, you definitely
12:08
Speaker 3: have to, especially with a veteran quarterback like he.
12:11
Speaker 2: Is, Is there a magic number?
12:14
Speaker 1: I'm looking at what Houston does offensively, and they're right
12:18
Speaker 1: behind Utah with.
12:19
Speaker 2: 39.3 points per game.
12:21
Speaker 1: When you watch their film, do you say, all right,
12:24
Speaker 1: if we can hold them to 27 instead of 39,
12:26
Speaker 1: we're going to win this one? Is there anything like
12:30
Speaker 1: that in an analytical numbers approach for you when you're
12:33
Speaker 1: calling this defense?
12:35
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, we have our goals of, you know,
12:37
Speaker 3: points per drive, what we look at from a defensive standpoint.
12:41
Speaker 3: You know, a game from a defensive standpoint, an offense
12:46
Speaker 3: that has the opportunity to score 10 times is going
12:49
Speaker 3: to be different than an offense that has the opportunity
12:51
Speaker 3: to score 15 times. So we look at how many
12:54
Speaker 3: points we give up per drive is what we look at.
12:57
Speaker 3: We're always trying to stay around that 1.7 points per drive.
13:03
Speaker 3: And so if you're looking at 10 drives, you're looking
13:06
Speaker 3: at 17 points, right? Because sometimes an offense can have
13:10
Speaker 3: the ball and it fluctuates, but on average from around
13:12
Speaker 3: 10 to 15 points. So that's kind of what we
13:15
Speaker 3: look at. But when you look at total points, because sometimes,
13:19
Speaker 3: you know, when if you're looking at it statistically, like
13:23
Speaker 3: they're scoring, you know, 39 points per game, well, their
13:26
Speaker 3: defense might be accounting for, you know, seven to 14
13:29
Speaker 3: of those points or whatever, if they're getting, you know,
13:32
Speaker 3: interceptions for touchdown, stuff like that. So that's kind of
13:35
Speaker 3: why we look at points per drive because it really isolates,
13:41
Speaker 3: you know, what we do defensively. But the key is, yes,
13:45
Speaker 3: we got to play team football. We got to hold
13:49
Speaker 3: them obviously to a manageable score that our offense can trumpet,
13:53
Speaker 3: you know? And so, you know, if we're giving up
13:55
Speaker 3: 40 points, you know, to Houston and our offenses happen
13:58
Speaker 3: to score that much, it turns into a shootout and
14:00
Speaker 3: the likelihood of winning is minimal. So you definitely want
14:04
Speaker 3: to keep, keep an offense like this, you know, in
14:08
Speaker 3: a low point region.
14:10
Speaker 1: With that in mind, with the measurement being points per drive,
14:14
Speaker 1: rather than just points per game, do you ever walk
14:16
Speaker 1: over to Mac G's office and say, Hey, can we
14:18
Speaker 1: give them like two fewer drives this game?
14:21
Speaker 2: Can we run the ball a little bit more?
14:23
Speaker 3: Can we, can we coach man? It's all about time
14:26
Speaker 3: of possession. Exactly. Elongating those drives, you know, not given
14:31
Speaker 3: obviously their offense and short field positions. stuff like that. Like,
14:36
Speaker 3: you know, we've, we've had to defend a couple of
14:38
Speaker 3: red zones where we're starting off in the red zone
14:41
Speaker 3: and it's like, okay, if we can hold them to
14:43
Speaker 3: a field goal, you know, that's, that's the goal is,
14:45
Speaker 3: is obviously not giving up touchdowns in the red zone.
14:48
Speaker 3: And so it's, it's, you're absolutely right. It's, it's making,
14:51
Speaker 3: you know, an offense have to drive the length of
14:54
Speaker 3: the field. It's making them to where they're not getting
14:56
Speaker 3: into the red zone, stuff like that. So, There's a,
14:59
Speaker 3: there's a lot that goes into that metrics and, and, um, you're,
15:02
Speaker 3: you're exactly right. If the offense can hold onto the
15:05
Speaker 3: ball for a long period of time, that minimizes the
15:07
Speaker 3: amount of drives that they get and the opportunities of
15:09
Speaker 3: them scoring.
