HSB = Honolulu Star-Bulletin
UH = University of Hawaii Athletics website
AP = Associated Press
LCD = Log Cabin Democrat
AB = Arkansas Business
UCA = University of Central Arkansas website
------------------------ Quotes from the Hawaii Coaches---------------------------
Proud about the way the Warriors came back in this game, Mac said:
"I'm very proud of the way we battled and fought back tonight. Central Arkansas is a very good team and I have a lot of respect for them. I knew this would be a tough game when we scheduled them We have a lot of players who don't give up. We talked about it at halftime and made some adjustments. I'm proud of their effort and the way they responded in the second half." (UH, AP)
"I'm proud of how we finished. Not how we started, how we finished. We can build on that." (HSB)
"I'm real proud of how we finished the game." (HA)
About how they had to win this game, Mac said:
"This was a must win, we had to win this game. We knew they were a good football team ... I congratulated the coach afterward. But the thing is we're just happy the guys came back. It showed a lot of character and it's something we can build on." (HSB)
About how they won despite their turnovers, Mac said:
"Tonight we lost the turnover battle, but still pulled out the win. That's a good sign, we didn't do that last year. I'm also happy about the lack of penalties. We only committed two for the game, which is something to be really proud of." (UH, AP)
"It's a great sign. (At halftime) I told the guys, the difference in this game is we have three turnovers and we haven't gotten any. It's the biggest key in football. To only be behind by one touchdown was a miracle. I knew if we were that close and we played that bad in the turnover game we would win the game." (HSB)
About how they wanted a TD, not a FG on their game-winning drive, Mac said:
"We had to score. We didn't want a field goal, we wanted a touchdown." (AB)
About how he had to yell at the team during halftime, Mac said:
"We had a lot of wide eyes, quite honestly, in the first half. At halftime, I had to raise my voice a little bit. I'm really proud of how we finished, not how we started, but how we finished." (AB)
Praising their defense that played 22 new players, Mac said:
"Our defense really stepped up in the second half. We had 22 new players on the defensive side, and it took them a little to get their game speed down. But we made adjustments and they came out strong in the second half." (UH)
"We played with 22 new guys on defense tonight. They got reps, they've gonna get better and we're gonna get better next week. I was very pleased with the adjustments they made, I think we really improved in the second half as a football team." (HA)
"We had a bunch of new little puppies out there, but they learned a lot today," (HSB)
About how this was a good win, Mac said:
"Overall this is a good win. It's good to get a victory before you head on the road. We will watch the film and get some good practices in. You always improve the most between the first week and the second week." (UH)
About how UCA's offense had success in the first half, Mac said:
"They were hurting us in the first half." (HA)
About their how their defense adjusted to UCA during the game, Mac said:
"They're a talented team and we had a key on them where we started checking coverages. We have a smart football team. ... I'm really proud of our team because we made a pretty complicated adjustment." (HSB)
"I'm pretty proud of our team. We made a pretty complicated adjustment. ... We got out of it because of the intelligence of our defensive team." (HA)
HA Note: "The Warriors noticed that when the Bears spread their offense with four receivers, quarterback Robbie Park would throw a screen underneath the defensive coverage. When the Bears aligned with three receivers to the same side of a formation, it usually signaled a bubble screen or inside run."
