What Stood Out From Kyle Whittingham’s Week Five Press Conference
Sep 22, 2025, 7:26 PM
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham met with reporters on Monday for his fifth in-season press conference of 2025.
Utah is looking to regroup after a tough 34-10 loss against Texas Tech on Saturday.
Now, the Utes turn their attention to the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The press conference lasted about 15 minutes. Here are takeaways from Whittingham’s comments:
One – QB injury, but no excuse, or inclusion on the injury report?
On Monday, Whittingham confirmed that Devon Dampier was dealing with an injury sustained against Wyoming. However, Whittingham reiterated a point that if you’re out there on the field, you have to perform.
“He was doing the best he could; he wasn’t able to practice Tuesday or Wednesday, a little bit Thursday,” Whittingham revealed. “I’m going to tell you that it definitely impacted Devon, but if you’re out there, you’ve got to get it done; we never use that as an excuse.”
So, that begs the question of why Dampier was never listed on the availability report?
To that end, the availability report is in place as a projection to the game, not a reflection of availability at practice for the specific day of the week. So, despite missing time in practice, Dampier was always going to play on Saturday.
Unfortunately, the time missed in practice did impact his ability to execute at a high level. When asked about whether this could be a long-term nagging type of injury, Whittingham provided the following.
“We hope not, but we never discuss injuries here other than the injury report,” he said before continuing. “I know he’s in a better place right now on Monday than he was last Monday, so that bodes well.”
There’s been criticism for how this has been handled, which is understandable. However, how Utah reported injuries is within the rules.
Two – Bouncing back after a letdown performance
Without a doubt, Utah’s offense did not provide a complementary presence to the defensive effort on Saturday. The four turnovers and inability to sustain drives hurt Utah; however, the leadership on this team will be key to a bounce-back effort against West Virginia.
“I’m very confident that this team is not going to allow that to happen,” he shared. “That’s their attitude, their competitiveness. Now, last year’s team was competitive too, and had a great attitude, but we’ve got a lot of things going for us.”
At the helm of the offense, Dampier has been instrumental in Utah’s success so far. However, as already pointed out, he was not 100% and that impacted his ability to perform at his best. Yet, there should be no doubt about his status as the leader of the offense.
“He’s without a doubt our quarterback,” Whittingham shared. “I don’t think one sup-bar game is fair to judge him off that. The first three games, he’s pretty darn good.”
Dampier has been very mindful of how meaningful Utah football is to the community here. It’s something he’s talked about throughout the offseason, and Whittingham believes that will play a role in his bounce-back.
“He’s a guy that is tuned in, he’s got great awareness, and understands Utah football’s got a pretty good reputation here in this town,” Whittingham said. “We have great support from our community, and that’s a motivating factor to lay it on the line for him and play our best football.”
Three –Texas Tech was very good on Saturday
In his Monday presser, Whittingham was very consistent in his praise of the Red Raiders.
“Really impressed with Texas Tech’s football team, a lot of talent on that roster,” Whittingham said to open his press conference. “Very well coached, played a really good game against us on Saturday, so give them a ton of credit.”
The Red Raiders have invested a lot into their roster, specifically along the defensive line, and it certainly paid off on Saturday against the Utes.
Four – Improvement in the run game
“We run too later, we’ve got to get more downhill,” Whittingham shared. “We should have run more downhill run game and not so much side to side.”
While that is a valuable point, Utah has found considerable success by running to the edges. Utah has run for 621 yards outside the tackles this season, split pretty evenly— 306 to the right, 315 to the left. So, Utah doesn’t need to completely abandon running to the perimeter, but just find a better balance running inside.
However, Utah could have established more physicality along the line by running directly at the Tech front. The Utes were generating positive movement at the line of scrimmage, but were unable to capitalize by running to the edges too often.
Utah has split opportunities at running back between Wayshawn Parker and Na’Quari Rogers pretty evenly. However, it seems Utah would benefit from emerging as the top dog in the room.
“We’ve had a lot of different players contribute in the run game, especially with Wayshawn and NaQuari splitting reps,” Whittingham said. “I would like to see that play where we have a lead back.”
He continued, “NaQuari’s may be a little better in short yardage, more efficient, and Wayshawn a little more of a home run back, able to flip big runs.”
Regardless, Utah needs both to better protect the football. Utah has already lost three fumbles, with two of them coming against the Red Raiders.
