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Kyle Whittingham: "Saturday's game was a good victory for us. Our defense played outstanding from start to finish and it's a shame they couldn't get the shutout. If we hadn't fumbled the punt, my guess is they would have [gotten the shutout] but we fumbled it and it set them up for a score there. They played well particularly in the front. The defensive line has taken a step forward each of the last two weeks. Offense, it took some time to get going, the first four possessions stalled on us, but then we had five in a row that ended in touchdowns. The game breaker was Karene's (Reid) interception in the third quarter, followed by the offense punching it in. That was pretty much the dagger right there. Special teams, we had some good and some bad. There hasn't been a lot of major impact plays so far this year. It was good to get that win after playing so poorly against [San Diego State] last year. Onto conference play now, straight through, conference games. Starting down in Tempe against Arizona State. Arizona State have a lot of good players and when you look at film there isn't a shortage of talent. They had a tough game on Saturday night, but they have some guys and we have to have a good week of practice and be ready to play."

Question: How do you bounce back from these slow starts?

Kyle Whittingham: "It's been two games but I don't think it's crisis mode right now or time to panic. It is just a couple of games where we didn't start like we wanted to. We had a drop in the first drive on Saturday night, where if he catches that ball who knows what happens. It would be ideal to start better than that on offense. We are going to make some adjustments in practice this week to try to get more of a jump start early and see if we can get it corrected."

Question: What is the running back situation?

Utah Utes running back Jaylon Glover (1) runs the ball in to the end zone for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Utah Utes running back Jaylon Glover (1) runs the ball in to the end zone for a touchdown in the third quarter against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Kyle Whittingham: "Jaylon Glover is going to have to elevate and be more of a factor. It is too bad about Chris (Curry). He is a great teammate, a great kid. The silver lining is he will be back next year. Oddly enough, I guess he had that same injury in high school…We expect a full return to health and 100 percent ready to play football again. It does change the dynamic a little bit at running back. Tavion is still the lead guy but Jaylon Glover becomes more prominent. We will need to elevate either Ricky Parks or Charlie Vincent to be that fourth back, as you typically travel with four backs. This does put Glover more to the forefront."

Question: Whats been the biggest difference in the defensive line playing better?

Utah Utes defensive tackle Junior Tafuna (58) reacts to an interception in the second quarter against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Utah Utes defensive tackle Junior Tafuna (58) reacts to an interception in the second quarter against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Kyle Whittingham: "The defensive tackles have made an impact. has really come back in his own. He started the season off a little slow but he is now playing with a great deal of confidence and explosiveness. If you watch the tape and focus on him, he's dominant. , who played so much for us last year, started slow this year and now he is playing exceptionally well. a young freshman gave us some good snaps in the game. I believe their confidence level is back up and they are very active. The defensive ends have been solid all season but the defensive tackles have really stepped it up the last couple of games."

Question: What does Jordan Noyes bring to the team as one of the oldest players in college football?

Kyle Whittingham: "We have our fair share of returned missionaries in our program. The average age of our team is probably a little bit more than your typical team. It adds maturity and a stability to your team that I think has value, for sure. [Jordan] is a mentor to our specialists. He's the guy that has more life experience, so I think they lean on him a little bit for things they may have questions about or need assistance with."

Question: What can you say about Noyes progression and growth since arriving at Utah?

Kyle Whittingham: "He came to us very raw, soccer background as most kickers these days have. He's really fine-tuned; with kickers, it's kind of like golfers, they have a certain swing. You don't mess with them much, they've been trained. But in his respect, where he didn't have a lot of football training, he's worked hard and got his technique dialed in. Knock on wood, he's perfect this year on all his kicks. He hasn't had a lot of field goal attempts [this season], I think three. But he is much more smooth and fundamentally sound now then when we got him a couple years back. He's worked hard at that."

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