Producer Note: This podcast was recorded and edited before the Utah v. Oregon game on Oct 28.

Transcript:

Stevie Shaughnessey: Hi and welcome back to Home Stretch, The Daily Utah Chronicle’s sports podcast. My name is Stevie and I’ll be your host. Today we’re welcoming back Kyle Garrison on the show to talk about the Utes recent win against USC, and what we can expect in the coming weeks. Hi, Kyle, and welcome back to the podcast.

Kyle Garrison: Hi, thanks for having me again. Appreciate it.

Stevie Shaughnessey: So in the last USC versus the Utah game, what were your strengths and weaknesses during the game, and where did the Utes dominate over USC?

Kyle Garrison: So in my opinion, one of the biggest strengths that I saw was just coaching in general. The defensive scheme, the motion with the tight ends, there was a double motion where we had two tight ends coming around and then we had one of our receivers coming across the field, and it was just getting the strength to the different side of the field, it’s making the defense move, making the defense switch, and it just caused a lot of commotion in the USC backfield, or in the USC secondary, and I know USC struggles on defense. Alex Grinch, their defensive coordinator, has had some struggles this year getting them in the right alignments, and so moving those tight ends around, making it hard for the defense to predict what their plays are going to be, where it’s going to go, was definitely something that I noticed from the coaching staff. Another thing was the Wildcat formation. In my opinion, the Wildcat formation was the best offensive set we ran all game. Having Sione Vaki and Ja’Quinden Jackson in the backfield there was absolutely ideal. With Ja’Quinden Jackson having a background at quarterback, it’s really easy for him to have the right cadence, know what to do in those situations and being able to hand it off to Vaki but then have the, have the threat of being able to run as well was absolutely huge for them. So I just love Andy Ludwig throwing that in there, switching things up, making things different and interesting and making the defense kind of think twice before the snap because obviously the Wildcat formation isn’t necessarily something that a lot of teams run, and it just definitely switched up, made the defense think a lot more. Another thing that I noticed was we took away their quick passing game. Caleb Williams is one of the best in the entire country at getting the ball out quick to his receivers, letting them make plays in space and we had a lot of guys that were making plays in open space. Miles Battle had a couple of tackles, one of our defensive backs, on some quick passing game. That was huge. He stopped it behind the line. Cole Bishop had a couple tackles, a huge hit late in the game that kind of set the tone for the last drive. Zemaiah Vaughn had two amazing tackles [unintelligible]. He actually led the defensive back room with five total tackles, so just being able to take those away was huge for us down the stretch, and it made Caleb Williams have to throw the ball down the field more which, you never know, it’s not necessarily great to have him throw it down the field, but when we were rushing four at a time, it was really easy for them to, it was really hard for them, excuse me, to throw the ball downfield when you have seven defensive backs dropping back in coverage, and in my opinion, one of the weaknesses that we definitely need to work on was our pass rush. I know Morgan Scalley, the defensive coordinator, made it a priority to only rush four throughout probably 95% of the game. We rarely blitzed. We were making Caleb Williams stand back in the pocket and make decisions instead of being able to just pick us apart with five and six-man rushes. So, the weakness, definitely the pass rush but, you pick your poison with Caleb Williams and what you want to let him be able to do. Our play-action defense didn’t impress me that much. They had a lot of open receivers off the play-action because their run game was so effective. We only had four guys in the box or on the D line with two linebackers. So there’s only six guys in the box there, which makes it a lot harder for our defensive backs to make tackles because their eyes were in the backfield looking for the play action. So there was a lot of that that I think that we need to work on, but other than that, I mean, it’s Caleb Williams, it’s USC, they’re an explosive offense. You’re going to give up those plays once in a while, you’re going to give up the play action. Just think securing, making those better and making those more sound throughout the next couple of weeks is going to be huge for us in the next four games.

Stevie Shaughnessey: So going back to the last few games, we’ve seen Utah make a comeback in the last few minutes. What do you think helps them excel in this area?

