Postgame Quotes: No. 15 Utah at Iowa State
9/26/2026 6:12 PM | Football
Postgame Quotes
No. 15 Utah 31, (at) Iowa State 17
Ames, Iowa (Jack Trice Stadium)
Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026
Kick: 2:35 p.m. CT | End: 6:08 p.m. CT
Attendance: 52,150
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Utah Quotes
Head Coach Morgan Scalley
Opening Statement…
"Credit to Iowa State and that coaching staff. We knew this was going to be a fight and I thought we started really well. It's really a game of momentum. We came out in the second half and I don't think we were flat, we just got outplayed, couldn't get stops on defense. The 23 first downs given up, too many, and then on the offensive side of the ball, not a good enough job converting on third down, only 3-of-10 on the night, but man, did we need to face some adversity. We handled the adversity really well for the crowd, the crowd noise, the ability to get the stops at the end when we needed them, for the offense to convert. I'm really proud of how those guys finished, got the two takeaways, which was huge, the Bennee interception at the end. Really proud of Wayshawn Parker. This is a guy, all he does is everything you ask and you watch this kid when he doesn't have the ball. He runs, he blocks, he picks up his teammates and celebrates with his teammates, so he deserves everything good that comes his way. Really proud of him. On the defensive side of the ball, I thought we did a really nice job at the beginning of the game and for the most part in stopping their physical run game. At the end, like I said, it was good to see our guys face some adversity and fight through it and get the win. Again, credit to Iowa State for having those guys ready to play, great atmosphere and I think it says a lot about our guys, first road game and came out with the win."
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 On what Iowa State's offense did differently in the third quarter…
"What did they do different offensively? Well, a little bit more in the throw game. They took advantage of man coverage that we were in, some pick schemes, some stuff like that. Obviously, they were trying to create mismatches, putting a wide receiver in the backfield, shifting him out, but probably a little more in terms of trying to take advantage of man coverage. I thought, for the most part, you looked at near the end when we started to bring six, put more heat on the quarterback, that's when I thought we had some success. We tried to counter that by bringing the heat."
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On what the day's performance says about the defense...
"It just says that these guys are resilient and there are things that we have to clean up. There are gaps that we missed. There's assignments that we ended up, the touchdown run by them, just run fit assignment wasn't what it needed to be. Every game, you're going to see stuff that you need to clean up and you have to be really good at what are they doing to take advantage of us and how do we counteract that and I thought Colton did a really good job there at the end."
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On what Iowa State's defense did coming out of halftime…
"They started to convert on third down and we didn't. At the end of the day, when you try to control the clock like they do, as long as they're getting first downs, that's what you saw. They weren't efficient on third down either, but they were getting first downs, getting movement and controlling the clock and, conversely, we weren't getting those conversions on third down. I'm not quite sure what the time of possession was in that third quarter, but my guess is they had the ball quite a bit."
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Senior Quarterback Devon DampierÂ
On what Wayshawn's first touchdown did for the offense…
"That was huge. They wanted to give us the ball first. We take that personally any time a team wants to give us the ball first. For Wayshawn to break that, for the offensive line to make that hole for him, huge excitement and definitely silenced the crowd a little bit. It felt like we had momentum at that time and we just kept using it."
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On the third quarter…
"I have to be better in decision making. A lot of that falls on me, where I'm getting the ball out, where I'm looking on the field. We were in passing downs, so I just need to be more efficient on my part, but we learn from those. We have things to learn from in this game and I promise we'll come back stronger."
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Junior Running Back Wayshawn Parker
On the final drive…
"Knowing coach McGiven, he already told me that he would put the ball in my hands and I went out there knowing I have the team on my back. It just made it easier. The offensive line, I have to give props to the line first. They were making gaps for me to go through. I have to give props to Devon because he's a dual threat. They have to worry about him too. Going out on that field, I already knew it was going to work."
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On how the first touchdown set the tone for the day…
"I want to set the tone every week. I want to do it, nobody else. If somebody else does it, congrats to them, but I want to show them that this is how it's going to be. It's going to be a physical game for the opponents."
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Senior Linebacker Johnathan Hall Â
On the performance of the defense…
"I definitely feel like we played as a team. We had some adversity, but the whole defense, we have 100% faith in the offense. We know if we do our job, the offense is going to figure it out."
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On keeping Iowa State's run game in check…
"This whole week, we were preaching dominate at the line of scrimmage, be physical. I definitely feel like we practice hard and we work for this and I feel like the results showed themselves."
