Quotes from the UH-USU Game

HA = Honolulu Advertiser
HSB = Honolulu Star-Bulletin
AP = Associated Press
DN = Deseret News
SLT = Salt Lake Tribune
LH = Logan Herald (Utah)
SBR = SBR Forum

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Quotes from the UH Coaches

Praising Tyler, JJ said:
"I always knew Tyler can play. I'm proud of him." (HA, LH)

"I've always known, believed he can play. He proved tonight he's a pretty good quarterback. I'm proud of him and happy he had the success." (HSB)

"I always known that he could play. I'm proud of him and happy he had this success." (AP)

About how he had thought that Colt would play more in the 2nd half, but Tyler threw a TD while they were re-taping Colt's ankle so he could sit Colt the rest of the game, JJ said:
"Yeah, I did think (Brennan) was going to play in the second half. It swelled up when they were re-taping it and I thought he'd be out just a couple plays. Two plays later Tyler threw a strike, I thought, we'll go that way after that." (HSB)

Praising USU's head coach, JJ said:
"Brent (Guy, the Utah State coach) does a good job and his kids play really hard. He's had a tough two years. But he does something right because they still play for him." (HSB)

Praising Utah State's offense, JJ said:
"They (Aggies) did enough to give themselves a chance to win. ... Utah State should have beat UNLV and San Jose State. Utah State has moved the ball against everyone this season." (LH)


About how Colt started the 2nd half to see how his ankle would respond, QB Coach Dan Morrison said:
"He felt at halftime that he could go. But he tweaked (the ankle) again." (HA)

About how Utah State attacked Colt's ankle, Morrison said:
"In the second half, a lot of players were trying to wrap that leg." (HA)

Happy to see the Tyler from practice show what he can do in this game, Morrison said:
"We — those of us who see him every day in practice — know what Tyler can do. It was good to see Tyler be the player we know he is." (HA)

"He was real confident in his throws. He just had a good feel for where people were and what he needed to do. He slipped a little bit on the last one, but he ended up with some big yardage, touchdowns and completions." (HA)

Ferd wrote in HA: "Why did UH head coach June Jones stay with Graunke through the struggles against Charleston Southern? How come Jones permitted the long leash two weeks ago when the more vocal but unknowing segment demanded Brennan's return? Because he knew there would come a game like last night when the Warriors would need Graunke. And they'd need him to pull them through when Brennan wasn't an option. And, you suspect, because knowing the resilience of Graunke, he figured this is what could happen."


Praising their defense in the 1st half, GM said:
"I was pleased with the first half inasmuch as, we knew they had Jackson, we knew they had (receiver) Kevin Robinson, and we held them to two field goals. It was a win, but it wasn't exactly as I wanted everything to happen." (HSB)

"We stopped them two times within the 20, then we got (Josh Leonard's) turnover. Some guys had to step up with Mike (Lafaele) not being in there, but we weren't as consistent as I'd like to see." (HSB)


Praising Malcolm Lane, Dennis McKnight said:
"He's a great one. He's a great returner and he's becoming a great receiver. Speed kills and he's got great speed and great instincts. He's only a sophomore and he's going to get better and better." (HA)

About how they wanted to return a kickoff for a TD after Utah State had one against them, McKnight said:
"A great player (Robinson) is going to make plays and he got one on us. This is a prideful group and we got one back." (HSB)


Quotes from the UH Players

About aggravating his ankle injury right before halftime, Colt said:
"I hurt my ankle right before the end of the first half. It has been frustrating the last couple of weeks." (SBR)

"My ankle got tucked up underneath. I just tweaked the same ankle (that was already hurt). It just hurt really bad at first." (HA)

"My (right) ankle got caught when I got tackled, and I sprained it again. There's a sharp pain in a specific spot on my ankle. It's sore, but it's part of football." (HA)

"The bad one got turned over and a bunch of sharp pain. It swelled up, but it's not detrimental. I'll be back." (HSB)

About how Igboeli was the USU player who gave him his hardest hit last season (knocked the wind out of him) and was on the hits and reinjured his ankle in this game, Colt said:
"That's football. It's a strange game." (HSB)

