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At least one change will stick
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham announced Monday at least one of the major changes he made for the Wyoming game will stick, as for the other, he'll keep it a secret as long as possible.
Whittingham said today that receivers coach Aaron Roderick, who replaced offensive coordinator Dave Schramm in the booth, will remain there calling the plays for the time being.
"Dave Schramm is a fiery, intense guy down on the field and I thought that was going to be a benefit for us and I'm also very comfortable with A-Rod upstairs calling the plays," he said. "We have a great deal of collaboration and cooperation among the staff. There are no egos. We just want the best situation for our team and we wanted to look at that and stick with that. it worked out well."
As for the announcement he is keeping quiet, that one is who will start at quarterback. Whittingham re-iterated he doesn't want to announce whether it will be Terrance Cain or Jordan Wynn because he doesn't want to give the Lobos any help.
I think the surprise would be if Wynn wasn't the starter and he is probably the guy the Lobos are going to prepare to play, but at least Whittingham is trying to make it harder for the Lobos.
"It doesn't make sense to make that announcement," he said.
As for New Mexico, here are Whittingham's initial thoughts on the struggling team with Mike Locksley in his first season as Rocky Long's replacement.
"There is a big difference on defense," he said. "Rocky had that 3-3-5 defense. They are running more base on defense, four-man rush corners coverage, not the exotic blitz schemes that Rocky would design. Offensively, there are more similarities on offense with a lot of shotgun and a lot of spread stuff."
Safety Joe Dale is listed as probable after missing games with a high ankle sprain.
Whittingham called the special teams effort one of the poorest outings. "We made ridiculous errors," he said.
The offensive players at the press conference, center Zane Taylor and receiver Luke Matthews both said Wynn gave them a lift when took the field.
"Jordan came out and gave us that spark we were looking for," Matthews said. "Everybody on offense wanted to stay behind Jordan because we knew it was his first game and we wanted to do what we could to make him feel more comfortable out there."
Taylor had the best line of the day when he was asked about all of Utah's close wins.
"It definitely is kind of unnerving coming away with so many close victories," he said. "It's definitely putting a lot of stress on me, and my wife."