HSB = Honolulu Star-Bulletin
UH = University of Hawaii Athletics website
MN = Maui News
--------------------- Quotes from the UH coaches -----------------------------
Evaluating their play in this game, Mac said:
"I think they competed very well, started the game very well. They had some great drives. The defense played the best game they've played. I think what's happening is our newer, younger players have realized how to play the game. That was evident on the defensive side of the ball today. They got turnovers, they reached a lot of the goals that we really worked towards. I think we're getting stronger and stronger as a football team as our younger guys play more games. I was happy with Shane Austin, how he came in at a crucial time. Shane came in and did an unbelievable job. Took us down, scored, and made some first downs." (UH, HA)
''I think what's happening is our newer, younger players are starting to realize how to play the game." (MN)
Asked about the status of QB Bryant Moniz, Mac said:
"Moniz played a good game but he bruised his rib, hopefully it's not a crack. He just couldn't play." (UH)
About how Moniz will have X-rays taken of his ribs--Moniz could miss the rest of the season if his ribs are cracked, Mac said:
"He'll take X-rays and I'm going to be on my knees all night, because hopefully it's a bruise. He's a tough kid and we just have to hope for the best." (HSB)
''I'm going to be on my knees all night because hopefully it's a bruised rib." (MN)
''He's a tough kid. We just have to hope for the best.'' (MN)
Asked about UH's RBs, Mac said:
"They're working very well together. Leon's a senior and they're both really good friends. They both really run about the same. Leon was a starter because he blocked better and knew the protections better. Alex is right there now and I think they're both very close." (UH)
Informed after the game that Salas set a UH record with 16 catches, Mac said:
"Sixteen catches? And he dropped some, too. That's what immediately hit my mind. But 16 catches? That's awesome. He's amazing. He's had a big-time year." (HSB)
After saying that Salas getting 16 catches was "awesome", Mac praised Salas by saying:
"He's amazing. He's having a big-time year. He competes and he's quick and fast." (MN)
About how he was upset when he gave the halftime speech to the team despite their 17 point lead (NMSU outscored UH 6-0 in the 3rd quarter), Mac said:
"I was pretty hot at halftime. I thought we were letting New Mexico State stay with us and needed to pick it up in all phases." (HSB)
About how their film study showed that NMSU's defensive strength was their CBs, QB coach and play caller Nick Rolovich said:
"We knew we had to win on the inside. We were going to have to run the ball. And most of the passes were going to the inside (receivers)." (HA)
"We had to win on the inside. I knew it was going to be the inside guys having the catches this week. We tested (the cornerbacks) early and they were as advertised and we knew we had to keep it inside." (HSB)
About how he has been coaching Shane Austin, Rolo said:
"I'm pretty hard on him, always telling him to be ready. He's a fun-loving kid, so I stay on him to be ready at a moment's notice." (HA)
About how Austin gets enough reps in practice to be ready to play, Rolo said:
"He gets enough reps in practice. This is the second time where he's had to be (ready) on moment's notice, so I think he'll continue to be ready every day." (HA)
Praising how Bryant Moniz played in this game, Rolo said:
"Very good. I don't know how many dropped balls he had. His completion percentage is going to be where it shouldn't be. His accuracy was top-notch. It's there with the great ones." (HA)
Hoping that the injury to Moniz is not serious, Rolo said:
"Moniz played a good game, but he bruised his rib, hopefully it's not a crack." (HA)
About how they emphasize running DBs away from the play during their film sessions, Rolo said:
"Do you want to stand there and block for five seconds, or do you want to run (the cornerback) off?" (HA)
Praising how their wideouts have been unselfishly serving as decoys, Rolo said:
"It takes a lot of unselfishness by Kealoha and Jovonte. The past two games, they haven't been getting a lot of catches. But they're helping the team win." (HA)
About how Pilares and Taylor gather information when they are decoys to help future passes to their wideouts, Rolo said:
"It's two birds in one stone. They're not just decoys. They bring back information, on how the defense will react. We talk about it, and it helps them when we go to them. There's no such thing as a wasted down." (HA)
About the 22-yard FG that Scott Enos missed, Chris Tormey said:
"It was nothing mechanical, he just missed it. He pushed it right." (HA)
Asked if he thought about using backup kicker Brian Blumberg in the game, Tormey said:
"We didn't get to that point ... Scott Enos is our kicker." (HA)
---------------------------- Quotes from the UH players -------------------------------
About pulling himself from the game with sore ribs, Bryant Moniz said:
