UH vs Nevada Wrap-Ups

Here's a scoring breakdown and game stats from the Advertiser.

Stephen Tsai has a lot of great quotes in his wrap-up. Here are some excerpts, including the Iceman talking about having to kick the game-winning field goal twice:

"The first one was really ugly," Kelly said of what essentially became a practice kick. "It was a hooker. It looks better for ESPN if the kick is nice."

Awww yeah. Bess talks about Tyler:

"We have so much faith in Tyler," said left slotback Davone Bess, who caught 12 passes for 137 yards. "It goes back to practice. He works so hard."

And about winning it for Tim Grasso:

"We wanted to win it for Tim," Ryan Grice-Mullins said of holder Tim Grasso, whose grandfather Tony died on Tuesday. Grasso wore a T on his left sleeve, and his emotions on the other.

"It was so emotional for me," said Grasso, who attended a wake on Wednesday and rejoined the team Thursday. "I wanted this so much.

Grice-Mullins said: "That's what this year is about. Not just winning, but playing for each other. We love each other. We're brothers. That's why I have tears in my eyes. We did it for each other."

Dave Reardon's wrap-up has some quotes from the coaches.

"We're not just Colt Brennan. We have a lot of good players and they all raised their game," UH coach June Jones said.

"Everyone is always talking about that offense, but they are a good solid defense," Nevada coach Chris Ault said.

Here's more from Dan Kelly, in an article by Robert Perea.

"A kick is a kick, whether it's a PAT, or 45-yarder, it's what we train for," Kelly said, sipping a Diet Pepsi outside the Warriors' locker room. "The only kickers who miss after getting iced are the ones who think about getting iced.

"You've got to keep the mindset that it's just another kick," he added. "You can train for that kind of pressure if you have the right mindset."

Before Kelly's attempt, injured quarterback Colt Brennan gave the junior kicker a tap on the helmet and reaffirmed something Kelly already knew.

"He just told me he believed in me," Kelly said. "Just like we have faith in Colt and the rest of our teammates, they have faith in me. It's a family and we're all brothers."

Ferd Lewis has a great column about the Warriors' come-from-behind victory.

In those agonizing final moments, the Warriors were led by Graunke, a quarterback who believed in his abilities even when an Aloha Stadium crowd had chanted for his replacement two months ago, and Dan Kelly, a kicker whose confidence Nevada couldn't rattle with timeouts.

"It is tremendous testimony to the kids," head coach June Jones marveled. "They really believe in each other, trust each other,"

And they picked each other up. "Colt was there for me (on the sideline) calming me down," Graunke said. "I owed it to him."

Billy Hull writes about Tyler Graunke's big night.

Thrust into the starting lineup in place of an injured Colt Brennan, Graunke completed 33 of 46 passes for 358 yards and two touchdowns.

More importantly, he led the team on a 61-yard drive in the final 2:16 to set up the game-winning field goal by Dan Kelly.

"Tyler has been practicing the 2-minute drill for almost four years and made it work," Hawaii coach June Jones said.

"Whenever I get called upon I just do what I can to help my team win," Graunke said. "I prepared myself all season for situations like this."

Hull also has details about Hawaii's crazy opening drive.

Hawaii opened the game by giving Nevada many different looks at quarterback. Graunke completed the first pass of the game before giving way to Brennan. Later on the opening drive, Inoke Funaki took two snaps as all three quarterbacks saw action in the opening minutes.

"(Nevada) had two weeks to practice," Jones said. "I just wanted to give them something else to think about for awhile."

Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette-Journal has a wrap-up. Here's an excerpt about the last drive:

His backup, Tyler Graunke, engineered the game-winning drive. The Warriors took over at the Nevada 12 with two minutes, 10 seconds left to play, and Graunke completed 7-of-11 passes for 61 yards to set up Kelly. The drive included a crucial 13-yard pass on third-and-6 from the Pack 45.

"I know he's a gamer," Jones said of Graunke. "He plays under pressure. He's a competitive kid. I'm proud if him."

