The 13th-ranked Utah Utes took care of business in Tempe Saturday night, dispatching the reeling Arizona State Sun Devils 34-13 and moving to 3-1 on the season.

The win gave Utah a victory in its Pac-12 opener in back-to-back season. It also gave the Utes their third straight win over Arizona State for the first time in program history, according to the team. After the game, Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham met with reporters to break down the win, the play of the defense, the injury to tight end Brant Kuithe, and more.

Here’s everything Whittingham had to say when he met with reporters after the game.

Opening statement

“Solid game overall, all three phases. Offense was productive. Sputtered a little bit in the red zone at times. Still a work in progress in that respect. Run game was much more efficient in the second half, which is something that we came out with a purpose and intent to do that. Defense, I thought was lights out and they ended up with almost zero yards rushing, maybe a few yards, it was negative yards for most of the game. The run defense was outstanding. Had we not had two miscues in kickoff coverage — we gave them great field position twice — could have had less points given up, but that’s just how it is. It’s never going to be perfect.

“Special teams, another game… that’s four weeks in a row where there really was no impact — momentum-changing plays that really swung the game. We talk about field position we lost a couple of times, punted the ball a few times. … Our field goal kicker continues to be perfect, so that’s a positive.

“Brant Kuithe is probably the big negative of the game, we’ll find out more tomorrow but it doesn’t look good. I’ll have a report on Monday at the press conference whether or not that’s season-ending. I just feel horrible for the kid. He’s such a great teammate, he’s a leader, he’s a captain. He came back for another year to be with this team and help us win, so we’ll hope for the best. It’s not definitive but, like I said, it doesn’t look good.”

On Tavion Thomas

“He was available physically. We were planning to play him in the second half of this game. Sometimes things happen and you’ve got to make certain moves. That was an internal thing. Tavion is healthy and fine.”

On the red zone offense

“Well, we had a false start. Had a fourth-and-1, and you go to fourth-and-6 and that puts that right to a field goal situation. I think that might have happened twice. I can’t remember, I’ll have to watch the tape. Overall, for the entire year, we’re still pretty good. Our percentage is still pretty good, our touchdown percentage. But it’s always a work in progress. It’s such a critical element to the game and a key facet of winning is being efficient and effective in the red zone both ways, offensively and defensively. That’s something that we spend a lot of time on.”

On starting fast and playing with tempo early

“That was the plan. That first drive, we were pretty productive.

On Devaughn Vele seemingly taking another step forward.

“He did. He’s a guy that I’ve been talking about since last spring. Last couple games you’ve seen what his impact on the game can be. He’s a tremendous athlete — does a great job returning punts for us as well. … He’s a very valuable member (of the offense) and one of Cam’s go-to targets.”

On Karene Reid

“Very pleased. The guy is an instinctive, tough, student of the game. He’s athletic, much more athletic than you’d think. He can run, can change direction, he’s always in good body position. Between him and our true freshman, Lander Barton, those two are guys are holding it down at the inside linebacker spot.

“Hopefully Mo Diabate will be available next week. We thought we were gonna possibly get him this game but it just wasn’t quite there, so we hope next week is the week. That gives us another core linebacker. But those two guys (Reid and Barton) have done outstanding.”

On Ja’Quinden Jackson at RB

“He’s a natural. He did play running back in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade full-time, so it’s not completely new to him. Maybe 10th grade is when he made the transition to quarterback, but he’s got a background as a running back. He’s explosive, a big back at 230 pounds or just shy of that. He’s fast, he’s got really good vision. He made some runs in practice — he sees these things and cuts back — that were really impressive.

“We think that, for the rest of this season at least, that gives us another viable option at running back.”

On if that move was a surprise

“When Chris went down, you’re a guy short, and we thought who, if anybody, could fill the bill? We decided Ja’Quinden was worth a shot. The real key is he was all in, he embraced it and said, ‘Absolutely, whatever I can do to help the team.’ With that mentality and his skillset, what you saw tonight was just a taste of what I think he can bring to the table.

“Until further notice, he is now a running back. We’ll re-evaluate that at the end of the season.”

On Cole Bishop

“He’s an absolute phenom at safety. He’s everything you look for, so athletic in coverage, great blitzer and tackler. He’s the whole package. He’s got size at 6-2, 225 pounds. So you’re seeing one of the best safeties in the Pac-12 and one of the best in the country in Cole Bishop.”

On how Kuithe being out for an extended period changes the offense

“We’ll have to sit down and talk about that if that’s what’s in fact gonna happen. Again, it looks that way. I think you got a taste of what Thomas Yassmin can do. He caught that ball and hit the juice. He told me if he hadn’t had to cover the kickoff a couple plays before he would have hit the endzone. I called B.S. on that.”

On if he thought the targeting call on Bishop was actually targeting

“No, I did not. He turned his head. Just because two helmets click together… it was good to see the refs interpret it that way because that, to me, is not the spirit of the rule. A lot of times, the defender can’t help that when the quarterback ducks at the last second, you’ve got to look at the intent. There was no intent for Cole to use his helmet as a weapon and that’s really what it boils down to. Do you use your helmet as a weapon to try to target somebody?

On the defense

“They’re starting to get in sync and I think you’ve seen the last three weeks now what their capabilities are. Now, as the season progresses there will be challenges down the road, but after that first game where we were so disappointed, they’ve answered the bell for three weeks in a row.”