Pregame quotes from the local papers

About Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (The Swamp), JD said:
"It's pretty amazing. This thing holds 90,000 people. I have a feeling there will be a lot of chomping (motions by Gator fans), and not too many people cheering for the Warriors. It's very impressive, and there's nobody here right now. Imagine what it's going to be like when it's full." (HA)

About walking through the stadium yesterday, Mack said:
"This was just showing them the stadium." (HA)

When asked if he would have first-day butterflies, Mack said:
"This isn't my first luau." (HA)

About choosing Alexander to start at QB, Mack said:
"We went with the guy who's going to give us the best chance to win. And (Alexander) has been getting the most reps in the last two weeks. That was important." (HA)

About choosing Brent 2 weeks ago as the starter, Mack said:
"at that point, Brent was better. But Greg was hurting then. His feet were bothering him. Now he's fine. And Brent has been playing good. He'll be the next guy in the game." (HA)

About how they play for and represent Hawaii, Mack said:
"We play for Hawai'i and the people of Hawai'i. That's who I feel responsible for. I have to have these guys ready to play. This is a big challenge. There are a lot of brick walls to get through. But I believe in my players and I believe in my coaches." (HA)

About how he's talked with his players about how they represent Hawaii, Mack said:
"I've said, over and over, that we're playing for the State of Hawai'i. I told the players they have two names on their jerseys: the name on the back is theirs and their family's and the name on the front is Hawai'i — and we play for both. It is important for us to play our hearts out every game because of who we represent. That's why we have to give our best effort each week. All the time." (HSB)

About how they won't schedule many games on the East Coach again, JD said:
"I won't rule it out completely, but we're only going to do home-and-home (series) and we're not going to do them often. It has to make sense for us. That means it would be a program that would be good for us to play and that would help us draw people when they came to Hawaii." (HSB)

About how they won't travel to the Eastern time zone again, Mack said:
"I think there's enough teams on the West Coast and the Colorados (scheduled to play four games against UH starting in 2010) and those people that I probably wouldn't come out here and spend all that money." (HSB)

HSB Note: "From a financial perspective, Donovan said UH will net between $300,000 and $350,000 by playing the Gators."

About The Swamp, Mack said:
"It's a really nice stadium, but I've been in big stadiums and so have these kids. It'll be a college game-day experience and that's going to be exciting for everybody. But I don't even know how big a crowd is when you're coaching because you're focused in on what's going on." (HSB)

About the 3,000 or so UH supporters attending the game, JD said:
"I think it's awesome that they made the trip here to show their support and it'll mean a lot to the players and coaches." (HSB)