About starting the 2nd half, Colt said:
"They put a brace on me (at halftime) and tightened up the tape, but that just made it more aggravated. I got the brace off, and we let Tyler go in, and he did a good job. We knew we'd be fine." (HA)

Frustrated with his ankle injury but comforted by their record, Colt said:
"It's been frustrating the last couple of weeks -- feeling not right. [But] we're 6-0 and we're rolling and I'm fine with that." (AP)

About how it is tough to go undefeated, Colt said:
"It's tough to win 12, 13 games with no blemish. The moment we relax we're in that situation." (HSB)

About how JJ warned them that Utah State would play them tough, Colt said:
"They just played tough. Coach (June) Jones felt that these guys would rise up and play a couple of good games this season. And we would be one of them because we were ranked and we had so much going for us." (DN)

About how he didn't need to return to the game because Tyler was playing so well, Colt said:
"I definitely could've pushed it, but we were waiting to see how the game played out. When Tyler came in and was doing really well, it was best to sit me down and rest up my ankle." (HA)

Praising Tyler, Colt said:
"Tyler is a fighter. We had confidence in him." (HA)

"What he did was big for the team — and for him." (HA)

"I know he had a rough outing the last time he was here. To come back in front of the fans, to do what he did, shows a lot. It reminds me of the Tyler we remember from last year. It's great confidence for this year, and even more for next year." (HA)


About how he knew he might be going in when it took a long time for Colt to get up late in the 1st half, Tyler said:
"Colt is a tough guy and when it took that long, I knew it was time to step up and help the team. It was my time." (HA)

About entering the game at the end of the first half, Tyler said:
"I didn't have a chance to warm up or anything but I didn't need to. The adrenalin was pumping from the time I grabbed my helmet. The team needed me." (HA)

"I came in cold. That's not a big deal. That's how it has to be." (HA)

"I wasn't expecting to go in that early, but I was definitely mentally ready. I took my fare share of reps during the week. Lately, I have not been feeling like me, it is taking me 1-2 series to get going, but I got it going from the very first play." (SBR, LH)

"When Colt went down, there was kind of an aura in the stadium, like, 'Oh, no, we're only up (11) points. What are we going to do?' " (HA)

"I always feel like I'm going to be ready. I have to be." (HSB)

"I felt real comfortable. I didn't get a chance to warm up or anything but I took over where Colt left off." (AP)

About the crowd support he received in this game, Tyler said:
"It felt good. If I can get the crowd back on my side, that's awesome." (HA)

"If I get (the fans') support, that's awesome. But I've got more to prove, trust me. I didn't start off strong the last time. I wanted to prove a point to everybody I could do it. I wanted to show myself, most of all." (HA)

About how he tried a QB sneak at the goal line on 1st down, ignoring Colt's suggestion to run the option, Tyler said:
"I told him, 'gimme the ball, gimme the QB sneak, I can get the ball in.' And, uh, didn't work. So we ended up running the option he wanted to run." (HA)

About how he knew that the review would credit him with a TD, Tyler said:
"I knew I was in. If they were going to review it, they were going to look at the replay. I was confident they would call the right thing." (HA)

About how he wants to lead the team when Colt can't play, Tyler said:
"If Colt can't make it, I want to lead our team." (SLT)

"If Colt can't make it. I want to lead our team to victory." (HA)


About his 36 yard reception on Tyler's first play, Bess said:
"(Graunke) felt confident I had my man beat. He gave me an opportunity." (HA)

Praising Tyler, Bess said:
"He practiced hard this week. He stepped in when the time counted. He executed." (HA)


Praising Tyler, Hawthorne said:
"We executed very well and the receivers were just amazing. I knew I was over the goal line and that play gave us a lot of momentum heading into the second half." (SBR)

"Tyler didn't skip a beat, he was amazing. He put a smile on everyone's face, I'm excited for him." (HA)

About his 9 catches for 116 yards, Hawthorne said:
"Don't give me the credit. Tyler played great. I'm very impressed by the way Tyler played. I'm always impressed by the way Colt plays, but I think he (Graunke) has a lot to build on and he's moving in the right direction." (HA)

