What Utah's Kyle Whittingham said ahead of Big 12 bout vs. Baylor

Utes head coach shared his thoughts on the CFP rankings and Big 12 title race

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham leads his team into a Big 12 matchup against the Baylor Bears. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

With so much being made about potential conference title game matchups and College Football Playoff aspirations, all Utah can do is focus on the task at hand: a Big 12 road game at Baylor on Saturday.

The Utes (7-2, 4-2) have entered themselves into postseason conversations following four wire-to-wire victories over the past month, earning them a spot as the No. 13 team in the first CFP rankings that released ahead of their Week 11 bye. As the Big 12 standings received a shake up over the weekend, with Texas Tech reclaiming the top spot with a win over BYU, Utah's path to the league championship game in December is still viable for the time being.

But it would all be moot with a loss to the Bears on Saturday.

Whittingham discussed his thoughts on the Big 12 race, CFP rankings and much more during his weekly press conference leading up to Saturday's game (5 p.m. MT, ESPN2).

On being in the hunt for a spot in the Big 12 championship game

"We're concerned with it but we don't focus on it. We're still in the hunt mathematically as a couple teams got losses this past weekend, but we just got to keep doing our thing. We just know that we have to win this week. I mean, that's our bottom line, and if we are able to get a win on Saturday, then we stay in the hunt and we'll see what happens with everybody else."

His thoughts on being ranked No. 13 in the first College Football Playoff rankings

"Our thinking is we're really focused on Baylor right now, and we just know that we don't have any margin for error. We understand that, and so I think it was a nice show of respect for our program from the committee to rank us where we were ranked; but again, we got to take things one week at a time, and that's exactly what we're doing this week."

On keys to limiting Baylor's passing attack

Gotta try to make [Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson] uncomfortable. They got three really productive receivers, a really productive tight end who catches everything. They also have a really good back; he was 1,000 yard back last year, and he's closing in on 1,000 this year."

"They've got weapons around [Robertson], and the offensive line is playing efficiently. He's the number one thrower in the league as far as yards per game — I believe he's number one in the league in total offense per game, and he's got a good supporting cast."

"He does not run as much as the quarterbacks that we faced this year, but he likes to beat you from the pocket with his arm. And so we've got to find a way to not let him get comfortable back there and and just go through his progression. We got to speed things up."

On how the Utes have managed to allow only 14.2 points per game

"Well, we're playing well in the red zone, which keeps points off the board. So that's a big part of why we're only giving up [14.3 points per game], and so that's a big deal. I think that the secondary has played really well this season. We're top two or three in the league in pass defense, and so that's another big part of it is, we're not allowing we're not allowing a bunch of chunk plays."

On the defining characteristic of this season's team

"I would say great leadership. We have tremendous captains this year — not that we haven't in the past — fortunately, they've all been able to stay healthy and intact. That's a big part of it."

"And then not just the captains, but the the upperclassman; because we had a couple really disappointing games that we had to bounce back from, and I credit the leaders for really making that happen. And practice is as good as it's ever been here, as far as the energy and the focus and the juice and so again, that's probably the number one thing that has really driven this team and help us get seven wins."