Big Boned Wishbone

Stephen Tsai has June Jones' reaction to being named a finalist for Coach of the Year.

"Oh," Jones said when told of the nomination. "Awards come from winning. We won a lot of games, so we're getting a lot of recognition."

Gotta love him.

In the same article, Tsai writes that Nate Ilaoa suffered a heel injury in the Purdue game, but should be good to go against the Beavers.

Yesterday, Ilaoa wore a medical boot on his left foot. He was limping.

He was diagnosed with a "heel contusion," and was placed on the "no practice" list.

But Ilaoa dismissed it as a "bruised heel," and said it would not prevent him from playing.

"It's nothing bad," Ilaoa said. "I should be good by Saturday."

Against Purdue, Ilaoa rushed 12 times for a career-high 159 yards and two touchdowns. He caught seven passes for 52 yards.

Glad to hear it's not too serious. I hope he has an amazing game on national TV!

In his weekly press conference, which you can view here, courtesy of the Advertiser, June Jones' addressed Joe Tiller's comments leading up to the game.

Jones said he wouldn't have made the comments Tiller made last week.

"I didn't think it helped his team try to win," Jones said.

He added: "I was more resentful (of the criticism) because it went national, and it downplays the state and Hawai'i more than the program. It's a lot of negative stuff that happens a lot in the newspaper that doesn't have to happen. This time, I don't blame (reporters) for writing it. It was said, and it really was a bad deal for Hawai'i, not just the school. It made it seem like we were cheaters."

Pac-10 officials were used for the game.

As for Smith, Jones said, "what I said about John L. on ESPN radio, I felt all along. He's a crybaby, and we beat him, just like we beat Purdue."

And if you want to hear what June Jones said on ESPN, here's a video, courtesy of YouTube and UHGPY72.



Dave Reardon writes that June Jones is confident about playing anybody in Aloha Stadium.

"I feel like right now, you bring anybody in here, no matter who it is, we're gonna have a chance to outscore 'em," Jones said. "Our defense is playing well enough. There's some areas we obviously have to get better in, both offensively and defensively. But we can compete with anybody at home."

Hawaii (10-2) leads the nation in scoring, total offense and passing offense. UH quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison -- not known for hyperbole -- said the Warriors offense "might be the best ever in college football."

Most of UH's offensive fireworks have been against Western Athletic Conference teams with poor defenses. But the Warriors piled up a season-high 653 yards and pulled out a 42-35 win in the fourth quarter against Purdue (8-5) of the Big Ten on Saturday. Jones said Boilermakers coach Joe Tiller -- whose team played against Notre Dame's Brady Quinn -- told him UH quarterback Colt Brennan is the best quarterback he's seen.

Well crap, let's nail down some teams for next year before they get too scared and back out! You know, like how the wusses at Michigan State are doing!

June also talks about how he'll deal with having five coaches for Oregon State who either coached or played for UH.

"I know that they'll have all the information they need to beat us," Jones said. "We're going to have to change some things. We're going to have to do some things differently. Which we will do, which we've had to do before, with coaches leaving and different things."

So watch out for the wishbone! Wouldn't it be nuts to have Nasti Nate, The Juggernaut and Jason Laumoli run it? Would have to call it the Big Boned Wishbone!

Ferd Lewis recounts some of the biggest wins in the June Jones era. Here's #2 on the list:

2. UH 72, BRIGHAM YOUNG 45, 2001

As sports writer Bill Kwon preaches, "any victory over BYU is a big win."

Well, this one was bigger than most. For not only did it put an exclamation point on a 9-3 season, the triumph before a sellout crowd and national cable audience ended the then-ninth-ranked Cougars' unbeaten (12-0) season and dashed any claims to a Bowl Championship Series berth.

Unfortunately, even the victory, stunning for its lopsidedness, couldn't get the Warriors into a bowl. There was no Hawai'i Bowl at the time and everybody else passed on the Warriors.

What a game that was!

Ferd Lewis writes that the Emerald Bowl might snatch a 6-6 UCLA team away from the Hawaii Bowl instead of taking a 7-5 Arizona State.

But Jim Muldoon, associate Pac-10 commissioner, said the conference asked the NCAA to clarify the policy and was told since the Hawai'i Bowl would have to take ASU if the Emerald Bowl passed on the Sun Devils, then the policy would still be met.

"We have to wait until the (Emerald Bowl) makes its pick," said Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl. "That's the way it was explained to us after the NCAA ruled."

Emerald Bowl spokesman Doug Kelly said the game hasn't decided whom it would take in the event USC wins and brings about a five-way tie of teams with 4-5 conference records. He said UCLA and Arizona State remain under consideration and a decision might not be made until after the USC-UCLA game.

But according to The Long Beach Press-Telegram, the bowl spokesman may say one thing, but the bowl director already has his heart set.

The San Francisco-based bowl is preparing to pit UCLA and Florida State in the Dec. 27 matchup at AT&T Park. The bowl s executive director, Gary Cavalli, said Monday the wheels are in motion to finalize the game.

I think it would be tremendous to have that type of matchup, Cavalli said. You have two of the best brands in college football. You have (Florida State coach) Bobby Bowden, who has the most wins in Division I, and UCLA with their following and the Los Angeles (television) market.

The matchup apparently has very little to do with the outcome of Saturday s contest between UCLA and USC. Although a win by the Bruins would leave them in fourth place in the Pacific-10 Conference, sources said the Las Vegas Bowl will take Oregon to face BYU, since UCLA played in Las Vegas in 2002 and 2004.

Oh well, I really want Hawaii to play UCLA, but if things play out the other way, at least Hawaii will play a team with a winning record.

Cliff Kirkpatrick of The Corvallis Gazette-Times has a preview of this Saturday's game.

“We are going to take our regular travel squad because it’s not a bowl game, so we can’t take everyone,” Riley said. “We’ll just play the game. We’ll play it to win.”

The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN, which gives both programs extra cash and TV time.

While the team would be resting and healing for the bowl game without this contest, Riley and the players would rather be on the field anyway. It’s what they do.

There’s an added bonus for some. Five members of the travel squad are from Hawaii, and there are 11 Hawaiians on the roster. The other six are redshirting.

For those going on the road, this is the biggest game of the year.

“It’s huge,” said defensive end Naymon Frank, who is from Honolulu. “We get to see family and friends.

“And I grew up watching games in Aloha Stadium.”

The stadium should be rocking!

And finally, rounding out this extremely long post, Adam Leonard will be the guest live-chatter at Stephen Tsai's Warrior Beat blog at 10:30am HST today. Be there!