15:11
Speaker 2: You guys have done a good job. Correct me if
15:13
Speaker 2: I'm wrong.
15:13
Speaker 1: When, when you are put in a situation where you're
15:16
Speaker 1: on a short field, uh, you know, there's, there's been
15:20
Speaker 1: your defense, your defense is bowed up and they've made
15:22
Speaker 1: plays and they forced field goals or even three, you know, even, uh,
15:26
Speaker 1: forced turnovers on downs or things like that. Uh, How
15:29
Speaker 1: do you coach those scenarios? I know it's practiced, but
15:32
Speaker 1: when it happens in a game, how do you coach
15:35
Speaker 1: those scenarios to the level of success that you guys
15:37
Speaker 1: have right now?
15:39
Speaker 3: A lot of what we focus on is mentality. I
15:43
Speaker 3: would say, because a lot of people don't want to
15:45
Speaker 3: be in those situations. And we call it firefighter mentality.
15:50
Speaker 3: We associate it when something bad is happening and, you know,
15:55
Speaker 3: the building's on fire and everybody's running out of the
15:59
Speaker 3: building to get away from the danger, to get away
16:01
Speaker 3: from danger. you know, something catastrophic that's happening. Okay. And
16:05
Speaker 3: we're the firefighters that are actually running into the building
16:07
Speaker 3: to save people, to save the situation. And so we
16:11
Speaker 3: have that mentality. It's like, Hey, we want this. We,
16:15
Speaker 3: this is on us. This is what we signed up for.
16:17
Speaker 3: We signed up to defend a short field. We signed
16:20
Speaker 3: up to defend, you know, offenses in the red zone.
16:22
Speaker 3: Like this is, this is our job. This is our duty.
16:25
Speaker 3: And I think when you start with that type of mentality,
16:28
Speaker 3: they sit there and say, OK, we're going to win.
16:31
Speaker 3: We have no choice. We're going to win. And so
16:34
Speaker 3: just coaching to that mentality says a lot. And, you know,
16:38
Speaker 3: guys executing. That's that's the biggest thing in defense. If
16:42
Speaker 3: you can focus for six seconds. every, all 11 guys
16:46
Speaker 3: doing their job and focus for six seconds of every play,
16:50
Speaker 3: then the opportunity to win grows immensely. And so that's,
16:55
Speaker 3: that's really what I mean, you look at that second
16:57
Speaker 3: half of the Colorado game, that's just lots of focus,
17:00
Speaker 3: simple stuff, you know? that are longest play a 68 yarder,
17:04
Speaker 3: a linebacker, you know, leaves his coverage man to man coverage.
17:08
Speaker 3: Cause he takes his eyes off and, and we're about
17:10
Speaker 3: to get a sack on him by rabbit. And you know,
17:13
Speaker 3: Isaac Chuck's the ball up to a running back. Now
17:15
Speaker 3: that's uncovered and he goes 68 yards for a touchdown.
17:18
Speaker 3: I mean, it's like, okay guys, do you, you're losing
17:21
Speaker 3: focus here. Everybody, all 11 guys stay focused to execute.
17:25
Speaker 3: And if you do that, the chance of wins, they're
17:28
Speaker 3: pretty good.
17:30
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to mention it, but because you just
17:32
Speaker 1: brought up the loss of focus thing, when, when Bobo's
17:34
Speaker 1: out there in coverage and he's looking at the sideline
17:37
Speaker 1: with a shrug and going, Hey, what's the call. And
17:41
Speaker 1: Colorado takes advantage of that to get the score. Do
17:43
Speaker 1: we blame him for that? Or we blame you for
17:45
Speaker 1: that coach?