No. 15 Utah 31, (at) Iowa State 17
Ames, Iowa (Jack Trice Stadium)
Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026
Kick: 2:35 p.m. CT | End: 6:08 p.m. CT
Attendance: 52,150
Â
Utah Quotes
Head Coach Morgan Scalley
Opening Statement…
"Credit to Iowa State and that coaching staff. We knew this was going to be a fight and I thought we started really well. It's really a game of momentum. We came out in the second half and I don't think we were flat, we just got outplayed, couldn't get stops on defense. The 23 first downs given up, too many, and then on the offensive side of the ball, not a good enough job converting on third down, only 3-of-10 on the night, but man, did we need to face some adversity. We handled the adversity really well for the crowd, the crowd noise, the ability to get the stops at the end when we needed them, for the offense to convert. I'm really proud of how those guys finished, got the two takeaways, which was huge, the Bennee interception at the end. Really proud of Wayshawn Parker. This is a guy, all he does is everything you ask and you watch this kid when he doesn't have the ball. He runs, he blocks, he picks up his teammates and celebrates with his teammates, so he deserves everything good that comes his way. Really proud of him. On the defensive side of the ball, I thought we did a really nice job at the beginning of the game and for the most part in stopping their physical run game. At the end, like I said, it was good to see our guys face some adversity and fight through it and get the win. Again, credit to Iowa State for having those guys ready to play, great atmosphere and I think it says a lot about our guys, first road game and came out with the win."
Â
 On what Iowa State's offense did differently in the third quarter…
"What did they do different offensively? Well, a little bit more in the throw game. They took advantage of man coverage that we were in, some pick schemes, some stuff like that. Obviously, they were trying to create mismatches, putting a wide receiver in the backfield, shifting him out, but probably a little more in terms of trying to take advantage of man coverage. I thought, for the most part, you looked at near the end when we started to bring six, put more heat on the quarterback, that's when I thought we had some success. We tried to counter that by bringing the heat."
Â
On what the day's performance says about the defense...
"It just says that these guys are resilient and there are things that we have to clean up. There are gaps that we missed. There's assignments that we ended up, the touchdown run by them, just run fit assignment wasn't what it needed to be. Every game, you're going to see stuff that you need to clean up and you have to be really good at what are they doing to take advantage of us and how do we counteract that and I thought Colton did a really good job there at the end."
Â
On what Iowa State's defense did coming out of halftime…
"They started to convert on third down and we didn't. At the end of the day, when you try to control the clock like they do, as long as they're getting first downs, that's what you saw. They weren't efficient on third down either, but they were getting first downs, getting movement and controlling the clock and, conversely, we weren't getting those conversions on third down. I'm not quite sure what the time of possession was in that third quarter, but my guess is they had the ball quite a bit."
Â
Senior Quarterback Devon DampierÂ
On what Wayshawn's first touchdown did for the offense…
"That was huge. They wanted to give us the ball first. We take that personally any time a team wants to give us the ball first. For Wayshawn to break that, for the offensive line to make that hole for him, huge excitement and definitely silenced the crowd a little bit. It felt like we had momentum at that time and we just kept using it."
Â
On the third quarter…
"I have to be better in decision making. A lot of that falls on me, where I'm getting the ball out, where I'm looking on the field. We were in passing downs, so I just need to be more efficient on my part, but we learn from those. We have things to learn from in this game and I promise we'll come back stronger."
Â
Junior Running Back Wayshawn Parker
On the final drive…
"Knowing coach McGiven, he already told me that he would put the ball in my hands and I went out there knowing I have the team on my back. It just made it easier. The offensive line, I have to give props to the line first. They were making gaps for me to go through. I have to give props to Devon because he's a dual threat. They have to worry about him too. Going out on that field, I already knew it was going to work."
Â
On how the first touchdown set the tone for the day…
"I want to set the tone every week. I want to do it, nobody else. If somebody else does it, congrats to them, but I want to show them that this is how it's going to be. It's going to be a physical game for the opponents."
Â
Senior Linebacker Johnathan Hall Â
On the performance of the defense…
"I definitely feel like we played as a team. We had some adversity, but the whole defense, we have 100% faith in the offense. We know if we do our job, the offense is going to figure it out."
Â
On keeping Iowa State's run game in check…
"This whole week, we were preaching dominate at the line of scrimmage, be physical. I definitely feel like we practice hard and we work for this and I feel like the results showed themselves."
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