HONOLULU – University of Hawai`i Warrior football head coach Greg McMackin conducted his weekly press conference Monday, recapping the team's upset of No. 19 Nevada and looking ahead to this week's road game at Utah State.
On the win over nationally ranked Nevada…
How we're taking this year is every win is just as important as any other win. It was fun to beat Reno and they're very competitive. It was fun to beat Fresno. But every game we're taking as the next game. We have a chance to have a very special season, but we have to take it game by game. I already talked to our staff about that and to our football team this morning. We have a chance to have a special football team, but we have to keep doing what we're doing and that's making plays and being mentally ready for games and staying focused the whole ball game.
On the team's confidence level…
Right, now we have an entire team that believes that we can play with anybody in the country. We've sold them on that, they believe in that and that's how they've been playing.
On the UH defense…
They have more confidence, they are making more plays. You have to play as a team. I thought the defense carried us this last game.
Corey Paredes was the WAC Defensive Player of the Week and he should be. He's a representative of the entire defense and team in getting that award. He's one of the best tacklers in the country…he's been playing well all year.
On the coaching staff…
I have an excellent coaching staff. The two coordinators are doing an outstanding job, spending all kinds of time getting the game plans throughout the week all the coaches studied all the tendencies and video. Tonight they'll be here till 1 or 2 at night. They're really working hard. The two coordinators are very bright guys who take ideas from other coaches and get together a great plan and then they call the plans during the games.
On this week's opponent, Utah State…
They played Oklahoma outstanding. Their quarterback is good as there is in the league. I thought he was the best quarterback in the league last year. We beat them here, but we're not going to go into a trap game because we did that two years ago. This won't be a trap game for us.
On the similarities between Nevada and Utah State…
They do a lot of similar things. Dave Baldwin is an excellent offensive coach and their head coach is an excellent coach. So they'll have a great plan for us, they're doing some of the same things. They're doing the pistol and some of the same things we saw this last week. I compare him (Diondre Borel) to a smaller Colin Kaepernick, but this guy runs all over the field. He almost single handedly beat Oklahoma.
-UH-
