Kyle Whittingham says Utah can’t let Oregon beat it twice. The Utes’ head coach met with reporters on Monday to talk about what he felt was an out-of-sync offensive performance this past Saturday. Even with a 20-17 loss to the Ducks, though, Utah has a chance still to make the Pac-12 Championship Game. Whittingham discussed keeping the focus on that moving ahead and not lamenting what went wrong. The Utes face Colorado on Saturday (1 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Network).

Here’s what he said, with video of the full press conference below

Opening statement

“Disappointing loss in Eugene. The short version is they made one or two more plays than we did. I thought we played exceptionally well on defense. We played the run tough, (59) yards rushing, 20 points allowed, which should be good enough to win the game. It wasn’t in this case. Three takeaways. One of those takeaways was a score. Really the problematic area was that we weren’t our usual selves on offense. We weren’t productive enough. Ten points, (326) yards. We had our chances though and didn’t capitalize. Give Oregon credit. They played well and made the plays they needed to make in the final analysis. Therefore, we came up short.

“Looking ahead, we’ve got Colorado this week on the road. Obviously, last regular season game. You know the old adage — we can’t let Oregon beat us twice. Can’t have a hangover, can’t feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to pick yourself back up and get ready for the next one. Mathematically, we still have a pathway to the (Pac-12) Championship. But all we can worry about is our part of that, and that’s where our focus lies. We’ve got to finish the season the right way and just be concerned with ourselves. We’ll see what else transpires. It’s been a year of a lot of positives and obviously some negatives, but we’ve got a chance to win our ninth ballgame and that’s where our entire focus is.”

On the kicking game affecting red zone decisions

“It has affected it, probably four to six times where it could’ve been a bigger factor in drives. We rely somewhat heavily on analytics. There was really nothing in this past game that was on the borderline. It was all cut and dry, the decisions that were there to be made in this past game. But it always helps to be consistent.”

On offensive takeaways from film

“We didn’t do much in the throw game. That was probably our biggest deficiency. We ran for a decent amount and had some decent production there. But we weren’t as sharp, or as productive, or as efficient in the throw game as we needed to be. All three turnovers came in the throw game. That was the most problematic area for us.”

On how healthy QB Cam Rising is right now

“He’s alright. I mean, if you’re out there, you’re good to go. Like Bo Nix. Bo Nix was out there so he was good to go. Can I quantify it? No, other than just saying if you’re on the field you’re expected to make plays and produce.”

On the notion that a nine-win season being a disappointment is a sign of respect for the program

“I think that’s a valid point. We’ve been in the league 12 years now. To have a (potential) 7-2 record (in Pac-12 play) be somewhat of a disappointment is probably a compliment — in a way. But we’re not focused on that. We’re just trying to repeat as conference champs. Nine games won, if we’re able to get to that, is more than, what 90% of the country?”

On what went into the decision to go for a fourth down midway through the fourth quarter rather than kicking a field goal

“Analytics, watching field goals in practice, the benefit of making that first down at that point in time. Everything goes into it. The ‘go’ number analytically was far greater than what we had at that point. I think it was a ‘go’ at seven. The composite of those different areas made that decision.”

On the offensive performance

“The three biggest issues on offense were the lack of chunk yardage — it’s just really hard to score 5 yards at a time, 12-14 play drives, those are hard to put together — the lack of production in the red zone, and the three turnovers. Those were the three biggest issues. There had been some susceptibility to bigger plays down the field. We didn’t make any in this game and (Oregon) did. Credit their receivers. They made two, three, four plays up the field that were big chunk yard plays. That was one of the differences in the game.”

On putting the Oregon loss behind them

“You’ve got to put it behind you as quick as you can as coaches. Our mentality and our attitude, the way we approach things, is critical. If we walk around feeling sorry for ourselves and moping, the players read that. Your players are reading you every single day. Everything you do, they are reading you. You better be practicing what you preach.

“It’s nothing new to have that mindset when you come back, to put it behind you and move forward. All positive, as hard as that can be at times. But that’s how you’ve got to approach it. As I mentioned, we’ve got a chance to cap the season off with a pretty decent record if we can take care of business. And we’ve got a chance to … mathematically get back into the championship game.”

On the players who have played in three games, and how they’d handle playing them vs. Colorado or in the bowl game

“We’ll do whatever we need to win this game. If we need to use those guys we will. Five is the threshold. You don’t want to get to five. With projecting ahead what you might have on the schedule, we’ll have to see. There’s three guys to be exact that are right there on that line.”

On whether they’ve had conversations with those players about the plan

“Oh yeah. We’ve already had those conversations. Some of our guys that are at four have already said they want to preserve the year and we agreed with them.”