"I put myself out for the better of the team." (HA)
About his rib injury, Moniz said:
"It's not serious at all. It happened early in the game and I played with it. I'll be out there next week." (HSB)
Moniz said that his injury is "not serious at all" and that it:
"happened early in the game. I played with it and then it got worse. I pulled myself out for the better of the team." (HA)
Praising the job that Shane Austin did when he had to leave the game, Moniz said:
"He did a good job." (HA)
About how he had to enter the game quickly after the injury to Moniz, Shane Austin said:
"Stay ready, you're one play away from going in and that's definitely the case this season especially with the way quarterbacks have been going down. You always got to be ready, keep your head in the game because you never know when your name is going to be called. They told me pretty much last second, I didn't have much time to warm up. I got two passes in and I just jumped in there. It was fun." (UH)
"(The coaches) always tell you to be ready. You're one play away from going in, especially with how this season's been going, how the quarterbacks have been going down. It could be any game. Every game you have a chance to go in. Only thing is I wasn't warm or anything. I threw like two passes and I'm out there. But it's fun to get out there." (HA)
"You've always got to be ready; that's the mind-set you've gotta have. Especially this season, the way quarterbacks have been going down you have to stay ready and stay into the game. That's what I did and it paid off." (HSB)
"I think I threw, maybe, one warm-up toss." (HA)
"You always have to be ready for the chance." (HA)
About how Moniz told him about his sore ribs during halftime, Austin said:
"I remember at halftime, (Moniz) said, 'These rib protectors really don't do much.' I asked him if he was all right, said, 'I'm fine.' " (HA)
About how he entered the game when it was 3rd-and-2 and completed a 6-yard pass to Salas for a first down, Austin said:
"It felt good to get that first one out. Get those butterflies out ... now it's time to get to work." (HA)
Praising how QB coach Nick Rolovich has been preparing the QBs to play, Austin said:
"He does so many things to help get you ready in case that time comes. And this year, especially, you never know if you'll have to go in." (HA)
"He helps us is so many ways, so many little things that keep you sharp and get you ready for something like this where you have to be ready right away and think. He encourages you. Last week, he showed us film of his very first start, which was, shall we say, very rough (a 45-20 loss to Portland State in the 2000 opener). When you see that tape and know he was the guy who went on to set all kinds of records, you kind of think maybe you can do it, too." (HA)
About the 12-yard TD pass he threw to Salas on a sail pattern, Austin said:
"He set the safety real good. All I had to do was put it up for him. You know he's going to come down with it." (HA)
Told that Salas set the UH record with 16 receptions in the game, Austin said:
"Oh, nice. I'm glad to be a part of that. I had no idea. I was just trying to get the job done. He deserves it. He works hard for that." (HA)
"I had no idea at the time, I was just trying to move the ball down and he kept getting open. When he gets open like that ... he puts in the work. I'm happy for him and glad to be a part of it, too." (HSB)
Praising Shane Austin, Greg Salas said:
"He's a great quarterback. He does great things in practice. I knew he was prepared. It was a matter of him coming in and executing." (HA)
"I knew Shane was going to do a good job coming in. He came in and played well against Boise (22 of 36 for 174 yards, but three interceptions). A couple miscues in there, but he did a good job against the No. 4 team in the nation. We see him in practice all the time. He's a great quarterback, so we knew he had to come in and stay calm. It worked for him." (HA)
About breaking UH's single-game reception record, Greg Salas said:
"I dropped a lot of passes, that's what sticks in my mind the most. It's one thing I hate doing, but in the end I had a pretty good night. It's great to get the win, it's the most important thing. We're definitely confident, we believe in ourselves. Hopefully we can get hot here in the end and pull of five straight wins." (UH)
''I didn't even know. I don't think I even played that good of a game. I was dropping balls. It's nice to get the win and not have to worry about that.'' (MN)
About how Bess held the record that he broke, Salas said:
"Being mentioned with his name ... he's great, playing in the NFL. You know, to top him on something like that is really surreal to me, a little. It lets me know I'm doing an all-right job right now." (HSB)
Salas said that the record was nice but:
"the win is so much better." (HA)
About how the sail routes (diagonal patterns to the outside) were open for him, Salas said:
"They played a lot of man, and you just have to beat your man. You have to work to get open." (HA)