Kyle Garrison: So in my opinion, I think that keeping defenses honest by continuing to run the ball in the two-minute drill is absolutely crucial. Bryson Barnes, obviously late in the game, used his legs for two massive runs that pretty much won the game for us. So just being able to settle in, run the ball, keep the defense on their toes, they know that we’re not going to pass it 10 times in a row. They know that they have to be honest, they have to make sure that they’re stopping the run and they have to make sure that they have guys in the right positions to stop the run. So, making sure that the defensive backs are a little bit, a little bit late on getting into coverage by having that run game was huge down the stretch for us. Obviously, just not being predictable in general. So running the ball, using that play action to our advantage late in the game. A lot of teams, especially in college, when they get to that two-minute set, they get very frantic and all they want to do is throw the ball and that play-action threat becomes just non existent. So being able to have that was huge for us down the stretch and I absolutely love Whittingham just letting, letting Bryson Barnes do his thing. I know earlier on in the season, Bryson had Cam Rising breathing down his neck, had Nate Johnson breathing down his neck. Is Cam going to come back? We don’t know. But now that he knows that Cam Rising is not coming back and it’s his team and it’s his crew and it’s his unit, he knows that, you know, everything that he does, they’re gonna have his back and he’s gonna make the decisions and whatever happens, happens and obviously down the stretch, he had just one of the best scrambles I’ve ever seen out of a college quarterback. One of the most clutch scrambles I’ve ever seen got us in field goal range and was able to win the game.

Stevie Shaughnessey: So speaking of Bryson Barnes, what do you think about his progression over the last few weeks and how has he kind of proved himself?

Kyle Garrison: Yeah, so I mean, he went 14 for 23, 235 yards, three touchdowns and a pick, and you know, those are – you know, decent stats, pretty solid stats against an okay defense in USC. But what really stands out to me was the 10 carries for 57 yards. I mean, when coming into the game, the UFC defense, they weren’t even having a spy out for Bryson Barnes. They did not look at him as a run threat at all. So, just being able to use his legs to his advantage is huge for him and that opens up the passing game for him, and just overall, let him be a lot more composed. You could just tell out there he wasn’t as rattled when they would when they would rush five, or he would get forced out of the pocket. He was never, he was never fazed. He was always under composure, and he always made the right decision. One play that really, really sticks out to me was a touchdown to Landen King. He got a pressure up the middle and he ran out, rolled out to the right. He looked like Caleb Williams, he ran off to the right, got his guy, hit him in stride, perfect ball, touchdown, and it was just one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen from Bryson Barnes since he’s been here. It has been absolutely night and day compared to last year’s Rose Bowl when he came in, and I mean, I’m looking for him to continually improve, especially with Whittingham. He’s got Whittingham’s trust, he knows he’s not going to get benched and he’s got a lot of confidence, which I really, really like to see out of him.

Stevie Shaughnessey: So after Oregon, who do you think will be the most challenging opponent in the coming weeks?

Kyle Garrison: So looking at our schedule, obviously, Oregon this week is going to be, you know, the toughest matchup I think that we’ve had all year. But I also look at University of Washington, as someone that’s gonna give us some trouble. We’re not a great road team. We play them at Washington. They have Michael Penix Jr., who is one of, if not the best, quarterback in the country, and his wide receiver core is just absolutely ridiculous. They have three guys on their wide receiver core that in my opinion, could all be first or second-round draft picks this coming draft. So their, their air raid offense is unbelievably stellar, and I just think that being able to stop that air raid and make them run the ball, make Michael Penix [Jr.], you know, stay in the pocket because once he gets out of the pocket, he can kill us with [his] legs, or he can kill you with his arm, and he’s got so many weapons and so many options. So, I think that we’re gonna have a –I think we’re gonna have a little test when we head over to Washington, but I think that the young guys like Cole Bishop and Jonah Elliss are going to have to have really big games for us to take that one home. And with Washington, I also believe that their defense is not, not as good as teams like Oregon, Oregon State or even Florida for that matter. So if Bryson can put up points, you never know, it could turn into a shootout and we can take it home just like we did against USC. And then in the next coming weeks for the other games, like I said earlier, we’re gonna have, we’re gonna have to utilize Ja’Quinden Jackson and Sione Vaki. Those two guys have been unbelievable this year, and if we’re going to want to win games, and we want to make a deep run and try and get to the PAC-12 Championship, it’s going to rely on Ja’Quinden Jackson and Sione Vaki. Those two guys, carry our offense. They make our offense so much more explosive. Having Sione Vaki be able to catch the ball out of the backfield is something that not a lot of people or not a lot of teams, for that matter, in college football can do. So just being able to rely on those guys, barring any injuries, I think that we have a really good shot to, you know, take our offense to the next level.

