Quotes from the Hawaii papers and the NY Times

About the effect that high expectations have on fan perception of wins, St. Louis coaching legend Cal Lee said:
"Whenever you're winning and undefeated, people come to a point where they ask: 'What happened?' You're wondering, 'What do you mean, what happened? We won.' Their expectations are, 'yeah, you won, but you have to win magnificently.' Sometimes that's what you strive for. Sometimes the opponent has something to do with it, and it doesn't go the way you'd like it to go. But the bottom line is you get the job done, and you come out with a win.

If you ask any coach, they'd rather have a win than a loss and look good. I've never seen a loss look good yet. That's what happens. The expectations before this season, and where we are now, people expect big things. And we expect to play well, too, and get better every game. If you believe in that, and strive for that, you're going to get better." (HA)


About Lowery's punt return for a TD with UH up 14-0 and just 1:21 left in the half, Jeff Reinbold said:
"That can't happen. We were lucky to win but we've got to learn from the experience. We have to recognize that every punt involves a high change in field position. They couldn't move the ball as long as their arm but we gave them an opportunity to feel like they had a chance." (HA)


About how they have to avoid the special teams breakdowns, JJ said:
"We've got to play better. Our special teams (have) got to improve." (HA)


About their scout bowl on Thursday, Reinbold said:
"It's not a joke. It's an opportunity for them to show what they can do in a game-like situation. Some of them will need to make plays for us down the stretch." (HA)


About the commentators criticizing Colt, JJ said:
"I don't think they know what they're talking about. They must never have put on a jock." (HA)

About how the SJSU game may not have hurt Colt's Heisman chances, JJ said:
"To see him do that type of thing ... they know he can throw 38 out of 45 for 600 yards and win 68-10, now they saw that part of him. Now if we keep just winning and winning, they'll see the rest of it." (HSB)


Colt said that his sprained right ankle is:
"not 100 percent, but it's better." (HA)


About the shoulder injury Blaze suffered in the SJSU game, Reinbold said:
"As physical as he is and as hard as he plays, it's going to happen." (HA)

About Blaze's injury problems, JJ said:
"Blaze I'm a little bit concerned about. The bye will help him, but for that thing to be reoccurring, it's bothersome." (HSB)


About why he didn't play LWJ in the SJSU game, JJ said:
"I was going to do my whole deal where I rotated (the backs), but the field was so bad I didn't want to try to get all three of them used to the footing. I played one guy more because I figured the longer they were on it the more they knew what they could and couldn't do. Leon will play this week again and Pilares is getting better and better." (HSB)


About his sack on their first defensive play in overtime vs. SJSU, Fale Laeli said:
"I saw (the guard's) chest, which was my target, and I was mad already. I just saw the quarterback and got home from there." (HSB)

"The whole game I was always there, but I was late, and for that to happen in overtime, it was sweet. I felt relief, I finally got one." (HSB)

Laeli said that the tendinitis in his knee makes each play feel like:
"like somebody's stabbing me in the knee. Every game I go out there I have to dig deep, because I know my knees are messed up. I just have to fight through the pain. ... Every play is just brutal." (HSB)

About how he didn't play much as a backup to Ikaika and Mel last year, Laeli said:
"It was tough watching from the sideline. I felt like this is my year and I have to shine." (HSB)


Praising Laeli's strength, Jeff Reinbold said:
"He has tremendous strength in his lower body and his hands. He gets an edge of you and he's hard to deny inside because he is so strong and can push through a small crack. He's learned as a pass rusher to use the tools that God gave him." (HSB)

Praising Laeli's maturity, Reinbold said:
"I'm happy for him because of the fact that he's really grown up in the three years that I've been here," Reinebold said.

"Where maybe as a younger player he would have gotten frustrated and started to play out of frustration, now he plays within the scheme and within himself and recognizes, 'I'm going to push and push and eventually I'm going to get there.' " (HSB)


About how he watched the UH-SJSU shootout, BSU's Ian Johnson said:
“I like watching them. I don’t like being in them.” (NYT)

Impressed with UH's play in the game, Ian said:
“I thought it was a great game, and it showed how much heart they have to be in a game like that and never give up. It really showed the character of that team.” (NYT)

About the feeling in the BSU game after the Nevada game, Ian said:
“Everyone looked at each other and knew what we had inside of us. We’ve been through good times and bad times. We got into a situation when we needed a long period of heart and determination, and we know how guys will respond now in that situation. There was a sense of everyone coming together after the game.” (NYT)


About how he watched the BSU-Nevada game, Colt said:
“I would have thought low-scoring defensive battle. I was shocked, and it was great.” (NYT)

“I wasn’t really cheering for either one. With the way Nevada came out with their backup quarterback in his first start, I was like, God, let them pull it off. Looking back, though, it could be more beneficial for us if Boise is a top 25 team by the time they play us.” (NYT)

Colt said that during the SJSU game there were chunks of mud on the football so large that he thought on some plays:
“Do I tuck it and run? I can’t throw with this much mud on the ball.” (NYT)

About how the WAC teams cannot afford to lose a single game due to the lack of respect they get, Colt said:
“The one thing that’s tough is you watch the way Oklahoma gets upset by Colorado and the way that U.S.C. loses to Stanford. But I don’t understand why it’s not O.K. for teams in the W.A.C. to have tough games against teams that aren’t supposed quality teams. We’re at a disadvantage respect-wise in how the nation sees us.” (NYT)