HONOLULU – University of Hawai'i Warrior football head coach Greg McMackin conducted his weekly press conference Monday, recapping the team's 44-26 Western Athletic Conference-opening victory over Louisiana Tech.
 
Opening Statement:
Obviously, I am really proud of my players and coaches. They did what they had to do. Our plan was to get after them fast. They had a lot of close ball games. That was really their mentality, was to play in a close game and winning, we didn't want to play that way.  We wanted to get out on top of them and play from there. It worked out that way. We had great effort from our players. We played as a team, won as a team. They are really close, they are a family, and I think we are at a really good point right now. 
 
On the growth and role of the team as a whole…
We traveled 16 to 18 freshman and you have to teach them how to travel. We are a really young team. Joey Iosefa had, I think, 99 yards running, but 126 yards of total offense, and he is a freshman. They have to learn how to travel and how to compete in hostile situations. That was a neat atmosphere. I like playing there, not getting there, but I liked playing there. They had a Red-Out, like when we played at Fresno State and we talked about it before. We had to use their energy and I am sure you guys saw it, they were dancing and singing in the stands. We fed off of the energy and then we make plays.
 
There was a lot of real outstanding plays. You saw “Mo” (quarterback Bryant Moniz) on his back, the catches made by Royce (Pollard) and Justin (Clapp) made a great catch. The play by Mo really helped us. I thought our offensive line – because their defensive line is great – did a good job in protection. We had all kinds of injuries. I bet we had four freshmen on the offensive line. So we got a young team, but they have all (played) together with great leadership. How about Corey Paredes? He hurt his knee and went back in playing and guys see that.
 
Defensively, I thought they did a good job. We had a game-plan to take away the run. Their running back has an outstanding season. He has had over 100 yards every week, I think, and we held their team to under 100 yards. We wanted to put it in the hands of the young quarterback. I think he is really good, but he is only 17 years old.  He made some good plays, but made some (bad plays).  That was our plan anyways, he escaped a couple of times and we corrected that. We had to make some corrections because that is an outstanding offense. I thought our defensive guys really did a good job of holding them down. 
 
On the positives of having a bye week this week…
This bye week is perfect timing because we have to do a couple of things. Obviously, we have had too kicks blocked and we've really got to get deep into that and get the right people in there….we have to get that corrected, because we had a field goal blocked and probably went for it too far. What I wanted to do was to have “Mo” punt the ball because our punter might have gone in the endzone…but “Mo's” foot was all taped up and he didn't feel comfortable, so we didn't do that.  It was fourth and 14 and we really didn't want to go for it, so (our kicker) made one from there before and we didn't think it would be blocked.  It didn't end up hurting us. So that was what was going through my head at that time.
 
On the problems with the blocked kicks…
That is what we have to look at and I do think it was a personnel thing. That is another good thing about having a bye week. I have complete confidence in Dick (Tomey) and I know it will be straightened out.  I said two weeks ago that I take the responsibility and get things fixed up and that's what I did. I believe in Dick Tomey and I know he'll get that fixed up. 
 
On working out the basics during this bye week…
We're playing for the championship and every game is important so we aren't going to get a lot of time off. Some guys give the whole week off and we are not going to do that. We are going to start tomorrow, which is Tuesday, then work all the week to Friday. Then I am going to give them Saturday and Sunday off. But we are going to have a “game plan Tuesday” on Friday, so we are going to get (two) extra days of practice before San Jose State. That is the only way I know how to do it and that is the best plan for us.
 
On specific areas to improve on…
You want to improve on everything…We are doing pretty well on pass rush. We only blitzed about eight times and got there a couple of times. The quarterback is pretty talented. We wanted to put it in his hands and he is sort of like the guy from Nevada when he was younger guy. He is one of the top (quarterbacks) and the running back is good. The quarterback is really going to be good and right now he is very good.
 
On Moniz's athletic ability and taking hits…
That's why its good to have a bye now. He's unbelievable. Couple of those passes I've never seen before. He has a guy right in his pads throwing over double-coverage to the guy. The one he threw on third down to Justin Clapp is the same kind of deal. He got hit late and hit a lot after throws. He is a tough guy. Back in the old days when he was 165 pounds I would say 'I don't know,' but now he is 215 and has rib stuff on and is really playing like a pro. I talk to the officials before the game about how he is our best player and they are going to try to hit him as many times as they can, so I told them to watch that please. He makes a lot of plays by just his ability. 
 
On the play of center London Sapolu…
I was really proud on how he came in. It's two weeks in a row that he's our starting center, basically. He's really done a good job for us and he manages the game well. I don't know if I'll get criticized for this or not, but on that one play where there was a complete helmet-to-helmet cheap shot and it knocked out Brett Leonard after the play.  All he was doing was protecting his player and if you saw our players lined up around him because they (Louisiana Tech) were ready for a big fight. One guy took his helmet off, the guy that hit him, took his helmet off. Our guys were protecting him and then Sapolu pushed 95 because he was coming after him again with his helmet off. I tell you what, you've got to back up your own players. He didn't do anything, he didn't swing, he got a personal foul but he was protecting his player and you've got to cover your own players back. You've got to walk away, because the second guy's going to get caught every time. But when their guys are going after your guy you've got to protect him. You walk away and let them beat that guy up, I don't want any part of that. And that may not be right, the officials and whoever may not think that's the right attitude, but that's how I've been raised and that's how I coach. We protect our own. We don't fight and we walk away.  If it is one-on-one, you better walk away, but when a team's going after a knocked out player we've gotta protect him. That's just manning up.
 
I wouldn't be afraid to start him. He's had two weeks of game time and he's done a good job. He completely got my and Gordy Shaw's confidence. I'm proud of him.
 
On the possibility of slot receiver Miah Ostrowski returning in two weeks and the role of his replacement Justin Clapp …
I think what we'll do there is just rotate them. I haven't talked to anybody about his (Ostrowski's) situation, but with another week I think he will be ready to play. Justin Clapp is really doing well. Miah will be in there because he was a starter so he's not gonna lose his position, but Justin Clapp is going to play a lot of football.
 
On being prepared to play following the 20-minute delay in the game…
I think our guy's were ready to play that football game, they knew what was at stake. We talked about playing there. We talked about all the facets, just like we did Fresno State, it was their fourth biggest crowd in history and they had a Red Out.  We fed off of (that).  We are just playing ball. We didn't have any pep talks. 
 
On the officiating of the game…
I have no problems with the officials on the field. The officials on the field, I thought, called a good game. There was some confusion every once in a while but it got worked out and I have no complaints. I didn't think there was any problem with the officiating. We had three penalties, I thought the officiating was fine.
 
On the comparison of Bryant Moniz to Jeff Garcia…
I said that a year ago, so it didn't seem like it bothered him a whole lot.
 
On the performance of wide receiver Royce Pollard…
If there was a better performance (from) an athlete that he made on those great catches he made…then somebody must have really had a great game. That's one of the best receiver efforts that we've had and we've had great receivers here. That one catch he made when he was double-covered and he went up and got the ball, that was tough. He makes plays and he is my player of the week.