About the skinny post got a 41-yard reception on against a double team, Salas said:
"You have to time it. It was a great throw by Mo." (HA)
About how NMSU's defensive coverage left many of their routes open, Salas said:
"They played press man (coverage) a lot, so we knew we were going to have a lot of stuff out there for us to get open." (HSB)
About putting his nickname "CHECK MATE" under his eyes during the game, Salas said:
"I do play chess sometimes. It's just a name Coach Rolo (quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich) gave me. He gave all of us one. I just thought I'd rep it a little bit." (HSB)
About how his dropped passes motivated him during the game, Salas said:
"Dropping balls kind of motivates me a little bit to make a play. You don't want to hear those 'Awwww's in the crowd. You want to get the crowd rolling." (HSB)
After the game, Jon Medeiros told Kealoha Pilares to remove a waffle-sized band-aid from the back of his thigh, shouting:
"Just rip it!" (HA)
"You just have to rip it off. If you're too slow, it pulls the hair. I couldn't do it myself. I'm glad I had their help. That's what it's all about: teamwork." (HA)
About how their team has to work together to win, Jovonte Taylor said:
"Our goal was to win. We can't do that by ourselves. We have to work as a team. We did, and we won." (HA)
About how their wideouts need to do their job as decoys on many plays, Kealoha Pilares said:
"That's what you have to do. Some of the plays, you know you're not going to get the ball. But you have to make the sacrifice." (HA)
About how Salas responded well to his dropped passes, Pilares said:
"That's the kind of guy he is. He just talks a lot of stuff, and he knows he has to back it up. He will come back to make plays." (HSB)
About his 3-yard TD run to end their first drive of the game, Leon Wright-Jackson said:
"Everybody was doing their jobs and when I got the ball, my job was to get in the end zone. The linemen blocked, the receivers held their blocks and I got in — it was because of those guys, that's the reason why I scored." (HA)
About his TD runs of 3 and 11 yards in the game, LWJ said:
"Just trying to do what I can. My touchdown runs came off the team. Everybody did a great job." (HSB)
About how they scored TDs on their first two drives, LWJ said:
"We're trying to emphasize being explosive right from the jump. So anybody we're playing, we're trying to get on top of as fast as possible." (HSB)
Happy with how their defense played in this game, Blaze Soares said:
"I felt our defense played well today. I was really happy to see everybody doing the right things for once, we limited our mistakes dramatically. Its awesome to see everyone doing their job and playing Hawaii football." (UH)
Feeling that their defense is playing better each week, Blaze said:
"We came out with a chip in our shoulder and I feel like our defense is improving more and more each week." (HSB)
About his first career interception, Blaze said:
"I'm very stoked! It was a blitz, we had great penetration by our D-line and linebackers. I was just replacing the guy. The quarterback had to get the ball off quick and I was right there. I was actually praying, don't drop it!" (UH)
"I'm very stoked! It was a blitz, we had great penetration by our D-line and linebackers. I was just replacing the guy. The quarterback had to get the ball off quick and I was right there. I was actually praying, don't drop it." (HA)
"It was awesome to finally get one." (HA)
"I was lucky to be there. It was just a great team effort." (HA)
"I saw it and I was thinking, 'Don't drop it.' " (HSB)
"It feels awesome. It was a great call. It was a blitz, the D-line and linebackers had great penetration and made the quarterback get the ball away quick. I was just fortunate to be in the right area at the right time." (HSB)
About how he was thinking that he would return the INT for a TD, Blaze said:
"I was heading straight for the end zone. Once I saw Spencer (Smith) make a key block for me, I was going to cut it back in, but I got pushed out from behind. But whatever, I'm satisfied with the pick, it was awesome." (HA)
About how they need to win 3 more games to make the Hawaii Bowl, Blaze said:
"We've got three more games. Right now we're in the quarterfinals." (HA)
Asked if the 24-6 win when the only points NMSU scored was when the offense was on the field could be considered a shutout for the defense, Blaze said:
"Nah. They scored and that's all that matters. It's not an egg. We gotta work harder and we'll get it one day." (HSB)
About the attitude of their defense, R.J. Kiesel-Kauhane said:
"This week we really emphasized on completing our goals. Coach tested on that and I think a lot of guys bought into it. In order to get better we have to complete these goals. He always talks about teams that he's been around and teams that's completed almost the whole chart. It's about nine goals that we play by. And with that said, we go into a game knowing what we need to do and just play fundamental football." (UH)
