HSB = Honolulu Star-Bulletin
UH = University of Hawaii Athletics Website
MN = Maui News
----------------------- Quotes from the UH coaches -------------------------
Admiring how their players and coaches stuck together through their adversity, UH head coach Greg McMackin said:
"We've been going through some adversity, but I really admire my players and coaches for staying together." (UH)
"I couldn't be more proud of my players and my coaches for hanging in there and not jumping off ship, not pointing fingers, but staying united and being Warriors to the end." (UH)
Appreciating the fans that stuck with their team, Mac said:
"A lot of people have given up on us. There are many who have stayed with it just like the people in the stands. I appreciate them so much and so do the players." (UH)
Happy they are playing back-to-back games at home, Mac said:
"I'm excited to be home. I'm excited that our players get to be home for a couple of weeks and settle into their classes. Give them a chance to be regular students." (UH)
About ending their 6-game losing streak, Mac said:
"I'm not smiling yet. The win is a relief. I've never been in this type of situation before, I'm not a good loser. We've been through some unfortunate situations but you can never make excuses. So you always look at yourself in the mirror, and I put it on my shoulders. I try not to point fingers, but correct people and get us going in the right direction. Its our first step in the right direction." (UH)
''I'm not smiling yet. 'Relief is what it is. I haven't had many years where I have been in that situation, and I'm not a very good loser. We've had some unfortunate situations, but you can never make excuses.'' (MN)
"I'm not smiling yet. It's a relief is what it is." (HSB)
About how their defense is playing better now, Mac said:
"At Nevada (the previous week) we started making plays again. A lot of young guys on defense, started making plays. I could see we made a step up." (HSB)
Informed that they gained more yards rushing (360 of their 697 yards) than passing, Mac said:
''Is that what we did? 'It hasn't happened here. Other places maybe, but not here.'' (MN)
Mac said that the difference in LWJ is that he is:
''healthy and happy and good things are happening to him.'' (MN)
About how their success running the ball helped Moniz with his passing, Mac said:
"We have to keep them off our quarterback so they're just not teeing off on him so we're mixing it up a little bit. But give credit to our offensive line. (Offensive line coach) Gordy Shaw did a great job with them." (HA)
Asked for the secret to LWJ's big day today, OL coach Gordy Shaw said:
"Big holes." (HA)
Praising how Pilares ran a post route with his arms raised, getting the D to focus on him so that Green would have room to make a long run, QB coach Nick Rolovich said:
"It was very unselfish on Kealoha's part. He didn't have a lot of catches today, but to do that in the fourth quarter shows what a great teammate he is. I think it's fun to see the receivers run corner routes, taking a (defender) out of the way, and then having the running back run by. It's as good as a block. You have to smile when you see that." (HA)
Praising Greg Salas, offensive coordinator Ron Lee said:
"He's real steady. He's been doing a good job catching the ball, running after the catch, and along the way, he's been making really, really tough catches." (HA)
Asked if the fans will be asking for them to run the wishbone after their 360 yards rushing in this game, Ron Lee laughed and said:
"We might. With these backs we have, we definitely have to get them the ball." (HSB)
About how Utah State's D focused on the pass in the first half which opened up their running game, Ron Lee said:
"They were geared to stop the pass early in the first half." (HSB)
About their 360 yards rushing the ball, RB coach Brian Smith said:
"We weren't expecting quite that much, but it was great to get. We knew we could run the ball on them, and once we got into the game and saw some of the things they were doing, tendency-wise, we really thought we could open up with our ground game. We really capitalized on some of the looks that they gave us." (HSB)
About how they have had problems in the third quarter all season, Rich Miano said:
"It (the third quarter) has been a nemesis all year." (HA)
About the death of his sister Jane Tormey, Chris Tormey said:
"She was a real inspiration to me. She had amazing inner strength, and so many times I thought I had problems, I just looked to her for inspiration. I told the guys about her today, and I think she's with us here tonight." (HSB)
"It's been tough, whenever you lose someone that close to you that you care so much about." (HSB)
---------------------- Quotes from the UH players ---------------------------
About winning his first game as a starting Division I QB, Bryant Moniz said:
"We finally put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. All three sides of the ball played together and it was a great team win." (UH)
"I'm stoked. I wish it would have come a lot sooner. But its nice to finally get that monkey off our back. Im excited mainly for the seniors. They are having a rough year and we were finally able to pull off that win for them. Its been a long time. It's a good feeling." (UH)
Praising their OL, Moniz said:
"I appreciate our O-line so much and the work they do protecting me. Our offense produced real well tonight and that's hats off to the O-line for giving me time to throw and opening holes for the run." (HSB)
About how their RBs had so much success in this game, Moniz said:
"It was nice to give our running backs the ball and watch them go." (HA)
About how their success rushing helped their passing game, Moniz said:
