Takeaways From Kyle Whittingham’s Rivalry Week Press Conference
Oct 13, 2025, 2:33 PM
BYU football head coach Kalani Sitake and Utah Utes football head coach Kyle Whittingham talk before a game between the University of Utah Utes and the BYU Cougars held at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
(Photo courtesy of Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – On Monday, Utah Football head coach Kyle Whittingham addressed members of the media for the BYU rivalry week press conference.
Coming off of a valuable 42-10 win over Arizona State over the weekend, the Utes hope to keep the momentum rolling against the team down south.
To begin the week, Whittingham met with the media as he always does. After the 15-minute presser, here are five key takeaways from Utah’s head coach press conference.
Kyle Whittingham: “I’m just going to focus on us this week”
When asked about BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier, Whittingham provided the sort of response that will generate some reaction.
Before the question even finished, Whittingham said, “I’m just going to focus on us this week, our players, our coaches, so I’m not going to give much thought on the opponent this week.”
His response is fascinating because Whittingham is smart, and he’s hyper-aware that anything he says will be parsed and amplified by the other side this week.
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Prioritizing more rest has played an important role for Utah this season
Players take a pounding week in, week out. A bye gives time to heal bruises, nagging strains, even fatigue before it spirals into something worse. Whittingham confirmed that they went with more rest than they have years prior.
“We have definitely done that, and we did it more so in the bye week than we’ve ever done as far as downtime,” Whittingham shared. “I think it paid off, our guys were completely fresh in the game on Saturday.”
Health is vital to a team’s chances at a conference championship. It will become even more important moving forward with the roster number restrictions being enforced.
“And with the roster numbers, your roster number is going to keep shrinking until it gets to 105,” Whittingham shared. “So, preservation is a key, it’s not like the NFL we can make a trade or a waiver wire pick up, we got who we got.”
Whittingham also shared that the team came out of the Arizona State game in good health.
Head Coach Kyle Whittingham speaks at his weekly Press Conference 🎙️
🔗: https://t.co/RjFK6Lnxlx#GoUtes | @AFCU pic.twitter.com/aOla52fwfa
— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) October 13, 2025
What do Logan & Spencer Fano mean to this program
Spencer & Logan Fano hail from Spanish Fork, Utah, where both starred at Timpview High School. Spencer committed to Utah directly out of high school, while Logan transferred to Utah after hitting the transfer portal at BYU.
“Tremendous players, tremendous people, captains— both of them, that says a lot,” Whittingham said. “Both high caliber players you know it’s been well documented that Spence is potentially a first round draft choice, and Logan, in my opinion, is not far behind.”
The Fano brothers clearly mean a lot to Utah on the field. They’re impact players at their positions, and contribute a lot to Utah’s successes.
“We’re blessed to have them in our program, they do so many good things for us on and off the field, and they’re really instrumental to our success, both those guys.”
Kalani Sitake has become an outstanding coach
When asked about his role in helping coaches elevate in their roles and job opportunities, Whittingham gave those coaches a ton of credit.
“A lot of them don’t need much mentoring, they’re very good coaches just on their own,” Whittingham said. “There are a lot of coaches down there that were here, I’m grateful for what they gave us while they were here.”
Obviously, there are a lot of ties between Utah and BYU with coaches. Many of whom have coached under Whittingham and have found great success on their own.
“They were all outstanding for us and and did an excellent job,” he said. “Kalani is a good friend of mine, that’s no secret, and he’s become an outstanding head coach.”
