Takeaways From Kyle Whittingham’s Colorado Week Press Conference
Oct 20, 2025, 12:50 PM
Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham walks onto the field in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Photo courtesy of Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – On Monday, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham met with members of the media ahead of Colorado Week, following the Utes’ narrow loss to BYU 24-21 over the weekend.
After a tough loss, Whittingham hopes to get his team to turn the page to Colorado this week.
Here are five key takeaways from Whittingham’s press conference:
“The Analytics”
In the post-game press conference, Whittingham talked about the “the analytics” to go for it on three 4th down decisions. That revelation has been met with criticism but coach doubled down and elaborated on why the analytics were correct.
“Analytics takes all that into consideration,” Whittingham said of analytics. “Now, there’s an asterisk to that: unforeseen circumstances in a game like an offensive lineman gets injured or you’re trying to kick a 50-yard field goal to win. There’s things that do arise, and so we play close attention to the analytics, but not exclusive attention.”
“Maybe there’s some power four schools that get it on campus in the math department or whatever, but there are several companies out there that’s what they do,” Whittingham joked. “They’re customized, as per the opponent and what they’ve done so far this year. It’s not an arbitrary, ‘here’s your plan for the year’ and that’s it.”
In plain English: yes, injuries, field conditions, unexpected breakdowns — still force human judgment but Whittingham doubled down on the the data. It factors in many opponent specific dynamics.
𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐔𝐌 🏟️
October 25th vs Colorado
Take a look at the map, then head over to @UtahRedZone to get some new 🔴 or ⚫️ gear to wear this weekend!#GoUtes | @UtahRedZone pic.twitter.com/UgAvTH5TH1
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 20, 2025
On pass-or-go decisions (field goals vs. touchdowns)
“As the score changes, people’s tactics change, and the play-calling changes based on the situation. You can’t just say at the end of the game, ‘if you’d have done this and this, this would’ve been the score’ — that’s ludicrous to think that way.”
Translation: hindsight is useless. Game flow, momentum swings and situational context matter. He’s defending the inevitable questionable decisions that occur in close games — especially in rivalry settings.
Whittingham doubled down on the decisions, which is interesting given the one-score nature of the game. Perhaps, that is correct, that tactics change, but… adding points to the scoreboard have to mean something more.
Utah was once a program that had to scrap for every single point it scored. It came down to field position clock management. Grinding out games was part of what made Utah so tough. That’s been tossed aside for the analytics.
Is Byrd Ficklin starting this week a possibility?
Late in the game, it was obvious that Utah’s Devon Dampier was hobbled. That could mean Byrd Ficklin potentially fills in for the injured starter:
“We have to wait a few days to see how these guys are healing up from the game, so that’s a distinct possibility, I can tell you that,” Whittingham stated. “On Wednesday you’ll start getting the availability report and the likelihood of who’s playing and who’s not.”
That’s interesting as the freshman has seemingly assumed the backup role to Dampier, especially given Isaac Wilson’s presence on the roster. So, what’s led to his emergence?
“Performance in practice, performance in games,” Whittingham said of his freshman lefty. “He has the poise and demeanor of a second, third year player in the program. He does not operate like a true freshman.”
“He’s got a lot of self-confidence, he’s got a lot of ability,” he shared. “Just physical ability, he’s an excellent athlete, really good runner, throws a really good ball.”
Back home for 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆‼️
🆚 Colorado
🏟️ @Rice_Eccles
⏰ SAT 10.25 | 8:15PM MT
📺 @ESPNCFB
📻 @ESPN700 / 92.1 FM#GoUtes | @SeatGeek pic.twitter.com/fwFGRZFivR— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 20, 2025
Utah’s run game, outside vs inside
On a key breakdown on the 4th down attempts: “We didn’t block it exactly right — correct. I don’t want to get into who was incorrect or what — any specifics — but we didn’t execute it very well. That was the bottom line. The same thing on the fourth-and-three from the 12-yard line.”
Utah’s run game was primarily focused on getting to the perimeter. Daniel Bray had great success getting to the edge. The Utes attempted just three rushes between the tackles, which was part of the game plan.
“They did a good job, they played an odd front, and the majority of the time when you play an odd front that typically lends itself to stingier inside run game defense,” Whittingham explained. “Not quite as strong on the edges, so it was more of a product of what we were seeing, and that was concerted effort on our part was getting to the edges.”
