BYU Cougars College Football Pregame Quote, 09/02/2019

On what he learned from the Utah game:

We made way too many mistakes. I think that was a giveaway. There are a lot of good things to build on and work on. Utah did a good job at keeping the ball away and possessing the ball. Our offense didn’t do enough to get more first downs or more plays in the second half. Even with all the mistakes, there’s a lot of things we can work on. There’s some good things and there’s some things we need to get done. We got an early start last weekend and had a really good practice today and I’m looking forward to getting these guys ready for Tennessee.

On any concerns about his team’s confidence after the Utah match:

No, I know the guys were really hurt after, but we came to work the next day and got to learn from it and move on. It didn’t really matter the result. We have to put it away and learn from it and move on to the next one. With the schedule that we have, we don’t have time to dwell on it much or pat ourselves on the back. Regardless of the result on Saturday, we have to get ready for the next one. We had a great opportunity and we missed capitalizing on it. We won’t get that one back so we have to move on and keep working it and take it out on Tennessee, who is coming off a similar deal. So we have two teams who are pretty upset about their performance in the first week. A lot of teams make great improvement from week one to week two, so let’s see who is ready for this one.

On how the team’s depth fared against Utah:

Our depth actually held up and we came out of the game healthy. I don’t think we have anyone who we are going to lose for this week. So that’s a good sign. I think we could’ve used more depth on the defense and leaned on it heavier. That’s hard to do when you have a lot of guys who are veterans, like Isaiah and Zane who don’t want to get off the field because they missed a whole year last year. We just have to be more mindful in keeping them fresh. It’s allowing our guys to just trust the guy coming in behind them.

On the team’s perception of Tennessee:

They have a great coaching staff and they’re going to have that team ready to roll. When you watch them on film, you can’t help but notice that they have a lot of athleticism and size. There’s a lot of great looking athletes on the field. There were just a lot of bad things that happened at the wrong time for those guys. It’s going to be which team learned the most and executes cleanly. I know they’re going to be focused on us like we’re going to be focused on them. There’s some things that they’re embarrassed with from that first week and so are we. Only one team is going to win this week and it’ll be who is most prepared and motivated.

On Zach Wilson’s play against Utah:

He did some good things and there’s things that obviously can get better. The quarterback is always going to get the majority of the criticism, but I think he’s open for it and there’s some things he could’ve done differently. You just have to learn from it.