Quotes from Inoke Funaki

About being 3rd string at QB, Inoke said:
“Coach (june) Jones has been here a long time. He’s been in the NFL. He knows the game. I trust his judgment. If he feels this is how the lineup should be, this is how it should be. Who am I to say anything? He knows what we need to do to win. I’m just trying to work hard and improve.” (The Warrior Beat)

WB Note: “During passing drills, the five quarterbacks — starter Colt Brennan, top backup Tyler Graunke, Funaki, Shane Austin and Jake Santos — make the same amount of throws. When the team separates to offensive and defensive workouts, Brennan gets four reps to Graunke’s two. Funaki mostly will take “mental reps.” “

About how he supports the QBs in front of him, Inoke said:
“Tyler, Colt and I are all buddies. I’m there to support them. You don’t need one of the backup guys being negative and saying, ‘Oh, man, I deserve to be in there.’ It doesn’t help the team. I try to be positive, and be ready.” (WB)

Finding inspiration from a church sermon, Inoke said:
“There were two farmers, and there was a drought. They both prayed for rain. One of the farmers, after praying for rain, actually did something. He prepared his fields for when the rain came. The other farmer, after he prayed, sat around and didn’t do anything. The question was asked: Which of these two farmers had faith the rain was going to come?

It’s the same story. There are a lot of guys in the same position. They’re working hard to do what they can to take advantage of any opportunity. The only thing you can do is prepare yourself so when the opportunity comes you’re able to perform to the best that you can. You never know when the rain is going to come, so you’d better be prepared.” (WB)

About how Colt is always cheering him on, Inoke said:
“When I’m in the game, I’ll look to the sidelines for the play. I’ll always see Colt cheering me on, trying to help me out. It’s definitely encouraging.” (WB)

WB Note: “This season, Funaki has completed 10 of 13 passes, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. He has the highest completion percentage and efficiency rating on the team.”

UH-Utah State Quotes

Worried about UH’s offense, Utah State coach Brent Guy said:
“What scares me more than anything is their offense. They’re scoring over 60 points both times they’ve been home on the island and over 40 in games off the island.” (Deseret News)

“What scares me more than anything is their offense. Obviously, they’re scoring over 60 points both times they’ve been home on the island and over 40 in games off the island. That’s the thing that scares me the most about going and playing this football game, is the potential that their offense has.” (Utah Statesman)

Forgetting about UH’s 63-10 win at Utah State last year, WR Kevin Robinson said:
“Last year was last year. That’s something I’ve been treating my whole career is that after that game is over, it’s over, move on to the next game. I haven’t really given too much thought into what happened last year. I just know last year we lost. I’m going into this year like it’s a whole new game and start from there.” (DN)

About how their high ranking now is not important, JJ said:
“We don’t pay much attention to it. It is great for the media and everyone else. Until the end of the year, I’m not going to worry abut it. No one is going to say, ‘Hey, they were ranked 15th in Week 5.’ That is going to be forgotten.” (DN)

About how they will do their best vs. UH, safety Caleb Taylor said:
“We never go into a game intimidated. We expect the best from all our players. We’ve played some of the best teams in the nation the last couple of years. This is just another step for us – a chance to put our football team on the map.” (Salt Lake Tribune)

Praising Colt, Utah State coach Brent Guy said:
“He has a very quick release and a strong arm, so it’s very hard to get to him. Even if you get a guy free, he can get rid of the ball. And what makes him deadly is he knows where to get rid of it. Some guys have quick releases and can get rid of the ball. But they can’t complete it.” (SLT)

After the La Tech game, La Tech coach Derek Dooley said about Colt:
“I have a tremendous amount respect for Colt. We hit him as much as he’s been hit and it didn’t phase him. That’s what great competitors do. I have the world of respect for him because of how he competes.” (SLT)

About how they have to prevent the YAC, Taylor said:
“They have a good quarterback and good receivers and they’re good at what they do. The thing we have to do to slow them down is tackle [well]. We know we’re probably going to give up a couple of throws, but the main part – the most important part – is to come up and tackle and not give them a lot of yards after the catch.” (SLT)

Hoping their offense can score enough to keep up with UH’s offense, Kevin Robinson said:
“It’s going to be fun. Hopefully we can put up a lot of points, just like they do. If not, we probably won’t win. [But] football is a weird game. … We’ll just wait and see what happens.” (SLT)

Asked about the long trip to Hawaii, Robinson said:
“You get kind of sore and stiff on the plane. You just have to fight through it. … You can’t use it as an excuse. You [still] have to go out and play football.” (SLT)

About how they cannot lose a single game this season to reach their goals, JJ said:
“Hopefully our guys realize what’s at stake. We can’t have one slip up.” (AP)

Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan, still recovering from an injured right ankle, is looking to redeem himself after tying a school record with five interceptions in last week’s 48-20 victory at Idaho.
Happy that he has a lot of time to erase the memory of his 5 INT game, Colt said:
“Thank God, I have seven or eight games left this year to make everybody forget about that game.” (AP)

About how his 5 INTs hurt his public perception, but glad it put the focus on their team, Colt said:
“I know five interceptions does a lot of negative toward me, but when you look at the bigger picture, I’m glad it happened. It was a fluke I had that type of day out there but it finally took the spotlight off of me and put it where it belongs, on the team.” (AP)

Praising their defense, Colt said:
“It’s funny, because for once, it seems the defense is what’s really the stronghold on this team.” (AP)

Worried by UH’s offense, Guy said:
“That’s the thing that scares me the most about going and playing this football game, is the potential that their offense has.” (AP)

Hoping that they score enough a ton of points to give them a chance to win, Guy said:
“It’s going to be fun. Hopefully we can put up a lot of points, just like they do. If not, it will probably won’t be in our favor.” (AP)

About UH’s 63-10 win last year, Guy said:
“I haven’t really given too much thought into what happened last year. I just know last year we lost. I’m going into this year like it’s a whole new game and start from there.” (AP)

About his injured ankle, Colt said:
“It’s just tough because you practice on it every day. You play on it on Saturday, so you don’t really give it a chance to heal fully. So it just seems like I’m battling it. Saturday, with game-day adrenaline, that’s when it usually feels the best.” (AP)

About all of their losses, Guy said:
“It’s starting to get to me a little bit, but I can’t focus on that. I’ve got to focus on a new game every time … I’ve just got to realize that a new game is a new game and hopefully I can do something better this time so that we can get a win.” (AP)

The 2008 schedule is done…and it is good!