"Anytime you can get something like that from them, it can help us out a lot. (Their) running) helped out our passing a lot." (HA)
About the INT he threw on their first drive that led to Utah State's first TD, Moniz said:
"I was discouraged, but I figured, 'At least I got that out of the way. I don't have to worry about throwing picks anymore.' " (HA)
About the importance of their 3rd quarter TD, Moniz said:
"It was a key score for us, especially since (Utah State's) offense was playing well after they made some second-half adjustments. It was important for us to answer back and keep that lead up to help our defense." (HA)
About how their receivers made a lot of plays in the game, Moniz said:
"It's like our receivers say, when they do their yell as a unit, they always say 'playmakers' and that's what they are. Anytime we get the ball into one of their hands, they're going to do great things." (HA)
About the production of their offense, Greg Salas said:
"It feels good, we haven't put up points like this since Washington State and UNLV, it just feels good going into halftime, that's what we want. The defense feeds off the offense and the offense feeds off the defense and that's what we need to do for each other." (UH)
Crediting Jon Medeiros (who had a 57-yard TD reception in the first quarter) for sparking their offense, Salas said:
"Jon started it off with the big play and that just pumped everybody up. We all wanted to make big plays and compete with each other after that and that only makes us better." (HA)
About passing the 1,000 yard receiving mark in this game, Salas said:
"The team comes first, but that was one of my goals." (HSB)
About how their success running the ball helped their passing game, Salas said:
"It's a tremendous help and it really opened up things for us. If (the defense) has to bring up extra defenders to help against the run, then it opens up the receivers and gives them some one-on-one looks, which we thought we could exploit." (HA)
"Oh, man, it makes a tremendous difference when the running game is going like that. When everything's working like that, forget it." (HSB)
About how it was great to break their 6-game losing streak, Salas said:
"It's been a long time since we won a game and it feels good not coming off the field with your head down, just coming off with a great feeling. There's nothing like it," (HSB)
Asked what this victory means, Leon Wright-Jackson (LWJ) said:
"It means everything. It's a blessing. We've been getting close, last week at Nevada we started fast but we couldn't finish. Every week we are progressing to get better and better. To get that win it means the world to us." (UH)
About how their offense has the talent to produce like this, LWJ said:
''We're explosive. It's about us believing in each other. 'We've been practicing and getting better and better. We know we got the talent, and we just got to put it together.'' (MN)
About how they can run the ball in this offense, LWJ said:
"I'm happy in the run-and-shoot. You can still run the ball in it. We showed that tonight. That's what we do. That's Hawaii. There's no need for us to go to anything else." (HSB)
Happy about their TD in the 3rd quarter, LWJ said:
"We've kind of made a bad habit of starting off slow in the second half and it seemed like we were headed that way, but we bounced back, got over that and scored, so we're happy to get over that hump, too." (HA)
Concerned about win, not his number of carries, LWJ said:
''I can get 40 carries or I can get three. 'I just want to win.'' (MN)
About how Taylor provided a good decoy to clear out the D on one side for his runs, LWJ said:
"I was lovin' it. Three times I ran plays to Jovonte's side. Jovonte looked at me (before the snap), and just took off. As fast as he is, he can pull anybody away." (HA)
About how he was happy during the game, LWJ said:
"I'm enjoying the moment." (HA)
About how he played with more emotion today than in many games in the past, LWJ said:
"I wake up every day the same way: happy." (HA)
Crediting their OL for his success, LWJ said:
"The offensive line was doing a great job with the run blocks. You give the running backs a big hole, we're going to hit it, and we're going to hit it fast." (HA)
About his 15 carries for 167 yards and 3 TDs, LWJ (who had just 102 rushing yards last season) said:
"It was a lot of fun. The offensive line gave me the holes. And it wasn't just me. Alex Green got in there and did the same thing. There were big holes. That's a credit to our offensive line." (HA)
About his career-best game, LWJ said:
"It was a blessing. Been patient, just waiting for my turn. Today was my turn." (HA)
About how Alex Green and he got into a rhythm in the game, LWJ said:
"You know, us running backs, me and Alex, always talk about getting into a rhythm. Once we got into a rhythm, we start breaking free. Alex showed that last week against Nevada (70 yards). Coaches were believing in us, and our offensive line was doing great. I guess we were all feeding off of each other." (HSB)
"Big play after big play, we kept believing in each other, kept moving the ball. Like I said, we were just feeding off each other." (HSB)
About choosing to go to UH even though he knew that his rushing attempts might be limited, Alex Green (10 carries for 110 yards in this game) said:
"I didn't know if I would get a lot of carries. I'm grateful for every carry." (HA)
About the success LWJ and he had in the game, Green said:
"Leon did a good job and I wanted to do the same thing. I just tried to do my best and it paid off." (HA)
"All year long, we knew what we had. We knew what we could do. And today it showed. It was obvious. Leon's a great running back, and seeing him do those things, I want to do good, too." (HSB)
About the high risk nature of Utah State's 4-2-5 defense, center John Estes said:
