Postgame Quotes: No. 12 Utah vs. Kansas
10/10/2026 11:55 PM | Football
(at) No. 12 Utah 41, Kansas 24
Salt Lake City, Utah (Rice-Eccles Stadium)
Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026
Kick: 6:02 p.m. MT | End: 9:48 p.m.
Attendance: 51,467 (sellout)
Head Coach Morgan Scalley
Opening Statement
"It was not a clean game by any stretch, but it's tough to win in college football, and we are 5-0 right now. I'm proud of the guys. I think we are really resilient. When stuff happens, they are able to bounce back. The third first drive of the first quarter with the offense was really good. They got off to a really good start. I told our guys in the locker room that you have to enjoy this. It is hard to win in college football. You look at the teams that got upset today and don't ever take a win for granted. There's a lot to clean up, and there's a lot to learn from. And this one, 10 penalties, that's way too much. We had that personal foul. The PIs. We're not efficient enough getting to the line of scrimmage, snapping the ball. That's the first time we've lost the turnover battle this season. That hurt us. Not capitalizing early in the first half when we got the interception, not scoring on that, hurt us. Not converting on fourth down allowed them to get some momentum going into halftime. There's a lot that happened in that game. I love what Rickey Johnson did. Five receptions for 104 yards. It seems like every week someone else steps up and has a game. Semi Taulanga, what an awesome touchdown catch and a great call by [] there. Also had a carry in the game. Wayshawn rushed for 150-plus [yards] in back-to-back games. He's the first guy to do that since 2021. Devon passed 1,000 rushing yards in his career here at Utah, which is the fourth-most among Utah quarterbacks of all time. I love the crowd. I love the atmosphere. It's awesome. The hand-painted helmets, those are pretty cool. Credit to Kansas. They are fighters as well. You look at what that quarterback did. You knew he was being elusive, knew he was going to be tough. Swan [Utah DC/LB Coach] did a nice job of switching up the zone pressure and the man pressure. Their wide receivers did a really good job of coming down with the ball. That said, we weren't good enough in pass defense. They were 17.5 [yards] per completion. We were definitely not good enough there. The tap for the defense that saved our bacon was the red zone stops. They were 2 of 5 in terms of touchdowns in the red zone, and that was huge. You can't pick at their wide receiver. Everything that was thrown his way, it seemed like he caught. 8 receptions for 134 yards. So again, credit to Coach Leipold and that crew for the way they fought."
On where the defense needed to do better at the end of the first half…
"Some of it's getting aligned quicker. Some of it's your man coverage, and you've got to find the ball. They had scholarship players too, and they made great plays. We'll look at the film and improve where we can improve. But again, 17.5 [yards] for completion is not good enough. Not weren't playing clean enough, and not executing at a high enough level, we'll win, but we won't win at the highest level. We've got to clean some stuff up, but it's nice to be able to do that after a win. Our guys are resilient, and they're focused on getting better."
On the team playing complimentary football…
"It's huge, particularly at home, where you can get the crowd going, and our crowd is awesome. ?We've had 99 straight sellouts at Rice Echo Stadium. So, being able to get the crowd going. The referee turned to me after the 4th down stop and was like, "Wow," in terms of how loud it was. And then Wayshawn's run tipped it off. It's an awesome atmosphere, and this is a game of momentum. You got to be able to steal it back if you don't have it."
Safety Rabbit Evans
On what his two stops mean to him…
"I love my brothers, man. The way we had to fight against adversity. A lot of stuff was happening in that game, but we pushed through. We fought together as a team, as a family. And that's what you want to see. I'm proud of us, how we fought through it all."
Rhino Semi Taulanga
On his touchdown…
"It was definitely a crazy experience for me, especially with how close the game was going at that moment. But the biggest thing they preach for our offense is love.?And I think it's kind of scary how... When you have an offense where everybody can touch the rock, so excited for what our offense can do for the rest of the season."
