PROVO — Reactions from both Utah and BYU fans came in fast and furious following Utes quarterback Tyler Huntley’s postgame comments on Thursday in which he made disparaging remarks about the Cougars upon Utah’s ninth-straight win in the rivalry game.
Following the Utes’ 30-12 win, Huntley stated, referring to the Cougars that, “They so poo-poo,” with reactions coming in a plenty after from both teams’ fans.
Some shrugged them off, others were outraged, while a number of others came in somewhere in between.
During his weekly press conference Monday, BYU coach Kalani Sitake weighed in on what he made of Huntley’s comments.
“He’s a kid and it seemed like he was being playful and being silly,” Sitake said. “He’s a good kid, and I hope people aren’t coming too hard on him.”
Sitake was a coach at Utah when then-BYU quarterback Max Hall made his infamous comments following the 2009 game in which he ranted about just how much he disliked Utah and its fans. On Monday, Sitake drew parallels between the comments from the respective team’s starting quarterbacks.
“It wasn’t like I got really upset and got crazy of it,” Sitake said of his reaction back in 2009. “Fans made T-shirts of it and I don’t know, we’ll see what T-shirts they’ll make from this one.”
Sitake summed up his thoughts on what he perceives as an overblown issue stating, “I don’t think it was anything mean-spirited or anything like that.”