Weekly press briefing

The following comments are from head coach Bronco Mendenhall's post-practice press briefing, including comments from sophomore quarterback Taysom Hill.

Head coach Bronco Mendenhall:

What is your assessment of the game this past weekend?

The entire team played with the same effort and intensity and were determined to win. Certainly they looked great as we watched it and there is a lot to improve. I think the players left today encouraged and optimistic from what they saw but also believe that they can be a lot better. That’s the tone of the team right now.

How much of what happened against Texas is owed to what happen the previous week?

I think quite a bit. It’s hard to know where our team is or was until we play a game. After we saw a game, we were able to identify areas that needed focus and attention. There is still more, but it just gave us a better reference point than what we had coming out of fall camp.

Is the bye before Utah a coincidence?

We had a number of opportunities, from getting the schedule exactly right and trying to find the teams that would play us and when they could play us with their conference schedule etc., that’s just how it worked out.

Injuries of concern coming out of Texas:

We don’t have any at this point. We don’t have anything different than what was reported at the end of the game.

How does the team maintain the intensity from the Texas game?

We just need to keep asking for more. We upped our intensity and expectations significantly from week one to week two and that was the message to the team today. If they want those results, then their preparation and practice will be similar and they will choose whether to sustain it or not.

Sophomore quarterback Taysom Hill:

Are you going to enjoy the win over Texas or has the team shifted to Utah?

We’ve shifted and it’s done. Texas was a great win and we have a lot of good things to build off but we have a lot of things that we need to fix. Everyone on the team has shifted their focus to Utah; there’s nothing to hang our hat on. We had a good game and we’re going to build off that, but our focus is now Utah.

What needs to be fixed for the Utah game and moving forward?

We need to be more efficient in the pass game offensively and I think that’s the biggest thing right now. I expect to see a lot of cover one and cover zero and that they load the box. Which is good for us because they are going to put guys like Cody (Hoffman) and Skyler (Ridley) in one-on-one coverage and we’ll take that all day.

How important is it to get the passing game going and make this a more complete offense?

It’s huge. Anytime you’re one dimensional, somebody can focus on that and really stop that. That’s going to be the focus and we’re going to get that up to where it needs to be. We’re confident that we’ll be fine.