About losing just 5 yards on just two penalties during the game, Mac said:
"And no personal fouls." (HSB)
About dealing with refs differently this year, Mac said:
"I'm doing a little thing where I've learned all the officials' names and I'm very polite to them and call them by their names. I think I'll continue to do that." (HSB)
Relieved about the win, Rich Miano said:
"Thank God for the win." (HA)
Praising their offense, Rolo said:
"The offense should be proud of themselves, how they stuck together. Now, that first half was borderline embarrassing, the mistakes we were making. Simple things that shouldn't have happened. Luckily, we came out with a win. You gotta respect these Bears, coming out here, giving us all we could handle." (HA)
----------------------- Quotes from the Hawaii Players ----------------------
About the win, Greg Alexander said:
"We got lucky." (HA)
"We got the win. It wasn't pretty but we will take it. We came back in the second half, but we still have a ways to go. This game will be a learning experience and we can take a lot from it." (UH)
''We got the win. It wasn't pretty but we will take it. We came back in the second half, but we still have a ways to go. This game will be a learning experience and we can take a lot from it.'' (AP)
About how they can cut out the turnovers, Alexander said:
"Absolutely. The fumbles, put those on me. The pick, that's on me, too." (HSB)
About how their offense doesn't need to result in turnovers, Alexander said:
"The offense is not really designed to take shots downfield every play. It's more about ball control, high-percentage passes, and you take a shot downfield once in a while. There should be no turnovers." (HSB)
Criticizing his play in the first half (two fumbles and an INT), Alexander said:
"The whole first half I guess I had my head up my (butt). We've got a ways to go and we'll learn from it and we were lucky to get out of here with a 'W.' " (HSB)
Unsure why he ran so much this game, Alexander said:
"I have to look at the film. Some, I had gone on my own. I really can't tell you." (HA)
Alexander said that he thought on their last drive:
"We'd better (bleepin') complete this, otherwise ... I don't even want to know." (HA)
About taking over at their 26 yard line with 2:26 left in the game, Alexander said:
"Score. We knew we had to score." (HA)
About how they were going to score a TD, not a FG on that game-winning drive, Alexander said:
"Our job is to score touchdowns, and that's what we were going to do." (AB)
About his game-winning TD pass to Bradley, Alexander said:
"That's just how we drew it up." (HA)
About their struggles in the first half and the big plays Salas made in the second half, Alexander said:
"I don't know what happened in the first half, we just weren't hitting on all cylinders. I made some mistakes, which I'll correct. But we got things going in the second half and Greg [Salas] came up with some big plays." (UH, AP)
About the 66-yard catch-and-run that Salas had in their game-winning drive, Alexander said:
"Complete improv. I got flushed and he just ran with me and just scramble drill, he got it and made a great play on it." (HSB)
Praising Salas' big game (7 catches for 180 yards) and calling Salas his security blanket, Alexander said:
"He had a great game. That's kind of what we expect out of Salas. He does a great job for us, and came up big again tonight. He's a kind of
good security blanket to have." (HSB)
About their confidence that they would score on their last possession to win the game, Greg Salas said:
"We knew we could come back and score on that last possession. We had the confidence and we all looked at each other and knew we could do it." (UH)
"A lot of things went bad for us (early), but none of us really worried about it or stressed out. We knew we've been doing it all summer, all spring, all fall. So we stuck with it and we knew once we got rolling, we'd be on a roll." (HSB)
About his huge gain (66 yard catch-and-run) on their final TD drive, Salas said:
"Greg started scrambling and once he found me, I just thought go. It worked out and put us in great scoring position." (UH)
"It was tiring. It was a play I was supposed to come across the middle, but I saw Greg get (flushed) out of the pocket, so I broke my route off and went outside while he was scrambling. He hit me and it's history now. That's what happened." (HSB)
"I thought I had a DB behind me, so I tried to swerve. I would've stayed straight, looking back at it. Once I caught that ball, I wanted to get down the field into field-goal position." (HA)
"I thought there was a DB behind me. If I knew there was a linebacker behind me, I would have run straight. ... But we knew we could do it. That's why we worked so hard in the spring and summer. It was do or die, and we had to do it." (HA)
"When the quarterback starts scrambling, you have to go with it. I had to get with him. I came back." (HA)
Praising UCA, Salas said:
"They were a good team. They showed why they won 10 games last year. Great defense and they gave us a good, tough battle. We're going to need this kind of stuff to prepare for the rest of the season." (HSB)
About the fumble he lost inside the 5-yard-line with about 7 minutes left, Kealoha Pilares said:
"I thought I didn't have control. But I wasn't worried. With our offense, I knew we could come back." (HA)
About how they made adjustments to their offense at halftime, Pilares said:
"We were trying to force a lot of deep passes when they were playing deep. We knew we were much better than this and we just had to keep focusing on what we had to do." (AB)
About his game-winning TD catch, Rodney Bradley said:
"I don't know what to say; it was a nice position to catch my very first Division I TD. I guess the front side was covered because I was on the back side, probably the last option. I beat him pretty good on the post and Greg put the ball in a good place." (HSB)
"I can jump as high as the Lord allows me. My eyes got big. It really goes in slow motion, seriously. I just went up and made the catch." (HA)
About the slot receivers being targeted more this game, Bradley said::
"In this offense, anybody can get open. The slots were clicking, so we kept going to them." (HA)
About how they would have blown out UCA if they avoided turnovers, John Estes said:
"If we didn't turn the ball over, we win by 40-something. When you have that many turnovers, you usually lose." (HSB)
About the close game, Estes said:
"Hey, we wanted to make it close so the fans would want to come back." (HA)
About the importance of this game, with their next home game not for another 35 days, Estes said:
"We really needed to win this one." (HA)
About how UCA almost ran out the clock when they had the lead late in the 4th quarter, Estes said:
"I was looking at the clock. It was 6 minutes, then 4 minutes, then 3 minutes. I knew we could win if we got the ball back." (HA)
About Salas' 66-yard catch-and-run in their game-winning drive, Estes said:
"He could have scored but he's slow." (HA)
About how their OL improved as the game went on, Raphael Ieru said:
"We just had to buckle down. There was a lot of excitement starting for the first time. We were kind of on our own, so we had to become one, like we are in practice." (HSB)
Praising DE Larry Hart, LT Aaron Kia said:
"He's a great player and we knew he would keep coming at us all night. He was all over the place." (HA)
About how things were in the huddle on their final drive, Kia said:
"It was so intense you could slice it with a knife. We knew what we had to do." (HA)
Happy with the win, Kia said:
"A win's a win. It doesn't have to be pretty or a blowout. It still counts as a win." (HA)
About how their defense stepped up and shut down UCA in the second half, Blaze Soares said:
"I knew our defense would bounce back and step up. I thought we played good tonight and it was great to get back on the field and go against another opponent. In the second half we felt like they couldn't block us up front. Coach decided to mix in some blitzes and we came hard. It helped changed the momentum of the game." (UH, AP)
About how their defense (with a lot of new players) was nervous when the game started, Blaze said:
"There were a lot of new guys out there and we kind of started off slow because everyone was a little nervous. But, when we came out in the second half, everyone was alive again, because we got out those butterflies and everyone knew what they had to do and we did it." (HA)
About Corey Paredes coming in due to an injury to another Warrior and getting the sack and creating the fumble (recovered by Richard Torres) that ended the game, Blaze said:
"That was a big string of momentum — when a player steps up in a time of need. That won us the game right there. Those two guys came to play and they showed up." (HA)
About shutting down UCA's offense in the second half, Aaron Brown said:
"Mentally, we just decided that this wasn't going to happen in our house." (HA)
About how the final UCA play on offense was a fumble instead of an incompletion, Corey Paredes said:
"It was a fumble. His arm was still going up." (HA)
About their long road trip coming up, Corey Paredes said:
"I think it'll be good for us. It gives the team a chance to do some bonding and hopefully it'll be good for us." (HA)
About their long road trip, Rocky Savaiigaea said:
"It gives us a lot of time to fix what we didn't do well and make our adjustments." (HA)
About how the crowd helped their defense, Rocky said:
"It was crazy because once the crowd got into it, it pumped us up even more. (The fans) were making noise, chanting 'defense' and we felt it on the field. It was just great and we owe a lot to them." (HA)
About how he was nervous when the game started, Scott Enos said:
"At first I felt a little bit nervous, because I'd never played in front of that many people before. Some of those kickoffs, everyone's getting pretty rowdy out there. It's a little hard not to get my adrenaline flowing. I just needed to relax a little bit, and I think this game really helped me (do it)." (HSB)