"Don't give me any credit. Tyler came in and played amazing. It wasn't me." (AP)


About his huge stats (7 receptions for 130 yards), Jason Rivers said:
"I was a little surprised about how many yards I had, they were pretty spread out throughout the game. We are not where we should be to achieve our goals, there is room for improvement." (SBR)

About his 72-yard TD play, Rivers said:
"The DB took a bad angle. I was able to stay in bounds and run down the sideline. I'm almost back." (HA)

"My form was all ugly, but I just wanted to score. Two-week drought, man, I just wanted to get in the end zone." (HSB)

Happy to be back on the field, Rivers said:
"It was a relief to get back out there with the guys, get the chemistry working." (HSB)

Asked if they played up to their capabilities, Rivers said:
"Probably not. There's always room for improvement. I'm sure everybody feels the same way. We kind of came out slow on offense." (HSB)


About his 20-yard TD on a shovel pass, David Farmer said:
"I was kind of shocked to hear the call myself. They blitzed the corner, and so that's what you hope for. It was just wide open. I've been telling people I've been getting faster. I'm glad it's finally on film." (HA)


About the runs by QB Leon Jackson III, DT Fale Laeli said:
"That quarterback was running around a lot. It was hard to get off the blocks, especially since they were holding." (HA)


About how he had to sit out of the game, Michael Lafaele said:
"The coaches didn't want me to play. I was proud of our guys. They came out here and kicked butt." (HA)

Praising Amani Purcell for forcing the big fumble and Josh Leonard for recovering it, Lafaele said:
"Utah State's a real good team, despite their record. Josh and Amani stayed focused, made that play, and came up with it." (HSB)


About his 20-tackle game, Sol Elimimian said:
"I missed about five or six of them. It was easy to make plays because the d-line did a good job." (HA)

Unhappy with how they played in the game, Sol said:
"Every night we've got to shut guys down. That was too much. ... I think guys were kind of gambling. There were a lot of missed tackles out there. We didn't play the type of game we're able to play." (HSB)

Praising Utah State, Sol said:
"They're a scrappy team. They're not going to try to knock you out, they're going to try to hit you with a lot of jabs. They tried to get us to make some errors, and we made some errors." (HSB)

"Teams like this are hard to beat. They have nothing to lose coming into this game. I think we may have underestimated how much they wanted it." (AP)


Unhappy with how they have up 37 points, Adam Leonard (12 tackles in the game) said:
"We didn't play well. Any time a team like this puts up 37 points on us, we didn't play well. They made big plays. They're a good ball team. They fought to the finish, but we didn't play to our standards tonight." (HA, SLT)


About knocking Utah State's QB out of the game, Jake Patek said:
"That's just what the coaches called, and we went out and executed. Knowing that (Utah State quarterback Leon Jackson III) would boot out, and come high. That's not the way I play (to hurt someone), but that's the way the cookie crumbled." (HSB)


About his fumble recovery, Josh Leonard joked that he wanted to be nominated for WAC Defensive Player of the Week:
"I'm trying to (get the recognition), we'll see. Doing the best I can right now, but (Adam's) a hell of a player." (HSB)


About his 54-yard TD, Dan Kelly said:
"It was a good solid hit and I got a hold of it. Just another day at work." (HSB)

About how he has extended his kicking during his Warrior career, Dan Kelly said:
"When you do get opportunities in this offense, it's going to be from long range and you're going to have to have a leg on it. I didn't come in having a long leg and I think that restricted the number of attempts I had when I was a freshman and sophomore. Now that my leg has grown, Coach Jones has seen the progress and he has more and more confidence in me every day." (HA)

About how Jason Elam and Justin Ayat share the UH records with 56 and 55 yard FGs each, Kelly said:
"They're both great kickers so it's an honor to be mentioned alongside them. This is my job and I'm going to do it until it's time to do the next thing." (HA)

Note: Kelly said that his FG range is 57 or 58 yards. His 54 yard FG in this game could easily have been good from 58 yards.

