Morgan Scalley Weekly Press Conference: Kansas
10/5/2026 2:31 PM | Football
SALT LAKE CITY – University of Utah head football coach Morgan Scalley held his weekly press conference on Monday with members of the media inside the Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center.
Selected quotes from Coach Scalley can be seen below. Click here for the full press conference video.
Opening Statement…
"It's good to have everyone here. We'll start out with shoutouts to some Utes. A couple big wins for the volleyball team. Women's volleyball swept a ranked Colorado team on the road and then knocked off Baylor in the Huntsman Center last weekend. This past week had a tough loss, hard-fought loss to Kansas, but great bounce-back win over Kansas State on Saturday. Women's soccer, awesome. This squad had a huge win, shutout win over No. 23 ranked Central Florida last Sunday, so that was a big win for them. The men's and women's swim and dive teams got their season going at the Intermountain Shootout and swept the podium in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dive events. And then Sergio Jimenez of the men's golf team is preparing to compete at the Spanish Open this week. He's the first Utah Ute golfer to play in a professional international tournament, so big time for him. Good bye week, got a lot of work done. Good early preparation for a very good Kansas squad. Cleaned up some stuff from the Iowa State game. Very proud of the guys who were fighting adversity. Really good crowd there, first road game. I'm pleased with the performance of both the offensive and defensive lines. The challenge was for them to really step up and set the tone physically. I like how we started the game, obviously, and then a couple long drives by them and some stalls by us in the second half is what led to the closer outcome, but they're a good football team as you saw this past weekend with them playing West Virginia the way they played them, but very, very proud of our guys for fighting adversity and finishing that thing off. This is going to be a big one this week. We expect Rice Eccles to be packed in a whiteout, so we're excited for that and I'm sure a lot of stuff is going to be revealed in terms of merchandise and gear and all that stuff, what we're going to provide for our fans, but it should be a pretty awesome environment for a Kansas team that is physical. They are ranked in the tops in the conference both offense [and defense]. First in total defense, first in total defense in the conference, second in total offense, second in rushing offense. So again, another team that prides itself on running the football. Very athletic quarterback in Marshall. Have a lot of respect for coach Leipold and what he's done with his crew there. Their defensive front is very stout, very productive getting TFLs. They're a pretty aggressive defense. They run to the ball. You can tell they're coached really well, and so this is going to be a great opportunity for us in front of a packed house."
On guarding against rust during the bye week…
"Well, first of all, you can't just not practice, and practices have to be physical. They have to be fast. Certain guys that you kind of taper off on, maybe some of the workload based on where they are physically. At the same time, we got work to do. We got stuff to improve upon, and those things were targeted throughout the week in terms of you're looking for self-motivated guys, self-starters. It's part of the culture in the nasty acronym, that 'S' stands for 'starts with me'. If you need someone else to motivate you, we've prepared and trained since January for this, and you're going to fall asleep. It's like no, this is an opportunity for us to keep on going, keep on improving and if you need someone to motivate you to get you there, you're in the wrong business. Our guys understand what's at stake and understand that all 12 guaranteed games matter. If you look across college football, it's hard to win football games, and you got to show up to every game prepared, every game hungry, and never take an opponent lightly. Credit our leadership for really coming out, no lackluster practices in my opinion. I thought they attacked it, and we're ready to get going again today."
On the progress that led to Kelvin Obot making his first start against Iowa State…
"Well, two things. He is very athletic. Eventually, you see him moving out to the tackle position. He's got the athleticism to be able to do it. He's also very physical and aggressive. He's just going to get better and more confident with time. The reps that he's going to accumulate this season are going to be huge for his growth going into his second year, but this is a guy who was a highly touted recruit for a reason, and his combination of athleticism and physicality are special."
On how he feels about his offensive and defensive coordinators…
"Very pleased. Very pleased with our coordinators and what's going on, but again, we're four games in. I still think people are finding out who they are. I'm just pleased with the culture and how they're holding their guys accountable, correcting things on the go, and not only the coordinators. It's the position coaches as well, and to have that loyalty and unity, that's big across the board, but those guys work so hard. Just as you don't necessarily see the work that the players put in, you definitely don't necessarily see the work that the coaches put in, that sacrifice. It's a grinder of a job, and I'm very happy and grateful for everything."