Here's a game summary by Darrell Moody of the Nevada Appeal.

Brennan? Hawaii don't need no stinkin' Colt Brennan to have success in the first half.

Brennan played two plays in the first half, completing two passes for 26 yards. Most of the half was turned over to Graunke, who completed 15 of 18 for 123 yards and a score. Graunke engineered three scoring drives, scoring himself on a 7-yard run.

The Star-Bulletin Notebook details a big stop by the UH defense.

With Hawaii out of timeouts and 3 minutes remaining, Nevada had a third down in Warrior territory. Holding onto a one-point lead, a first-down conversion would have allowed the Wolf Pack to run out the clock.

The Wolf Pack's 48th rushing attempt of the game went to Brandon Fragger up the middle. Safety Desmond Thomas, who was thrust back into the starting lineup just last week after an injury to Keao Monteilh, filled the hole immediately and stopped Fragger well short of the marker.

"It's my job to make that play," Thomas said. "I figured they were going to run the ball. They had been doing that all night."

Mike Fitzgerald gets reaction from the Nevada coaches and players.

"They're a good team," Kaepernick said. "They can play. That's why they're undefeated and where they are today."

Defensive tackle Matt Hines was still in shock afterward.

"I'd rather lose by 50 points than like that by two," he said. "It was a tough game. We should have come out on top.

"A lot of guys were yelling and screaming in there (the locker room), but we have two more games left and a chance to go 7-5. We don't need to keep our heads down. We played a good game."

Ault just shook his head when asked if holding high-scoring Hawaii to 28 points should have meant a certain victory.

"We don't talk about holding a team to a certain number of points," he said. "We just needed to find a way to score more than they did."

Is Hawaii a BCS team?

"Yes," Ault said. "They definitely are."

ESPN's Mark Schlabach has a quote from Colt, who talks about his status leading up to this game.

"We just wanted to keep it a secret," Brennan said. "We didn't want to give Nevada a whole week to prepare knowing that I wasn't going to play. The whole goal was to make it seem like I could play and I might play, and you never really know what could happen as the game goes on. If the game had gone a different direction, maybe I would have got in there more. But because Tyler was playing so well, we decided to let him stick it out."

Sneaky! However, as Ferd Lewis details, ESPN almost blew Colt's cover.

University of Hawai'i head coach June Jones' attempts to keep the Warriors' starting quarterback decision under wraps was spoiled Thursday evening when an ESPN staffer leaked the information from a supposed embargoed production meeting, UH officials said.

ESPN put out a news bulletin that Colt Brennan would not start and later that night, after protests from UH, retracked the bulletin.

Jones regularly meets with ESPN crews before games to help them plan their camera and coverage plans. Information supplied at those meetings, UH says, is provided with the understanding it is not to be made public until the game.

June Jones praises Nevada running back Luke Lippincott in this article by Steve Ranson.

"He's a very north-south guy, a blue collar running back," said UH coach June Jones. "Every time he's getting hit, he's falling forward."

Jones said Lippincott's direct style of running fits Nevada's offense.

"It's perfect for what they are trying to do for a back," he said.

Will Hoover talks to some fans who watched the game at Murphy's Bar and Grill.

For Eric Wahilani of Wai'anae, the come-from-behind win in the final seconds was cathartic.

"Double high-fives!" he screamed until he was hoarse as he bulled his way up and down the street between Bethel and Nu'uanu smacking hands with everyone in his path. "Ten in a row! Ten in a row!

"I've been a fan of UH football since I was a kid — my whole life. Hawai'i has never got any respect."

Robert Shikina was also at Murphy's.

"Thought it would be fun," Don Murphy said, adding that some of the proceeds would help the Hawaii Children's Cancer Foundation. "What better way to celebrate our 20th anniversary?"

Marion Murphy said they could have had a rock band to celebrate but felt Hawaii football was a perfect fit.

"I love this," she said behind her brown-framed glasses. "These guys have so much heart."

And finally, here's a postgame extra segment from the ESPN broadcasters who called the game.