"Once a running back gets past that first line, there's nobody home." (HA)
After they had 360 yards rushing in this game, LG Ray Hisatake said:
"The run is back in the run-and-shoot." (HA)
Happy to break their 6-game losing streak, Aaron Kia said:
"The taste of victory can't be beat. We had that bitter taste of losing all of those games in a row. We had to bust a win. It wasn't a matter of 'we have to win.' It was, 'we gotta win.' This is our first statement in a long time. We're going to enjoy it for a day, then get back to work. We can't let up." (HA)
About how the win boosts their confidence, Kia said:
"I'm just glad we got a win. We needed that confidence-booster and tonight, we're one step towards it. But we're not done yet. This is like a championship ride for us now. We have to hustle, work hard and not give up at all." (HA)
About the criticism they took during their 6-game losing streak, Blaze Soares (who canceled his Facebook account after receiving numerous barbs) said:
"We took a lot of (bleep) from people. We knew we had to get the monkey off our back." (HA)
About stopping Utah State's offense, Fetaiagogo John" Fonoti said:
"We just had to execute our assignments. We knew that their quarterback and running back were good — just like Nevada — so we just had to look at that Nevada game to see what we did wrong and work on it." (HA)
About the importance of stopping Utah State when they started their drive at the 6-yard-line after already scoring 2 TDs in the third quarter and threatening to cut the lead to 7, Corey Paredes said:
"We knew it was time to make some plays. We had been hurt there (the third quarter) before." (HA)
About the success of their D against QB Borel, Lametrius Davis said:
"(Borel's) a real good runner. He can tuck it and take off very quickly, so we just wanted to contain him. The times that we were able to get picks was because we were able to get pressure on the quarterback, so the whole defense did a good job today." (HA)
About his 44-yard FG that was blocked at the end of the first half, kicker Scott Enos said:
"I felt like it was a good kick, but the timing was slow." (HA)
About the 45-yard FG that he missed, Enos said:
"I'm going to try and work it out at practice." (HA)
------------------ Quotes from the Utah State coaches ---------------------
Giving UH credit for the win, Utah State head coach Gary Andersen said:
"We got beat by a better team tonight. They were more physical they we were and they dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides, so they won." (UH)
''They dominated us on both sides of the ball so they won." (MN)
"They're a good team; Coach Mack is a good coach. They've got to get to seven wins to go to a bowl game and we knew we were going to get their best shot, no doubt about it, and obviously we got their best shot, so our hats off to them." (UH)
"They were more physical than we were and they dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides. You've got to get to six wins to get to a bowl game, so we knew we were going to get their best shot, no doubt about it, and obviously we got their best shot." (HSB)
Asked if they were caught off guard by UH's running game, Andersen said:
"Caught off guard? (by Hawai'i's running game) No, I can't say we were caught off guard. I think that they executed, and they knocked us around up front; it's been an issue for us all year long. They ran the ball extremely well…We know they have good backs. They get enough carries that they run the ball effectively." (UH)
About UH running the ball more in this game, Andersen said:
''As the game went on they ran the ball really well, and I'm sure they shifted gears as the game went on." (MN)
About how teams have been able to run against them all year, Andersen said:
"They probably weren't (expecting to run) either until they started watching our film. It's been an issue for us all season." (HSB)
"It's been an issue for us all year long. As we went through the game, they ran the ball extremely well and they shifted gears as the game went on. We were playing some fairly aggressive coverages on the back end and you can get some run game on it, but you shouldn't be able to make the big runs that they got." (HSB)
About how they should have cut the deficit to 7 points in the 3rd quarter, Andersen said:
"It should have been a seven-point game (in the 3rd quarter). We couldn't take advantage of opportunities. We had our chances, and Hawai'i did a nice job against the field goal and we can't get back down the field and score again." (UH, HA)
------------------ Quotes from the Utah State players -----------------------
About how UH's no-down lineman setup made thing hard on their offense, Diondre Borel said:
"They were walking around, which we saw on the tape when we were getting ready for them, but it made it tough to know where the pressure was coming from. They played hard, they have some big guys on defense and they were playing hard the whole game." (HA)
About how their offense didn't play consistently enough, Borel said:
"We didn't play all four quarters on offense. We would make a good play and then take a sack or get a penalty and things like that kept us from getting in a rhythm." (HSB)
About missing a wide open Morgan in the end zone that would have cut the lead to 7 in the 3rd quarter, Borel said:
"Yeah it was overthrown. I think I got hit on the play. I should have laid it up right when they snapped the ball, but I just waited too long I think." (HSB)
About how UH's big lead too their RB Turbin out of the game, Borel said:
"We had to play from behind and throw the ball a lot. Took us out of our game a little bit, but we still had opportunities to get back in the game." (HSB)
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