UH-Utah State Pregame Quotes

HA = Honolulu Advertiser
HSB = Honolulu Star-Bulletin
HJ = Herald-Journal (Utah)
DN = Deseret News

Quotes from UH

About how a coach will yell out "fire drill" sometime during the first 20 minutes of practice, Myron Newberry said:
"It gets you going in the morning." (HA)

HA Note: "A fire drill is a discipline in which the defense practices interception returns. It is a choreographed response to a chaotic situation, with the defensive linemen blocking one way, a defensive back targeting a receiver, and the returner running a planned route."


About how the fire drill has led to their TDs on defense, Newberry said:
"We work on that every day. That's why we get a lot of touchdowns on defense just from that drill." (HA)

HA Note: "This season, the Warriors have four interception returns for touchdowns, including two in last week's 48-20 victory over Idaho. They are averaging 28.7 yards per interception return."


About how he first implemented fire drills at Miami, when he realized that offenses were down emotionally after INTs, GM said:
"We felt offenses were a little relaxed at that point, and they were upset with themselves. It was a mental point." (HA)


About how he replaced Rich Miano as the QB on fire drills because he throws harder, scout team QB Jake Santos said:
"They wanted somebody to throw it hard. Coach Miano doesn't get the job done. They teased him about it." (HA)


Impressed with the receiving skills of their DBs, Santos said:
"They catch it with their hands. They never let it get to the chest. When we do the (fire) drills, I try to make it tough on them. I throw the ball hard. I try to make them stretch out as far as they can, and hopefully give them a good look. They do a good job." (HA)


About how they have been working on getting yards after the catch, Hawthorne said:
"There are two types of receivers. When some receivers catch the ball, the play is over. When others catch it, the play is starting. We don't want to be 'possession' receivers. We want to make plays." (HA)


About working on increasing his YAC, Hawthorne said:
"I'm going to try to turn it up." (HA)


About going back to right wideout with Rivers starting at left wideout in this game, Lane said:
"Everything feels a little more natural. I know people don't think it should be that much of a difference. But the balls are coming off different angles. You have to turn your head a different way." (HA)


About how he's planning to play with his right hamstring injury, Michael Lafaele said:
"I'm used to it." (HA)

"It's not that bad." (HA)


About being more comfortable at right DT (which he will play when Lafaele is out of the game), Fale Laeli said:
"When I'm on the right, I push off on my good knee. It's way more comfortable." (HA)


About playing alongside his best friend Lafaele, Laeli said:
"Playing next to him is an honor. He's one of the greatest d-tackles. He's the man. Playing next to him is a big opportunity. I always learn from him." (HA)


About Monteilh, who will take Mouton's roles as well as continue what he was doing before, GM said:
"I like him a lot. He's a very smart player. I like him because he's played corner and he's played safety. We do a lot of things back there. We can roll him back as a safety or we can play him in man coverage. Strategy wise, he gives us a lot of flexibility." (HA)


About how they have to play to their standards, no matter what their opponent is, Dennis McKnight said:
"Not being cliche, but we have to worry about ourselves, play hard and take care of business. That's what we try to instill in our guys." (HA)


About how they can't take USU for granted, Bess said:
"You can't take any team for granted. A lot of (favored) teams did that to us last year, and we ended up beating them. We definitely don't want to fall into that trap. We know they're coming after us. If they can knock us off, that'll make their season. Every team has that mentality. We want to go in there as if they were ranked and try to knock them off." (HA)


About how USU has nothing to lose, John Estes said:
"They're 0-5 and they have nothing to lose, and we're ranked. They'll try to come down here and take us on. It's a big game for them." (HA)


About the daring tactic that USU used last year (7 man rush, 1-on-1 for the DBs on WRs), JJ said:
"Nobody did that to us before. They have one of the best defensive coaches around. He had a good defensive game plan. I'm sure he'll have something creative for this week." (HA)

"We still made it work and we still made plays. Our players really executed well in those situations. Brent's a good football coach, a real good defensive coach and he'll have his guys ready to play this week." (HSB)

Praising USU's defensive game plan last year, JJ said:
"They had a bye before us and they did a lot of homework. During the game they had some keys that we have and they were the first team to identify them." (HSB)


