Wednesday News - Washington

I liked the format of yesterday's news post, so I'll stick with it today:

Washington News:

John Boyle of HeraldNet talks to Huskies offensive coordinator about their gameplan.

"We've got to be able to run the football," offensive coordinator Tim Lappano said. "It's really important that we're able to run the football and manage the clock. You're not going to be able to shut them out. You try to slow them down, and I don't think anybody has done that, that I'm aware of. So it's really important that we stay on the field and convert third downs."

Christian Caple of The Daily, a Washington student paper, has an article about the Huskies wanting to defeat a second WAC team this year.

“I think the Pac-10 is a strong league this year,” Locker said. “The Pac-10’s really done a lot of good things for itself … Being able to go in and beat a nationally ranked Hawaii team that’s playing really good football would just kind of solidify that feeling of how good the Pac-10 is this year.”

Molly Yanity of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a profile of Adam Leonard.

Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times profiles Colt Brennan, and talks to him about the game, the season, the BCS hopes.

John McGrath of The News Tribune is a little worried about the game.

Don Ruiz of The News Tribune has an article about June Jones and what he has brought to Hawaii's football program.


Hawaii News:

Alexandre Da Silva writes that the Warriors' success is helping the economy, especially restaurants and bars with lots of TVs.

Dan Nakaso has an article about the frenzy over UH merchandise.

Brian McInnis talks to Herman Frazier, who asks the fans who may rush the field this Saturday to have some respect for the seniors and let them do their Senior Walk. Let me also add -- "Don't steal their helmets."

On the same page, Dave Reardon profiles Ryan Mouton.

Reardon and Billy Hull have a Sports Notebook with an injury update on Francis Maka, details of Davone Bess being reprimanded by the WAC, and Seattle native Adam Leonard's Washington connections.

Ferd Lewis writes about a yet-to-be-announced party/event surrounding the BCS selection show on Sunday.

Stephen Tsai has injury updates on Jacob Patek, Adam Leonard, Francis Maka and Dan Kelly. He also writes about Leon Wright-Jackson practicing with the scout team to give the UH defense a good look, and has details on the generosity of Sacramento Kings owners, the Maloof brothers.

"June Jones' team is such fun to watch," Maloof said. "I've never had so much fun."

The brothers are putting their money where their heart is. Last month, they donated $50,000 to Na Koa, the football program's booster club, to double the Warriors' annual recruiting budget.

They also wrote a $25,000 check to the June Jones Foundation.

And now, the brothers will establish a scholarship in Jones' name. Joe Maloof said the scholarship, valued at about $15,000 annually, will go to a player who has completed his NCAA eligibility but "still has more school left. We'll pay for the extra year."

That is pretty cool. I think I'm a Kings fan.

Ferd Lewis writes that the UH-Boise game gave ESPN some of good ratings.

ESPN was also rejoicing after the game produced the largest audience, 2,647,000 households, of its 14 Friday night college football games on ESPN or ESPN2 this season. And the WAC is hopeful it will be ammunition for an improved network television contract.

"That (2.8 share) was also ESPN2's best rating (overall) of 2007, a great rating," said Mike Humes, an ESPN spokesman.

The article also discusses the current contract between the WAC and ESPN, and hopes for a bigger payday when it's renewed.

And Michael Tsai talks to Herman Frazier, who discusses the Boise game, and responds to some comments made by ESPN's Sean McDonough about June Jones' contract and the state of the athletic facilities.

UPDATE: Dave Reardon has an advisory from Aloha Stadium's Lois Manin and Scott Chan asking people not to rush the field this Saturday so the Senior Walk can proceed unencumbered. And also news about today's practice:

The UH football practice this morning was called off midway through the two-hour session due to continual heavy rain making the grass field unusable.

UPDATE: The plan now is to complete practice at 4 p.m. at Aloha Stadium. This session will be closed to the public.