17:45
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, it's, it's stuff like that. You know, it's okay.
17:49
Speaker 3: 10 guys have got the call and getting lined up. Right.
17:51
Speaker 3: And what, what's the, what is the reason why one
17:55
Speaker 3: guy can't get the call? Right. And we're all accountable.
17:58
Speaker 3: You know, what can a coach do to help him? Right.
18:01
Speaker 3: What can a player do to, to help himself, you know?
18:04
Speaker 3: And so that's, you know, why you go back and
18:06
Speaker 3: figure out what's wrong and how it can, we can
18:09
Speaker 3: do better. And like I said, it's just, yeah, 11
18:13
Speaker 3: guys being focused on every play.
18:17
Speaker 1: Last thing before I let you go, it is college
18:19
Speaker 1: game day. It is a top 15 matchup, night game, blackout,
18:23
Speaker 1: all that stuff. The stage is set. How much do
18:26
Speaker 1: you have to combat, you know, the human nature?
18:29
Speaker 2: They're getting caught up in the hype and the distractions.
18:32
Speaker 1: And, you know, maybe a couple of your best players
18:34
Speaker 1: are going to have to do an extra interview with
18:36
Speaker 1: a broadcast crew or something like that. It's a break
18:40
Speaker 1: in routine, even if it's not a break in routine.
18:42
Speaker 2: How do you coach that?
18:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the battle. Stay in the moment. It's another game.
18:49
Speaker 3: It's a routine. The process is the process. You just
18:55
Speaker 3: respect it and do it and treat it that way
18:57
Speaker 3: every day. Yeah, are you going to be pulled out
19:00
Speaker 3: from your normal routine? Absolutely. But don't let the moment
19:06
Speaker 3: outweigh what we're trying to get done. So it's definitely
19:11
Speaker 3: a challenge for sure. It's a great opportunity. Like I said,
19:14
Speaker 3: the kids deserve it. I mean, they put themselves in
19:17
Speaker 3: a position to have opportunities like this. The expectations obviously
19:22
Speaker 3: grow and the demands grow, but that's what we're playing
19:27
Speaker 3: this game for. That's what we're doing it for.
19:29
Speaker 2: Do you like a night game better than a day
19:31
Speaker 2: game as a coach?
19:32
Speaker 3: Hmm. I like the atmosphere during the game at night better.
19:41
Speaker 3: I think it's a little more lively. I don't know.
19:45
Speaker 3: It just, maybe when you're growing up and you're going
19:48
Speaker 3: to high school games, it's like that, they're at night,
19:51
Speaker 3: and so you kind of get accustomed to that. So
19:54
Speaker 3: they feel different to me than day games, but I
19:58
Speaker 3: like the day games to, you know, get Get in
20:01
Speaker 3: and get out. It's to sit around for a night
20:05
Speaker 3: game all day on Saturday, and it's nerve-wracking. So I
20:12
Speaker 3: would prefer the day game as far as time goes,
20:15
Speaker 3: but I definitely love the juice and energy of a
20:17
Speaker 3: night game.
20:18
Speaker 1: Well, we're looking forward to more juice, more energy, and
20:20
Speaker 1: another Utah win coming up against Houston, and that'll be
20:23
Speaker 1: a big one.
20:24
Speaker 2: Coach, good luck. Have fun. We'll see you out there,
20:27
Speaker 2: all right?
20:27
Speaker 3: Appreciate you, OC. Take care.
20:29
Speaker 1: Colton Swan, Coordinator's Corner, brought to you by our friends
20:33
Speaker 1: at Mountain Home Services. Utah defensively will have a tough
20:37
Speaker 1: test against Houston, but it's a strength versus strength matchup.
20:42
Speaker 1: Look at the numbers. Look at what Houston has done offensively.
20:45
Speaker 1: Look at what Utah has done defensively. That's the matchup.
20:48
Speaker 1: That's the game right there.