About their adjustment vs. USU's 7-man rush last year, Colt said:
"We were able to make plays, and because they were taking a shot, anytime we made a play it was usually a pretty big one. They left a lot of man-to-man coverage, so if you break the line of scrimmage, you have a chance to score." (HSB)


About starting vs. USU after missing the last 6 quarters due to his lower-back tightness, Rivers said:
"It was difficult dealing with a back injury. The doctors told me early on it was nothing to worry about. I had to get my core strength back up there. Now it's fine." (HA)


About how their team is focused, JJ said:
"These kids are pretty focused. They know what's at stake. They practice hard every day and they play hard every game. They know they can't have one slip-up." (HA)


About how JJ told them that USU is better than last year, Colt said:
"Coach Jones feels that compared to last year they have way better athletes. This year they're losing games, but at least they're in the game. There's no doubt if we don't come out and do what we're supposed to do they can make a game out of it. Basically we just need to go out there and prepare for everything and anything and just execute." (HSB)


About their 5-0 record, JJ said:
"We're making enough plays to win games." (HSB)


Quotes from Utah State

Feeling they will beat UH, LB De'von Hall said:
“They (Warriors) are very talented. We have a good game plan for them on offense and defense. We just have to do things to take away the things they like to do. ... We’re going into this to win a game.” (HJ)


About how they have to score a lot of points to have a chance to win, WR Kevin Robinson said:
“Hopefully, we can put up a lot of points, just like they do. If not, it probably won’t be in our favor. Football is weird, so we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens when we go out there and play.” (HJ)

"Hopefully we can put up a lot of points, just like they do. If not, it will probably won't be in our favor of winning. Football is a weird game, so we're just going to have to wait and see what happens when we go out there and play." (DN)


About how they have to prevent yards after the catch, Hall said:
“That’s the big thing, we can’t let them get rolling. They are going to throw the ball and catch the ball, but as soon as they catch the ball, we need to make sure and have a hat on them and make sure they feel it. Colt is a great quarterback, they have great receivers and great offensive system, but we have to do everything we can to disrupt that system and not let them get into a rhythm.” (HJ)


About how they have to prevent the big plays by UH's offense, head coach Brent Guy said:
“A year ago they (Warriors) had 10 big plays, totaling 360 yards. Those are the type of plays that give Hawaii the points that they get that we can’t allow to happen in this game.” (HJ)


About how they have to forget how UH blew them out in the past few games, Robinson said:
“We can’t dwell on what has happened in the past. We have to move ahead and treat this as something new.” (HJ)


About how they have to do better than their 24.3% 3rd down conversion rate, Guy said:
“We got to hit a lot higher third-down percentages. To do that, we need to get in more third-and-four, third-and-fives and convert, in order to stay on the field.” (HJ)

About how UH's D got his attention, Guy said:
“In the past, it has all been about the offense at Hawaii. Now the defense is making plays.” (HJ)

Not happy with their special teams play last week vs. Utah, Guy said:
“We even played better at Oklahoma in special teams than a week ago. ... We’ve got to get our special teams back to where they were. They were one of our better performers through the first four games.” (HJ)

"We've got to get back to what we do best on special teams and that is get ourselves field position and make them play a long field and not a short field like Utah was able to do in the second quarter when they got all those points." (HSB)

HJ Note: "Then there is special teams, where Robinson has played a big part in the return game. He currently ranks second nationally in punt returns (22.2) and 31st in kickoff returns (27.6) along with teammate Aaron Lesue (27.6). Guy was not pleased with special teams after last week’s 34-18 loss at Utah."


About how they were able to practice at Aloha Stadium, unlike when they played in Hawaii in 2005, Guy said:
“I thought that was better than the first trip two years ago. Getting the kids in the stadium helped a lot. We have about half the guys that have not done this trip. ... We got some work done.” (HJ)


About the 4-hour time difference between Hawaii and Utah, Guy said:
“We came a day earlier than normal to try and get their body clock reset a bit, get on Hawaii time." (HJ)


About how Colt has thrown a lot more INTs this season than he did before they played them last year, Guy said:
"A year ago when we played them (in Week 9), he had not thrown an interception when he got to us. This year he's already thrown six of them and five of them were last game, so that's something we'll have to try to build on and use as motivation for our kids in that we've got to get the ball turned over." (HJ)