Five Takeaways from Kyle Whittingham’s Kansas Week Press Conference
Nov 24, 2025, 1:50 PM | Updated: 2:07 pm
SALT LAKE CITY— Utah moved to 9–2 after a wild, offense-heavy win over Kansas State, and Kyle Whittingham’s Monday Kansas week press conference provided some interesting insights.
Between a historically bad day defending the run, key injuries, Senior Day emotion, and a short-week road trip to Kansas with a 10-win regular season on the line, Whittingham peeled back the curtain on where his team stands — and what has to happen next.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the head coach’s final in-season presser of 2025.
1. Utah’s Offense is Doing Heavy Lifting — and Doing It Well
Whittingham didn’t sugarcoat the Utes performance against the Wildcats: “A lot of offense… not a lot of defense.”
The two teams combined for 1,125 yards and 98 points. Utah rolled up nearly 300 rushing yards, dominated with six touchdowns on six red-zone trips, and watched Devon Dampier deliver over 300 yards of total offense while Wayshawn Parker crossed the 100-yard mark again.
When asked about the job his offensive coordinator has done, Whittingham responded quickly.
Devon Dampier, Utah (18-of-33, 353 total yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, QBR: 90.0)
Dampier connected on a 20-yard TD pass with 2:47 left and had a 59-yard run on a 4th-down play to set up his own 1-yard TD run with 56 seconds to go to lift the Utes to a 51-47 Big 12 victory over K-State. pic.twitter.com/mTJzjf32CG
— Manning Award (@ManningAward) November 24, 2025
“A+, you know, we’re only 11 games in, so we’ve got one to go, but Jason has really been a huge positive force,” Whittingham said of his offensive coordinator. “Jason’s done a phenomenal job this year, statistically, that is borne out in the numbers.”
Whittingham credited also Beck’s creativity, pointing to the four different players who took direct snaps — Dampier, Parker, Ficklin, and Johnson.
This wasn’t empty-calorie production — it was the kind of efficiency you build a season on. Utah now sits top-3 in the Big 12 in almost every offensive categories, and even among the best in the country in some areas. The Utes rank No. 1 in red-zone touchdown percentage at 82%, while ranking No. 2 in rushing offense, and No. 7 in scoring offense.
Utah’s offense came up huge Saturday, scoring 30 second half points, including two remarkable touchdowns in the final minutes of the game.
2. Utah’s Run-Defense Faceplant Was “Historical,” and Whitt Didn’t Duck It
Calling Utah’s defensive performance against Kansas State “not good” is like calling the Grand Canyon a pothole. Whittingham went significantly further.
It was “historically bad.” It came on “one of the most basic plays in football.” And Utah “did everything wrong.”
No gap integrity. No tackling. No physicality.
Joe Jackson’s 293-yard night set Rice-Eccles records Utah wanted no part of, and Whittingham owned every inch of it.
But — and this matters — he also made one thing clear: He expects a full defensive rebound. Immediately.
“They’re prideful. They’re competitive. I’ve got no doubt they’ll bounce back.”
Kansas runs a similar personnel profile to K-State. The film won’t be pleasant. But the carryover gives Utah a chance to fix the exact mistakes that burned them.
While it’s not super encouraging to hear Whittingham didn’t offer up more detail, Utah simply not being as physical as they needed to be up front does account for a lot. Utah did not get the “knockback” that Luther Elliss often cites. Kansas Stat was able to get some push, which made things difficult for Utah’s backers.
3. Utah’s Injury Luck Finally Broke — but the Next Men Up Delivered
The cost of last week’s high-scoring thriller wasn’t just emotional. It was physical — and for John Henry Daley, devastating.
Whittingham confirmed Daley is out for the season, calling it “tough to see” because the sophomore was having a “monster game” with 4–5 impact plays in just 15 snaps.
“It’s the worst part of college football is the injuries and seeing these guys go down, and unfortunately it is long-term,” Whittingham said of Daley’s injury status.
But what came next mattered just as much, as he credited players for stepping up.
- Kash Dillon — delivered on demand presence at edge, he finished with a couple tackles and a tipped pass.
- Lance Holtzclaw — Was another option at end that provided pressure off the edge.
- Creed Whittemore — Proved to be a reliable option in the passing attack with 6 receptions for 51 yards.
- Larry Simmons — Made the catch of the day on his touchdown grab, finishing with 4 catches for 54 yards and one touchdown.
Creed, in particular, earned Whitt’s admiration:
“Creed has really come into his own this last four or five weeks of the season,” Whittingham said. “Even though he hasn’t played a ton, just his practice, the way he’s performing in practice, the things that were lacking… he’s made those weaknesses become strengths.”
In a season where Utah’s depth was questionable at some spots, these guys embodied the “next man up” mantra Whittingham has always preached.
4. Whittingham Got Emotional — and It Was All About the Seniors
Whitt rarely lets his guard down publicly. Saturday was one of the exceptions.
Asked about his postgame emotion, he didn’t talk about the win. He talked about his seniors.
“You want them so badly to go out on a positive note,” Whittingham said. “They’ve been instrumental to our success for a lot of years.”
This class will forever be 𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮🙌 Thank 𝑼 seniors‼️
🧵⤵️#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/FfZSEEjDjT
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) November 23, 2025
For a minute, it looked like Senior Day was going to unravel. Instead, Utah’s offense pulled off the comeback, and the moment got to him.
Utah fans should read between the lines here. You don’t have to believe this is Whittingham’s final ride — but you’d be crazy not to recognize the tone. This senior class means something profound to him, and Utah’s turnaround from last year’s injury-ravaged misery to potential 10-win regular season is largely their doing.
Whitt didn’t just acknowledge it. He credited them for the entire reset: “The success this season is hinged upon the ownership the players have taken.”
5. Whittingham on the Portal, Roster Chaos, and His Future — A Coach Navigating a New World Without Flinching
If there was ever a window into how drastically college football has changed — and how differently Kyle Whittingham now has to operate — this press conference delivered it.
Whitt was asked about frustration in the NIL/portal era, where programs invest millions into players who might be gone in a month. Most coaches would hand you a coach-speak dodge or complain about tampering.
“It’s a radical departure from how it used to be,” he shared. “You used to know 90-plus percent of your roster from year to year.”
That sentence alone signals the tectonic shift Utah has had to confront. Every December, every January, every spring now resembles controlled chaos — roster retainment, exit interviews, transfer evaluations, NIL negotiations, and trying to build next year’s team before this year’s one is even finished.
But instead of resisting the new world, Whittingham made it clear he’s chosen the only viable option.
“You better have a good list of portal guys before the season ends,” he said.”You better navigate it. You better use it to your advantage.”
And Utah has. Blake Cotton — a portal addition — is the perfect example. One of the top PFF-graded coverage DBs in the conference, a plug-and-play difference maker, and a cornerstone of the defense’s resurgence earlier in the year. Cotton isn’t just a good get — he’s the model Whitt believes Utah must build around.
And here’s the real takeaway:
Utah’s ability to win 10 games in the Big 12 — in the middle of the craziest roster-management era the sport has ever seen — is proof the culture he built is still functioning.
Whittingham and his staff have had to adapt, no doubt about that. But this season highlighted a few key elements that have been prevalent throughout Whittingham’s tenure: Sound evaluation. Strong leadership. Family culture. Player development.