Quarterback Devon Dampier
On halftime adjustments…
"Overall, I think we just needed to execute more plays on all cylinders. All 11 of us needed to play better football. That's a huge shout-out to my whole team. They could tell I was frustrated. I hold myself to a high standard, and just the fact that I had every single teammate come up to me, "Dev, we know what you're capable of", or "we're good, settle in, we got you, man." Just to hear that from so many of my teammates. We preach running off of love. We preach full team bonding. It definitely showed at halftime, and I think that's why I was able to come out the way I did in the second half."
Running Back Wayshawn Parker
On the 90-yard touchdown…
"We walked through the practice. So when we get to game time, I already know what the deal is. They put the trust with the ball in my hand. I tell Coach McGiven every time, you get the ball in my hands, I'm gonna make it work. That's what I did."
Kansas Post Game NotesÂ
Head Coach Lance LeipoldÂ
On how to start faster out of the gate moving forward:Â
"It's just a matter of execution. We just have to execute better, right?Â
We talked about coming out. That was a point of emphasis all week, was coming out and being aggressive. One thing that we thought on tape is a lot of teams play Utah passively and tentatively and try to keep it kind of basic and close, and we wanted to be aggressive in this. So that was not something that we planned. We wish we would have been more successful, obviously, in that first quarter. It took a little bit to get ourselves going."Â
On the impact of the turnovers the Kansas defense forced:Â
"David Santiago makes a heck of a play. Obviously, that was a big momentum switch because we were struggling there. Obviously, to get 10 points there at the end of the half was big, and Jalen Todd making that interception—you could see that they were gonna be aggressive.Â
One of the things that we said when we scored was that we scored too quickly because they're so explosive that they were gonna try to keep playing as well.Â
So, for us to get that and to execute in a way to get that in the under-two-minute type situation and get points, I thought was key. I think kind of what Henry's maybe even alluding to, both halves, you score 10 points and you're getting the ball to start the second half. You're feeling pretty good about where things could happen because momentum is hopefully heading your way, and obviously, we didn't take advantage of that enough."Â
On his unsportsmanlike penalty following the defensive pass interference call:Â
"Well, first of all, I wasn't going to the official. I was walking out for an injured player, and he was directly in my line, and he thought I was coming after him. So he flagged me.Â
It's unfortunate because Syeed's down there on the ground, and I'm walking right near the official as I'm walking out there, and he starts reaching. That's what I pointed out—that I'm pointing at our player behind him."Â
Quarterback Isaiah MarshallÂ
On why the team started slow:Â
"I'm not sure, but that's one thing that me and the players and the coaches talk about, is that we need to find a way to start faster. I think that's our biggest problem.Â
We start slow, but once we get going, you see that we're a great team, a great offense. I think we definitely need to find a way, and we need to make that our number one priority—to find a way to start faster in games."Â
On what went into finding success in the passing game versus Utah:Â
"Nobody's been able to pass like that against Utah for quite a while. What were you seeing out there? Where were you seeing the openings?Â
Yeah, I just feel like it starts with our receivers. Utah was a big man team. They knew we had great receivers, so they played more zone. But it starts with the O-line. Those guys blocked great that game.Â
I was able to be back there and go through my first, second and third reads. Having great receivers helps a lot with that. Just giving those guys a chance to make plays was a big thing for me, and that's what I was trying my best to do—just put it in the receivers' area and let those guys make plays."Â
Wide Receiver Cam PickettÂ
On surprises shown from the Utah defense:Â
"On film, they play a lot of man defense. They came out in zone early. They started getting to man later, but we watched so much film that we were ready for everything."Â
On Coach Leipold's message following the game:Â
"You know, we're right there. Everybody's still very confident. We know what we're capable of, and it's enough of being close. We've got to actually go do it now."Â
Defensive End David SantiagoÂ
On Utah's late explosive runs:Â
"Yeah, it was really hard. We had them backed up. We were only down by 10 at that point, so we were trying to be aggressive down there. And then one got out, and that's frustrating, for sure."Â
On his forced fumble:Â
"Yeah, it felt good. Momentum-wise, I think that it was good for the team. I think in the first half we were playing really good complementary football—turnovers and points. Yeah, it felt good."Â