About how they wanted to stop NMSU's running game, Fetaiagogo "John" Fonoti said:
"We knew that their backs were pretty good and they would try to run the ball so we just had to stop the run and adjust once they had to start passing." (HA)
About how their defense accomplished its goals in this game, Mana Silva said:
"We had a list of goals, and I think we met most of them." (HA)
About his INT, Silva said:
"We were in man coverage and I didn't relay the signal over so I knew there was an open guy so I just tried to run over there. (Fleming) just lobbed it up because the line was bringing the pressure and it worked out." (HA)
About seeing Kahuku graduates BJ and Ka'ua Adolpho when the captains met for the pregame coin toss, Inoke Funaki said:
"It felt like a class reunion over there. It's always fun to run into guys you know from back home. Even though some of us didn't play together at Kahuku, we still share that same bond being from the same community." (HA)
----------------- Quotes from the New Mexico State coaches -------------------
About how UH started the game strong on offense, NMSU head coach DeWayne Walker said:
"That first quarter was something. They came out, and it's a really explosive offense. (Hawai'i was) fast. They came out fast in that first quarter and really had us on our heels. But I was real happy with how the defense responded the rest of the way. To hold them to 10 points the rest of the game is phenomenal, with the turnovers and bad field position, so again, I'm just so proud of our defense and how they fought and kept the game respectable." (UH)
"That first quarter (Hawaii) came out slinging the ball all around and I was thinking, 'Holy, its going to be 50-0. Right now, with where we are in our program, we're looking for positives. ... I was really happy with how our defense responded and keeping this from being a blowout." (HSB)
''They came out slinging that ball around and I thought it was going to be 50-0. I was happy to see that our defense was able to settle down a bit." (MN)
About how their DB Davon House scored their last two TDs, Walker said:
"(NMSU defensive back Davon House) scored our last two touchdowns. Too bad it's coming from the defense, but it is what it is, and I've been real happy with his progress and I'm happy we'll have him another year." (UH)
About how their struggling offense played better in this game, Walker said:
"You always got to find positives, and I think (our offense) did move the ball, and they did improve in that area, and now we just got to try and get in the end zone." (UH)
About how they didn't even arrive in Hawaii until 8pm on Friday night, Walker said:
"We were delayed for like 2 hours and would have been screwed if we tried to come in here and do everything on Friday. Our kids are very professional and we're growing as a football team and I think we'll get this thing done at some point." (HSB)
------------------- Quotes from the New Mexico State players ----------------------
About setting their school record for most career INT return yards after his 58-yard INT return for a TD, Davon House said:
"I was just trying to make a play and once I started running and got to the end zone I realized I had the record." (HSB)
About intercepting a pass from Colt Brennan when he was a freshman in 2007 on the first play from scrimmage, House said:
"I won't ever forget that. It was Colt Brennan." (HSB)
About how their defense has scored their only 2 TDs in their last 3 games (no TDs on offense in 17 straight quarters!), CB Chris Buckner said:
"We try to push our offense to get better every day in practice. But at the same time, we can score points, too." (HSB)
About how their defense settled down after UH scored 2 early TDs, Buckner said:
"We didn't execute at all (early on). We all sat down and calmed down and talked about what we had to do and came out and started executing." (HSB)
About seeing fellow Kahuku graduate Inoke Funaki when the captains met for the pregame coin toss, BJ Adolpho said:
"Before the coin toss, we got out there and I was like 'Nokes! Howzit Brah?' It was good fun." (HA)
------------------ Other quotes about the game --------------------
HSB Note: "Sarah Thomas made Hawaii football history last night. The line judge became the first woman to serve as an on-field official at a college football game at Aloha Stadium, according to WAC officials observer Joe Ornellas and veteran WAC referee Frank White. Thomas is the only woman officiating FBS games."
About Sarah Thomas, White said:
"She's worked quite a few games in Conference USA and other college games." (HSB)
HSB Note: "Women have previously worked on officiating crews for high school games at Aloha Stadium."
Praising the job that Thomas did, Mac said:
"I think that's outstanding. I think it's first class and there's no reason why there shouldn't be more. She made a tough call. She overruled another official and it gave us a first down. So I really like her." (HSB)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment