UC Head Coach Scott Satterfield Utah Postgame.

I don't know what happened, just prayers going out to that right there. Hopefully we can get that person or whoever that was. You know, taken to the hospital and got fixed up and that's obviously very scary and situation. I think, you know, just talking about the game, I think, you know, we knew Utah was a good football team coming in. And they certainly played like it there in the first half. You know, we didn't help ourselves at all. We were able to move the football a little bit. You get down and then we shot ourselves in the foot with a couple penalties that knocked us out. We didn't get any points there. Missed the field goal. We knew going into it, if you get an opportunity, when you get down close to the goal line, you gotta punch it in and get touchdowns. Their red zone defense has been very, very good. I think first half, they were attacking our perimeter. We did a poor job tackling on the perimeter, allowing them to get some chunk plays and chunk yards. And when you do that, you open up the middle a little bit and all of a sudden they're powerful enough and fast enough to get yards up the middle. And we didn't get off the field on third down in the first half and it just got away. I mean, it got away. You know, I think, you know, challenged our guys at halftime to come back out, you know, not to look at the scoreboard, but to play to our standard. And I thought he did a great job in the second half. The fight is real easy to hang your head and feel sorry for yourself in the second half and come out there and just, you know, let them have it. But I thought our guys came out and showed some great fight with the way they came back. Back defensively was a lot better in the second half we get what two turnovers. Held them on fourth down twice. I mean, that's four possessions that I thought our defense did an excellent job. And I know people say whatever, but I mean, the last drive right there, that means something to our guys and our kids to be able to hold them out of the end zone there on fourth down. I mean, I know the game was pretty much over at that point in time, but that means a lot to our players and our guys. So, hey, this is a good football team. We didn't play well. And if you don't play well against a top ten team like Utah is, I mean, this is what happens. It felt like you had a couple chances on third down early, and they were able to convert. What was the, was it the tackling mainly or anything else you saw? Yeah, I mean, they're talented. I mean, they have a talented quarterback that I thought several times we played great coverage, he didn't have anywhere to throw it in the sucker. He goes to scramble and gets a first down. And we had guys there and we just kind of missed those tackles. I mean, at that point, it's our guy versus their guy in open field, which is a hard thing to do. And he won, he won several of those to get those first downs. And it just kept their drives alive, and I thought, I think it was there were six for six on third downs in the first half and, and when they're staying on the field and keeping the drives alive, it was difficult for us to get off the field at that point in time and I thought a good adjustments at halftime to come back in here and much better in the second half with the third downs and fourth downs. This has happened to several teams, a big win, and then a few days later, UCF got beat, Wisconsin got beat bad today. You guys, any rhyme or reason to the Jekyll and Hyde nature of all this? No, I mean, I think, you know, we see what college football is in this day and age now. You know, it's a... You got a lot of teams with a lot of mixed players that have come in, new guys. And it's hard to be consistent on a weekly basis. And injuries can affect it, where you're playing can affect it, who you're playing can affect it, all those type things. And there's a lot of parity in college football, I mean, it is. Obviously, if somebody could figure this out and you could get your guys ready to play and then they go out and play well every single week, it'd be awesome. But right now there's only a few or three teams that are undefeated. I mean, somebody said it's the earliest of the number of teams where we're at this point in the season than we've been, I don't know, in a long time. So there's just a lot of parity. And each game, I feel like each game is a new season for every team. Like for us next week, you turn the page, man. Everything is all about Houston next week. And so you learn from the things that you've done in the past, but man, you gotta focus everything you can on Houston to try to put together a plan or guys who execute a plan. How do you approach that? Do you kind of go back to what happened after West Virginia that led to the Tech win? Well, I think you've got to go back. I know they're a good football team. We've seen them on some cross film. I've watched them on TV as well. Well, you know, And I know Coach Fritz. I mean, they do a great job. They do a great job. Their quarterback's outstanding. And they're coming home off a bye week this week. And they can run. They can throw. Their defense is an aggressive style of defense. That's Anne. You know, another top, I don't know what they'll be, top 15 team in the country coming in that we have to go play next week. So, you know, but I know it's a good, well-coached team, and we've got to watch the film and put together, you know, what we feel like will give us the best chance