HONOLULU – University of Hawai`i Warrior football head coach Greg McMackin conducted his weekly press conference Monday, recapping the team's recent two-game road trip.
On the two-game road trip…
We had a long grueling trip, and split our games...I'm really proud of my players and everyone who went on this trip. My players' discipline was outstanding. It's good to be home.
On missed opportunities in two losses this year…
That punt return (against USC) was the Achilles heel in that game. We sort of let that one get away. And obviously we could have had 17 more points in the first half of the Colorado game. That's one big thing we need to learn as a team; we got to play four quarters. We come out, the guys are ready to play, that's been obvious in all three ball games. They played till the end, and against Army we won the game at the end, so they're competing. We just need to eliminate the mistakes that put us in that position.
On the rigors of travel and elevation in Colorado…
I don't want to make any excuses...I know it did hurt (Kealoha) Pilares on that run, he couldn't quite finish it and he was gassed there on the sidelines. I just thought that it's not a big deal. You get tired you come out. But I did notice that in the second half we made more mental mistakes
On doing anything differently against Army and Colorado…
I don't think I would have done anything different, it just comes down to playing football. I would have played 3rd-down different. Their offense was 10-of-14 so our defense wasn't getting our offense on the field and our offense was 3-of-11 so that's why they were tired. It had nothing to do with altitude. We're going to be tired if we don't help each other out, if we don't play together.
Assessing the team after the first three games…
I think we have a good football team. Our defense is getting better, we haven't had injuries. Last year around this time, we had all kinds of guys going down.
He's a big time player. He's a leader, a real football player and a good person. Right now, he's our best football player.
On becoming a better executing team…
All phases of the team have to play together the whole game. They have to do their job. We won a game, but we haven't really played together yet. There are just little things we have to do.
On Charleston Southern and the upcoming WAC season…
We have to get ready to play four quarters, and then go into our league. Our league this year is going to be as tough as it's been since we've been in the league, probably. We have good competition. This is a tough schedule and we got to man up and play, that's what the games all about.
-UH-