About Robinson's kickoff retutn for a TD against them, Kelly said:
"We had big breakdowns, obviously. We didn't execute on that certain play and when you don't execute against a returner and a return team like that, they will punish you. If you kick the ball to him you're asking for trouble, he's a phenomenal returner." (HSB)

About the brief scuffle at the end of a kickoff with USU's Aaron Lesue said:
"I'm a football player, I'll get hit when I need to get hit, but there's a difference between getting blocked and getting tackled. You can't let that stuff get to you. If I had let it get to me I might have missed my field goal. I'm a football player and I'll get hit. I'm not going to shy away from it." (HSB)


About his kick return for a TD, Lane said:
"When I picked it up, I didn't know where anybody was because I had my head down. I just ran straight and then the kickoff team for Utah State broke down. They surrounded me, so I went inside and I saw a little crease to the left and I just hit it out." (HA)

"As soon as I picked it up everybody from their team just broke down too far away from the ball. So I just took it to the middle, made a little move and I saw a crease out of the corner of my eye and just hit it." (HSB)

"When I saw the guy on my right so far away, I knew I had it. It's the guys up front who open up those holes and all I have to do is run it through. They're the ones who do all the hard work and grind it every day." (HA)

Happier about this return for a TD than his return TD vs. UNC, Lane said:
"I was a lot more pleased about this one than the one I had in the first game of the season. This one meant a lot more. We were down and it put us ahead and gave us the momentum of the football game." (HSB)

About being tackled by the kicker after a 37-yard return in the 3rd quarter, Lane said:
"That was really irritating. Knowing I only had one man to beat — that hurts. After I returned that kickoff for a touchdown, I felt invincible. But after getting tackled by that guy, I realized that I wasn't invincible." (HA)

About how his two big returns helped make up for his rough day at WR, Lane said:
"I really didn't do much on the offensive end. But I'm glad I was able to contribute in some way tonight." (HA)


About their blocking on their kickoff return team, Brashton Satele said:
"We take a personal pride in all of our special teams, we don't want anyone touching him." (HSB)

About what he thought when Lane ran by him, Brashton said:
"Just keep on running and give him a high five." (HSB)


Quotes from the Utah State

About how they needed to convert on their drives instead of settle for FGs, head coach Brent Guy said:
"You got to score touchdowns to play with Hawaii, you can't kick field goals." (SBR)

"We did some good things. But we still need to get touchdowns when we get in the red zone. We can't be settling for field goals." (SLT)

Guy talked about a common problem with teams that have been losing--they play well for awhile:
"but when something big happens to us, we disintegrate. You got to score touchdowns to play with Hawaii, you can't kick field goals. They had about eight big plays that killed us." (AP)

About how UH scored in bunches, Guy said:
"We did not want to get into a scoring fest, but we had a letdown and that's what ended up happening. They scored 42 of their 52 points in two of the quarters." (HSB)

"We didn't want to get into a scoring-fest with the big plays. In two quarters we gave up 42 of the 52 points, and that's what we need to get better at." (DN)

"We need to fight through those bad quarters. We come out and play pretty good, but then one bad thing happens to us. We can’t disintegrate. ... But Hawaii has a very good football team." (LH)

About the big plays they gave up to UH, Guy said:
"They (Warriors) had eight big plays that killed us. Trying to tackle those receivers in the open field is tough." (LH)

About how they kept trying to correct their mistakes on D, Guy said:
"We just kept making the same mistakes. We were trying to correct the guys. They ran the same plays with Colt. They just executed." (LH)

About how they achieved their goal of a 35-25 minute time of possession advantage, Guy said:
"We knew we had to posses the football and run the clock on these guys and keep Colt off the field. We didn’t want to get into a scoring fest like that, though." (LH)

About how they have to cut down on their turnovers, Guy said:
"We've got to be a low-risk offense as far as turnovers, and another killer was when we fumble the football. We can't give up the ball when we're driving it. We came out and did some good things in the first quarter, and we came in here knowing that we had to possess the football, run the clock on these guys, and keep Colt off the field." (DN)

