HONOLULU – University of Hawai`i Warrior football head coach Greg McMackin conducted his weekly press conference Monday, recapping the team's win over Louisiana Tech in the Western Athletic Conference opener and looking ahead to this week's game at Fresno State.

We really feel good about getting a win, first WAC win. You can either be at the top of the ledger or the bottom of the ledger and it's good to start out here. It gives us momentum going into this next week.

 

We're getting better and better on offense. Other than the couple of fumbles that we had, it was really a good offensive output, and the offensive line is getting better. Kealoha Pilares did an unbelievable job, caught 18 passes for all kinds of yardage and more touchdowns, and Greg Salas was right with him. You have to recognize Bryant Moniz, he just did an outstanding job.

 

I'm really proud of how they played. They got three turnovers, one of them a real key turnover. And then they had two fourth-down stands that we count as turnovers, so I was really pleased with that. The first half they came out, we knew they were going to try to run the football against us and throw their quick screen game, and we had six 3-and-outs, so we played outstanding.

 

Last year we lost an outside receiver and we were trying to play our four best guys so we took him and put him outside. I don't think that helped him. This year I think he improved himself so much because of the off-season. I've never seen a guy work so hard as him, watching video, working out, lifting. He exhausted himself, didn't miss a seven-on-seven with the guys during the summer and I think Greg Salas did the same thing. Both of them really took this off-season serious, stayed here and really worked out. They sort of led the unsupervised workouts. And I think (strength coach) Tommy Heffernan has really added to their speed and toughness.

 

They've got a good quarterback and he (head coach Pat Hill) will still run the football. He's had good quarterbacks in the past and utilizes them. They've had one of the best running backs in the country the last couple years. He's gonna give you what he has and he's got a good running attack, a guy that can throw it, and a couple of good receivers.

 

I think it's really important that (our players) know the history of (the) series because it's been really competitive…I think our team has some confidence going in. I know that Fresno has an excellent ball club but we're getting better and better so I think it'll be a good ball game.