What Utah's Kyle Whittingham said after blowout victory over Colorado

Utes thump Buffaloes behind big night on the ground

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham watches the team warm up before the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Kyle Whittingham had a hard time finding any negatives from Utah's wire-to-wire victory over Colorado in his postgame press conference Saturday night.

And rightfully so, considering the Utes dominated all three phases of the game to pummel the Buffaloes, 53-7, for their biggest win over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in nearly two years.

Headlined by an impressive performance from freshman quarterback Byrd Ficklin, Utah recorded its second-most rushing yards in the Whittingham era, racking up 422 yards on the ground while averaging 8.3 per carry.

Ficklin, stepping in for Devon Dampier, led the way with 151 rushing yards and threw for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first collegiate start, including a 63-yard run for a score on the Utes' second play from scrimmage.

Oct 25, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Byrd Ficklin (15) runs against Colorado Buffaloes linebacker Martavius French (37) during the second quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Defensively, Morgan Scalley's unit stifled Colorado throughout, holding the Buffaloes to -18 total yards of offense while recording five sacks, an interception, a safety and a blocked punt in the first half.

"Great team effort tonight from start to finish," Whittingham said after the game. "Offense, defense, special teams all hitting on all cylinders. Very few negative things at all."

Here's more from Whittingham's postgame press conference.

On when Utah knew Ficklin was going to start and his assessment of Ficklin's performance

"It was really a game-time decision. Devon hadn't had much practice all week, but he's a that knows this offense inside and out, and had he felt up to the task in pregame, then it would have been a tough decision to make. But he was not feeling it, and so Byrd, fortunately, had taken the vast majority of the reps all week long and that was the way it was trending, is Byrd was going to be the guy. But it wasn't for certain until after pregame warm ups."

"I thought he did really well. He didn't throw as accurately as he will in the future, I can promise you that. He's a very accurate thrower in practice and has a good, strong arm. But he ran the ball efficiently and made enough good throws."

On what he saw from Ficklin that gave him confidence to put him into a position to start

"I started seeing it in spring ball. He was a mid-year guy, and so he was with us in spring and you could tell from day one that his demeanor was different than a typical freshman; the way he carried himself, the way he handled his business. It was very evident back in spring ball that maybe we have something special here."

Oct 25, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Byrd Ficklin (15) is pressured by Colorado Buffaloes linebacker Jeremiah Brown (42) during the third quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

"It just continued through fall camp. Although there was a period of time when in fall camp, he didn't really make a lot of progress, but then he, started trending upward again, and he's been really good in the limited reps that he has had in game up to today. The fact he was nine out of nine throwing the ball and had done a nice job in mostly mop-up duty. But you can tell a lot about a quarterback by just the way he carries himself and his demeanor. You know how he's gonna react, and he reacted just right."

On Utah's mindset defensively

"Just to load the box, fill all the gaps [and] make them beat us throwing the ball, and it was a great game plan. That was coach Scalley that concocted that punt block. It was out of our safe look; typically, when you're in a safe look, you're just guarding against the fake and you're not [putting] much pressure on the on the punter, and we had them lulled into to a sleep and came up with a safe look, and he had a blitz or a block designed off of that, and it worked exactly like it did in practice."

Oct 25, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Kam Mikell (18) is tackled by Utah Utes linebacker Elijah Elliss (83) during the second half at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

On Utah's ability to stop Colorado's rushing attack

"We were more high-pressure today, and a lot of run blitzes. There's run blitzes and pass blitzes, and we had a lot of run blitzes dialed up and run fronts that were heavy box fronts, which puts a lot of stress on the [defensive backs]. But they held up. They held up all night long, and that was the plan going in, though, was if we're gonna get beat, we're gonna get beat with the throw game and they weren't going to rush the ball."

On what led to Utah's successful night on the ground

"It starts up front; definitely starts up front. We've been singing the praises of our offensive line all year long, and that might be a school record. I don't know what the school record is, but it's got to be close that rushing total. I think we were sixth in the nation rushing the football this past week, and I think three of those top six were option teams: Air Force, Army and somebody else. We're in the top three, and maybe move up to number one this weekend, and that's a product of, number one, physicality up front and excellent schemes by our offensive coaches and running backs are doing their part. Daniel Bray has been a big factor for us now, going on three weeks or so, and a lot of things go into that, but if you want the starting point, the origin, it's the offensive line."