--------------------- Quotes from the Central Arkansas Coaches ------------------------
Giving credit to UH for making the plays down the stretch, UCA head coach Clint Conque said:
"Make no mistake about it; we came here to win a football game. We're not accustomed to losing football games. Give credit to the University of Hawai'i. They made plays down the stretch. We lost our poise a little bit." (UH, AP, AB, UCA)
"Hawaii made the plays when they had to." (LCD)
Not accepting the suggestion about a moral victory, Conque said:
"We came here to win a football game. We're not accustomed to losing. What do we take from it? We're 0-1. Next question. There are no moral victories." (HSB)
Asked what they would take from this game, Conque said:
"What do we take from it? We're 0-1. Next question. There are no moral victories." (UH)
About how the D-IAA scholarship limitations showed up in the second half, Conque said:
"I was extremely proud of our team, the way we competed. The scholarships showed up in the second half, there's no question about that... But once again, give Hawai'i credit. They made the plays when they had to. They really dialed it up on us in the second half a little bit more." (UH)
About how they need to handle pressure better, Conque said:
"We've got to be able to play a little more gracefully when the pressure's on." (UH)
About how this game will prepare his team for the rest of the season, Conque said:
"I don't know that we'll play in a more hostile atmosphere. It got loud; it got loud down there a couple of times. There are some very positive things that we will take from it. Hopefully our quarterback will leave with a little bit of confidence, and guys that needed to step up for us, we have some true freshmen and guys that haven't played a lot for us in our program that made some plays tonight, and that experience will be invaluable." (UH)
Unhappy with their special teams play, Conque said:
"We didn't play very well at all in the kicking game… We gave up more punt return yards tonight than we did the entire season last year." (UH)
About how a player jumping offsides might have cost them the game, Conque said:
"We're third and two and got the look we wanted from the defense. Then, we jump offside. If we get the first down there, we go with the lead inside two minutes and I think the game's over. We jumped offside three times and the last one hurt." (LCD)
"We lost our poise. We got the look we wanted and we jumped offside. We get that first down, the game is inside 2 minutes and probably over." (HSB)
"If we had converted that third down instead of gotten the penalty, that would have been the ballgame. That penalty was huge." (UCA)
HSB Note: "The Bears had a chance to run out the clock. But faced with a key third and 2, right tackle Lane Freiward jumped offside, moving them 5 yards back. Park threw an incomplete pass on the next play and the Bears were forced to punt, giving Hawaii a chance to retake the lead."
About his advice to his players at halftime, Conque said:
"At halftime, I told our guys to finish the deal." (LCD)
About how they took advantage of UH's blitzes on their 86-yard drive (with 5 plays of 12 or more yards), Conque said:
"They really doubled up on their blitzes the second half and it presented us some opportunities for big plays." (LCD)
About how it took them an hour (with a police escort) to go from the Waikiki Marriott to Aloha Stadium, Conque said:
"I promise you, I've seen worse traffic in New York." (HSB)
About how the crowd of 33,298 hampered their communication, Conque said:
"I'm going to tell you what, it got loud down there. Our communication struggled, particularly when we were backed up. We need to play a little more gracefully when the pressure is on." (HSB)
-------------------- Quotes from the Central Arkansas Players ------------------------
About how losing a close game hurts, QB Robbie Park said:
"Knowing that you were that close, it hurts. We can build on this, but it still hurts." (HSB)
About being stopped on the final drive, Park said:
"That's what you want, you want the ball in your hands. They heat us up. They brought a blitz from the right side and it was good on them." (HSB)
About how he thought their final play on offense was an incomplete pass instead of a fumble, Park said:
"I thought my arm was going forward. I would have liked to have kept playing." (HA)
About how they couldn't recover from their poor start of the second half, RB Brent Grimes said:
"It's tough to lose a game like that. We played well in the first half and capitalized on some of their mistakes, but we came out kind of flat in the second half, had some three-and-outs and just couldn't recover after that." (HA)
About how they showed that they can compete with D-IA teams, Grimes said:
"We did make a statement to the country and our conference, that we can come out and compete with the big guys. People thought we would lose by 20 points but we came out and showed people that we could compete." (AB)
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