About how they need a balanced offense to win, Guy said:
"We need to have a balanced offense to win. We need about 200 passing and 200 rushing." (LH)

"If we can get 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing then we'll have some chances to win some football games down the road. We did some things better, but we made too many mistakes in the second and third quarters. We didn't finish in the red zone, and you've got to score touchdowns to play with Hawaii. You can't kick field goals." (DN)

Praising Kevin Robinson, Guy said:
"Kevin Robinson is obviously one of the best all-purpose guys I've ever been around. He has good hands and good speed in the open field. He's the type of guy that makes other players around him better." (HSB)

“Kevin Robinson made some big plays for us. We need to get him some more help, though.” (LH)

"We had Robinson make some big plays, but we needed to get him some more help. He needs to continue to make big plays for us because he makes the guys around him play better." (DN)

Praising the play of his QB Jackson, Guy said:
"Leon did a good job. He only made a couple of bad throws, and he also ran tough. He was able to pull it down and run for some first downs that were very important for us." (HSB)

"Leon did a good job. ... For the most part he threw the ball pretty well. He ran the ball tough and got some first downs. He is executing and not giving up the ball." (LH)


Wishing they had executed their game plan better, QB Leon Jackson said:
"We executed and did what we needed to do to give us a chance. There are things we should have done better. It just sucks that we didn’t come out on top." (LH)

"Coach (Guy) did a great job getting us prepared and ready to execute. The seniors did a good job of getting everyone ready to go at practice. We did what we needed to do to give ourselves a chance, we just didn't come out on top." (DN)

About his 77-yard TD pass to Kevin Robinson, Leon Jackson said:
"(Hawaii's) cornerback (Gerard Lewis) was undercutting Kevin on an earlier route, but I overthrew him. So basically, we took advantage of him cheating." (HSB)

"Coach Dickey did a good job of seeing and calling the play. ... We just took advantage of something we saw." (LH)

Praising Kevin Robinson, Jackson said:
"He's extraordinary. We've been together since we were freshmen. We feed off each other, and he's always going out there giving 100 percent and I know if I throw it up, he's going to go up and get it. As a quarterback, you've gotta love that. He's one of my best friends and a dang good player." (HSB)


About his 100-yard kickoff return for a TD, Kevin Robinson said:
"They blocked and they opened up holes. When you open up holes, good things happen." (HA)

About his TDs, Robinson said:
"On the kickoff return, the coaches did a great job with the scheming. On the first (return of the night), I went the wrong way and the coaches talked to me about that. We had all the right matchups that we wanted. The coaches said that (if things go as planned) then all I'd have to do is beat their safety or their kicker. I took that as a challenge. On the touchdown pass, it was a designed play, an out and up. Their cornerbacks were jumping the house pretty hard. After the catch, I was just running to try and get there." (HSB)

About how they lobbied their coaches to throw the ball more, Robinson said:
"We told the coaches that we should be throwing the ball more. Let's throw the ball and let's go deep, we told them. They believed in us and let us do it. We knew they (the Warriors) were going to score a lot. Our motto was that we gotta score a lot, too. We reached our goal of scoring 30 points, but we didn't hold them." (HSB)

About how their offense is doing well, Robinson said:
"The offense is playing real well. ... Hopefully we can just keep getting better from here on." (LH)

"We played a hard game and gave it our all. We showed we are a good offense — that we can drive down the field against any team and that we can compete. We did that and came up with some points. The offense was running real well. We got good field position, and we were able to do some good things with that to score. We threw the ball a lot more than normal, and we threw deep. All week in practice we've been harpin' on finishing drives and getting it into the red zone." (DN)

About how their mistakes hurt them in this game, Robinson said:
"We played hard again, but like we have been doing we just made a couple of mistakes at crucial times that gave them momentum. We played a good team, and they are ranked for a reason." (LH)


Asked if their defense suffered a letdown when Colt went out, safety Caleb Taylor said:
"I wouldn’t say we had a letdown. We know he (Graunke) is probably not as good as Colt, but he came out and made plays. I don’t think we were expecting him to go deep on the first play, but he did." (LH)