to go win, and we've got to go execute. Did you feel the physicality level dropped this week compared to last week in the trenches? No, no, I don't think so. I thought we had a good week. I thought our guys were locked in and focused in this week. I thought, you know, like particularly defensively, I thought we had a really good week. Preparation defensively, I mean, you know, and how you gauge that. I mean, you know, sometimes you say, well, man, I feel really good about it. We don't play well. Sometimes, oh, my gosh, I don't know. And we play well. It's hard to put a finger on it. But I thought we looked at the practice this week, defensively in particular, and, man, guys were where they're supposed to be. Man, we didn't have too many mental busts. I mean, it was, you know, I think as a coach sometimes you feel great about that, you know, and then you still got to go out and tackle. You still got to go out and play physical. And this goes for both sides of the ball, you know. And so... You know, sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. Where would you put Dampier among them? The quarterback you've seen now. I think Dampier is one of the better ones. I mean, I think because what he can do with his legs, they don't try to run him a lot. But what he can do on third down, when there's nowhere to throw the football, he's able to go get those first downs. Thank you very much. And he's an accurate passer. I forget what he was coming in, but he was one of the higher completion percentage guys throughout the country. Thank you. And he'll make you pay. I mean, I think he's an outstanding player. I think he's a winner. I mean, if you go back to last year and so far this year, I'm going I mean, this guy's won a lot of football games with this program. How much does some of the stuff, I think I saw in one play, to turn they faked a handoff, faked an option, then he dropped back to pass, and then he took off running. it over How much of that is a challenge defensively? Oh, yeah, I mean, that's what they do on their offense. You know, they're deceptive. to you, Like, they're trying to make you defend this, this, pass, run. Mr. Chair. They play both quarterbacks, you know. I mean, so there's a lot of things that are going on to try to make you get horizontal so they can find gaps in the defense, you know. It's difficult, to me that's why they've been really good. I think the last couple years what they've done offensively has really helped their program overall. They've been good on defense for years. But maybe three years ago, their record wasn't great because their offense wasn't that good. In the last two years, their offense is outstanding. The coverage lapses on that, I think it was Utah's first drive. Do you attribute, were you shocked by that? Cuz it doesn't seem like that's been something that you guys have struggled with this year We've seen, for us, their defense. Your defense. Oh, our defense. Yeah, I mean, I think sometimes you're trying to fit all the things that we talked about right there, and sometimes you're going to do things that are a little bit different you don't really want to do. And so a guy maybe has to fill an alley. Well, you may be giving up a pass when you do that. And I think that's the cat and mouse game that I think was going on a little bit there in the first half. Thank you. They hit us on the second half. We brought zero and we flinched in the neutral zone and they had a free play. Other than that, I think we played great in the second half. But in the first half, man, there was just some of the play action stuff. Is it a run? Well, here I come and the next thing you know, the guy's available. Good scheme, got to do a better job defending it. How much did not have in Taron? In the middle, not that Grant played poorly, but a guy that's a veteran and knows the calls. Yeah, I mean, we certainly missed Taron. I mean, you know, he's such a strong player. He's big and strong. And these guys have a really good defensive line that we just played right there. They're very active. You know, I had to go back and see how Grant played. But you're certainly going to miss a guy with that experience. I mean, and he's been, you know, a leader for us. Not having him out there obviously hurts. Another guy that's played a ton of football with great strength. And I think sometimes that. Maybe he showed up today in some of the runs. Do you know timetable on him? Is it just week to week? Well, we'll see. I mean, I think he'll be close to ready this week. We're going to be optimistic with him. A lot of it's going to just how effective can he be. I think obviously he wants to play. He's lived in the training room all this week. You know, Huff's Huff's the same way. I think both of those guys will be close to being ready this week. 42-6 at halftime, kids leave. Is it disappointing? Well, I mean, it's a lot to a little. And, you know, I feel, you know, I don't. Blame them for leaving when it's the scores like that at halftime. We had some that stayed out here. But, again, I was proud of our guys, the way they came back and how they fought in the second half. And, you know, regardless of that or not, I mean, you know, the game was out of hand there at halftime. But our guys didn't keep playing. You know, keep playing and let's make it a game in the second half. And, you know, we were almost there. You know, and obviously it was disappointing how we played in the first half. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Scott.