Stevie Shaughnessey: So right now the Utes are currently sitting at 6-1. I mean, this is what all fans are wondering is, are the Utes in the running for the PAC-12 Championship?

Kyle Garrison: In my opinion, if you got Kyle Whittingham as your coach, then you have a chance to make the PAC-12 championship. He’s made it the last four out of five years. He’s used to going, we’ve won the last two. He has all of the teams in the Pac-12 numbered. He is just a dominant coach all around and his adjustments week to week and in-game are second to none in the Pac-12. I think he’s the best coach in the Pac-12 and a top-five coach in entire, all of college football. So I think that just being able to have him as our coach, there’s always a shot, you can make it back to the PAC-12 Championship. We have one loss, this week kind of becomes a must win. If you look at it, as you know, you lose one to Oregon or Washington, you never really know how it can shake up. Last year, we made it with two conference losses. So you never really know with two, but it would be really nice to be able to go into that last week having one loss because that’s pretty much guaranteed you’re in, and I think that we can do it. I really do after what we saw last week from the team. In my opinion, we are one of, if not, the best team in the Pac-12 and I’m looking forward to seeing us this week against Oregon. It’s gonna be a good test.

Stevie Shaughnessey: Well, thank you so much for your insight today. Do you have any final thoughts about Utah football and the coming season?

Kyle Garrison: Yeah, one of the things that I jotted down as a note was, I think we’re gonna play a lot more, in my opinion, I think we’re gonna play a lot more cover one man and cover two [zones] against University of Washington [and] Oregon. I know I saw it a lot this week with USC, we hadn’t seen a ton in the past two weeks, but, or the past weeks, excuse me, of the season, and with Michael Penix [Jr.] and Bo Nix both being, you know, on the same level of quarterback as Caleb Williams, I think that that cover one man is going to be really huge and that cover two zones sneaking in there, dropping his safety back, is going to make both those teams a little bit more confused. But, I really like what we’re doing on defense, masking our coverages as well, and I believe that that’s going to be something that Morgan Scalley continues to do as the season progresses. Another thing I jotted down, you know Jonah Ellis man, he is absolutely dominant on the D-line. I’m not sure how many sacks he has on the season. I don’t have that written down, but I just wrote down that him and Sione Vaki need to get more media attention. I know Utah is not getting the same media attention as Washington and Oregon and USC, but people need to start talking about Sione Vaki. What he’s doing on both sides of the ball is unbelievable. You don’t have a lot of guys that are playing both sides of the ball and being as dominant as he is. Even on defense, he played, I believe, over 50 snaps on defense and then had, I believe, what hit nine carries for 68 yards and five catches for 149 yards and two touchdowns, and also played 50 snaps on defense and was locked down the whole game. I just think that the media needs to start covering Utah a little more and showing, showing some love to Jonah Ellis and Sione Vaki. And then the last thing I had, actually I had two more things. So Sataoa Laumea, excuse me, is making this ground game flourish. That right side of the O-line along with Micheal Mokofisi is unreal. They are blowing dudes off the line. It looked like those guys on USC we’re just, looked like they were, they were small linebackers or DV’s. Those two guys were making impact on the game. I know they don’t get talked about a ton on the O-line, but I wanted to show some love to the right side of our O-line. It’s been pretty dominant this year and I can’t wait to see what they continue to do. And then the last thing is sadly, I know I don’t want to end on a negative note, but Lander Barton is out for the season, which really, really hurts but you know, Utah is used to the next-man-up mentality, and I believe that they’re going to continue to do that throughout the rest of the year. There’s going to be another guy that’s going to have to step in, and I know Whittingham and Andy Ludwig and Morgan Scalley are going to have those guys ready to go, and yeah, really excited about that.

Stevie Shaughnessey: Great. Well, thank you so much for joining us on this episode today, Kyle. Thank you for listening to Home Stretch, The Daily Utah Chronicle’s sports podcast. Make sure you stay tuned for new episodes coming on every other Tuesday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Producer and Host: Stevie Shaughnessey —  [email protected]   | @steviechrony

Guest: Kyle Garrison — [email protected] | @kgarry21