What Utah's Kyle Whittingham said ahead of Big 12 showdown vs. Texas Tech

Utes head into Week 4 looking to remain undefeated

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham before the game against the Wyoming Cowboys at Jonah Field at War Memorial Stadium. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham previewed the Utes' upcoming showdown against Texas Tech, as well as what it'll mean to have Big Noon Kickoff in town, along with his thoughts on his quarterback during his weekly press conference on Monday.

Utah (3-0) entered the week coming off a hard-fought win over Wyoming, sweeping its nonconference schedule after rattling off four consecutive scoring drives in the second half to pull away with a 31-6 victory.

The win moved the Utes up to No. 16 in the most recent Associated Press Top 25 poll, setting up a top-20 showdown with the No. 17 Red Raiders on Saturday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Here's what stood out from Whittingham's press conference ahead of Utah's Week 4 matchup.

On having Big Noon Kickoff in town

"Excited about this week; Big 12 opener, Texas Tech coming to town, got Big Noon Kickoff coming. It's a great opportunity for not only our program, but for the university in general; a chance for our fans to showcase what Rice-Eccles is all about."

"The Big Noon Kickoff show; I'm sure we'll have people that will attend that well and have a good outing in that but, yeah, it's good. Our players deserve to play on this stage, and it should be a great ball game."

Keys to beating Texas Tech

"I would say, pick up where we left off in the second half with finishing drives, getting the ball in the end zone; and if we can do that, that'll go a long ways towards our chances to win the game. Obviously, the turnover margin is crucial. Every single week, we've been fortunate enough to win the turnover margin ... we did turn the ball over once on Saturday night, but we took it away twice. So when we win the turnover margin at plus one, we're at like 83% win percentage. And when it's plus two or better, it's like 90 something percent, so that that right there is very indicative of how important that is."

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"Texas Tech, they got a lot of good players. Obviously, they wouldn't be able to be doing what they're doing without a bunch of good players, and so they've done a nice job of assembling that roster and getting talent infused into the program."

On Texas Tech's purported roster budget, whether paying athletes directly is adding to talent disparity across college football

"Well, they're certainly committed to winning, and good on them for being able to attract those players and get the type of players in that they have."

"Is spending affecting the imbalance? I guess you'd have to say it is in a lot of respects, but there's a lot of programs out there that want to win badly. And like I said, if they have the support and all that, that's great; more power to them."

On Texas Tech's offense, comparisons between Red Raiders QBs Behren Morton and Dampier

"Both quarterbacks, as you mentioned, are playing very well, and their QB is his passer rating is over 200; it's like 208 or something like that, which is really good. I mean, that's off the charts, good."

Texas Tech's Behren Morton runs against Oregon State during a non-conference football game, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. | Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"And they do run the ball. They got a physical offensive line. They got good size. Both tackles are 6-foot-8. They got some tight ends. They typically are more so an 11 [personnel] team than a 12 [personnel] team. You're going to see one [running] back, one tight [end], three wide [receivers] most of the time, but they will jump into some two-tight [end] sets and run the ball well. Like I said, they're running the ball very effectively right now."

His grade for Devon Dampier through three games

"I give him an A-plus. I mean, not only what he's doing on the field, but his leadership, his impact on the team overall; he's just been exactly what we hoped he would be, and he's, without question, one of our team leaders and the players have embraced him, and so I think that we couldn't have asked anymore from him to this point."

Sep 6, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Utes quarterback Devon Dampier (4) looks to pass against the Cal Poly Mustangs during the first quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

"He's completing the ball at a high rate. He's protecting the football. He's our leading rusher right now, so he's doing it all and we just got to keep being intelligent with how we use him. But he runs the ball so effectively, and there's quarterbacks in the country that do run the ball effectively, and schools let him run. I mean, you can't just take that away from him; that's such a huge part of his game."

"You can hope that he'll stay out of harm's way as much as possible. There's some times where you can't do that. I think at this point, like I said — couldn't have been any better than what he's done and his numbers really speak to that."