About the criticism he took for the 2007 schedule, HF said:
“A lot of people put a lot of stock in that. But that’s not indicative of how we operate. I said, ‘We’ll get it fixed,’ and we did.” (HA)

About how he targeted the Big East Conference for their regular-season finale, since they do not have a league title game and would create an attractive matchup for national TV, HF said:
“There’s appeal from the East Coast to the West, and it will be the last game (of the NCAA’s regular season).” (HA)

About how he negotiated with Syracuse and Cincinnati, HF said:
“Syracuse probably was my first choice, to be honest with you. We were talking to Cincinnati at the same time. I like what I see (with Cincinnati). I think we match up very well.” (HA)

HF said that Cincinnati will be paid:
“competitive to what we play the Pac-10 schools.” (HA)

HA Note: “According to contracts made public by UH, Washington will receive $350,000 for playing Dec. 1 at Aloha Stadium, and Washington State will earn $300,000 for next year’s game.”

About how Cincinnati officials vowed never to play again in Hawaii after the 2002 post-game fight, HF said:
“There’s new management in Cincinnati. That’s all I’ll say.” (HA)

“Not at all. There’s new management there. They’re no longer in Conference USA, they’re in the Big East. Anytime we play against a Big East team it’s important for us. In fact, we targeted the Big East for this game. The other team we were looking at was Syracuse. What it does for us is it gives us a quality team and an opportunity to be on national TV with an East Coast market.” (HSB)

About how he wanted a I-AA opponent on 9/6 so the WAC couldn’t assign them a conference game, HF said:
“I insisted on having a game in there so that couldn’t happen.” (HA)

HA Note: “He said Weber State, UC Davis, Montana and Montana State were among the I-AA teams expressing an interest. He said it came down to Weber State and Montana. Weber State accepted first. Weber State’s head coach is Ron McBride, who previously coached at Utah and was a finalist for the UH head coaching job that went to June Jones in December 1998.”

About Weber State’s coach Ron McBride, GM (who was McBride’s defensive coordinator at Utah) said:
“Coach McBride is a great guy.” (HA)

Tyler said that their 13-game schedule for 2008 is:
“sweet. The more we play, the better. Cincinnati’s a good team. I’m excited.” (HA)

“All eyes will be on us if we continue to play well and go undefeated this year. We could have a pretty good ranking going into next season and a lot of games on national TV. We’ll have to step it up and continue the tradition.” (HSB)

HSB Note: “It marks the first time Hawaii plays four teams from BCS conferences during the regular season.”

About their 2008 schedule, JJ said:
“This is a demanding schedule, but we are excited.” (HSB)

Quotes about Sol Elimimian

About how their fiercest player is Sol Elimimian, Dennis McKnight said:
“I think he has the mindset, when he plays football, that he doesn’t like offensive people. He has the mentality, like all of the great ones have had, that he doesn’t want to just tackle you, he wants to make a statement. He wants you to know (number) 17 hit you.” (HA)

About how he tries to be nice to his opponents, Sol said:
“I always try to help up a running back.” (HA)

Praising Sol, who is 20th nationally in tackles with 10.6 per game, McKnight said:
“He has that extra that separates a really solid linebacker from a guy who stands out on film. Solly stands out on film.” (HA)

About how he sits quiety and listens to R&B or gospel music (favorite: Kirk Franklin) and prays before games, Sol said:
“I’m really mellow before a game. I’m not the person who goes ‘hoo-rah’ or ‘let’s go’ and is all fired up. That’s not me.” (HA)

McKnight notices a change in Sol when he steps:
“between the lines on game day, he turns on the switch, and he’s a different person.” (HA)

Agreeing that he changes his personality when he gets on the field, Sol said:
“I think I have a little mean side when I get into the zone. Once I’m in that zone playing football, it comes down to me and an opponent. It starts to get personal.” (HA)

About how he doesn’t like offensive linemen, Sol said:
“They’re just mean and nasty, and they try and stop you from making plays.” (HA)

About Sol’s hard hitting, LB coach Cal Lee said:
“The game of football is contact. We’re not playing basketball. We’re not playing soccer, where contact is not allowed. This game is about making contact, and if you want to play you have to make contact. He loves to make contact.” (HA)

Praising Sol, Colt said:
“He’s one of my favorite players to watch on defense. There’s something about him. He plays with such a tenacious demeanor. I love to watch him play defense.” (HA)

Quote about Michael Lafaele

About how Lafaele will play unless his strained hamstring forces him to sit out, DL coach Jeff Reinbold said:
“Mike Lafaele’s dirt tough and he’ll play if he can. He’s going to have a role no matter what. If he doesn’t play, he’ll be like a coach on the sideline.” (HSB)

HSB Note: “Reinebold, who coaches from the coaches’ press box booth this year, said he normally communicates with Lafaele by phone between series, anyway.”