Where does this one rank?
By Dave Reardon
Dan Kelly kicked a 33-yard field goal in overtime, lifting Hawaii to a 32-29 overtime upset victory at Fresno State. … Good for you true believers out there!!! … It’s one of Hawaii’s biggest football road wins, ever. How do you think it rates compared to other biggies, like the 1955 win over Nebraska, or the one at Washington? … WAC Player of the Week nominees will be Inoke Funaki, Keao Monteilh and Dan Kelly, according to Derek Inouchi. … The team is in Oakland now, and returns to Hawaii around 11 a.m. Sunday.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Dave…sweet victory! Glad I was proved wrong:-).
October 4th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Yeah baby! I always believed! It’s always sweeter when the win comes against Fresno and moreso when you do it on the road and EVEN MORESO when Fresno is ranked! Great job team and coaches!! Great job!
October 4th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Shame on me! I had predicted that Fresno would rip UH apart like Florida or OSU did. Sorry. I should
have more faith in our team. Hopefully, Hawaii guys will get on a roll for the rest of the season.
Go Warriors!
October 4th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
I’ll eat my words. I didn’t think they had a chance, I thought Funaki would play badly, and I thought the coaches didn’t know what they were doing.
I was wrong. I am dumb. I don’t know what I am talking about. I am not a true fan.
Good job warriors.
October 4th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I also have to admit I was wrong, since I picked Fresno State to win in Football Fever, and wrote in a column this week it would take a miracle for Hawaii to win. Does six turnovers count as a miracle?
October 5th, 2008 at 4:44 am
The season started with hope, then despair and gloom for the rest of the season. No quarterback, no fast wideouts, no protection. The defense played good, but was always put in bad field positions. The coaches were holding back and waited for the WAC season. The finally used what we all saw to help the team succeed. We are happy again for 1 week. Play good the rest of the season, we will be happy, win or lose. Well, maybe on lose. Go Warriors!!!!
October 5th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Awesome…and I hate the nailbiter endings!!
We did much better in terms of keeping level heads, although we did get called for a few questionable penalties.
All in all, great performance. I was glad that Mac finally let Inoke go the distance and take the team to the wire. I was concerned as Fresno State chipped away at our huge lead, but gotta love the cool under pressure Dan Kelly!!
I think we are now on track to have a good showing in the WAC! LA Tech should be a decent game, but I think the Warriors will roll over them. I would love to see the boys celebrating another road victory on the blue turf in 2 weeks too.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:41 am
glad to see UH is playing to their strengths (running more)…that san jose state game is gonna haunt them
October 5th, 2008 at 7:15 am
This is big time for UH modern time! Especially beating a “Ranked” team in that teams own backyard! Pat Hills Fresno State Bulldogs has a great program and this win should be up there with the wins at Washington & Nebraska.
As for the comments of admitting you were wrong about the Warriors and last nights game, it takes a lot of courage to admit it and I have respect for you!
We may not win all of our remaining games but I know coach MacMackin and the other coaches will have the team play hard, together and be competitive! It’s always tough during transition years and coaching changes so we all need to be patient!
The Hawaii Warriors are a program that is on the rise in sports and hopefully, the locals & Alumni will continue to support it!
I live in Los Angeles now and was at a USC game with 92,000 screaming fanatic fans and now know why they are so successful!
Aloha to my home & people!
Manny
October 5th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I said it last week, “of course we got a chance to win, that’s why they play the game.” Man I feel good right now. This ranks as high as any of the wins we had last year. Go Warriors!!
October 5th, 2008 at 9:16 am
football fever also got kekaula, curran, akana, lanai, and arnett. too bad so sad.
incredible is having to play against your opponents and wac officials. the doubters think we stole this game. our coaches and players deserve more respect then that.
we took it to their offense, defense , and special teams from the beginning to end. i’m happy for coach mac, his staff, and our players. inoke did what i always new he could do that is play a good game. if he now steps up to take the leadership role with this team under his wings, we can look forward to a great year and even better next.
go warriors!
October 5th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Dave,
You forgot to add the one-side officiating into part of the miracle mix. Congratulations
Coach Mac. Congratulations Warriors!
October 5th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Has to rank in the top three UH upsets. Only crazy people, and the faithful, thought UH had a shot. This is cotton candy sweet, especially for Funaki. Again, he can play. Fresno must be “the most humbleist place on earth” this morning. Nice article in Fresno about Jones, but with a big road win against a ranked team, has the ghost of June Jones finally left the islands? Ese, we don’t need no stinkin’ June Jones!
October 5th, 2008 at 10:24 am
I hate to rain on this parade, but while Keao got those two picks, he gave up some huge runs by missing assignments and tackles. He shouldn’t have been Def POW nominee. That should go to Solly.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Dave,
Thanks for all your hard work and honesty. I kept the faith and plan to for a few more years with this coaching staff. Minus the turnovers during the San Jose game i thought i saw significant improvement in ST and O and was hoping for more in Fresno which the team did. I hoping for more improvement in all future games and in keeping with trying my best to be the best 12th Warrior I can….will continue to keep the faith. Go Warriors!
October 5th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Jdawg,
Unfortunately, the guys who have the best chance to win POTW are the ones with eye-popping stats, like 2 INTs. Like other awards, there are probably linemen grading out 99-100 percent who deserve these awards, but don’t get them because they don’t generate stats that make the box score. These are the guys who get their rewards in the film room on Monday. The coaches know and players know who they are.
Three names come quickly to mind as dudes who graded out awesome nearly every week but would have nearly no shot at player of the week: Lance Samuseva, Mike Lafaele and Jake Ingram. Samuseva once graded out at 100 percent … never went to the ground the entire game and did his job every play, while also coaching up Isaac Sopoaga. … Ingram, the UH long snapper, is considered a can’t miss NFL prospect. The only time he’s ever been quoted in the papers after a game was at Boise two years ago when the PAT team had all those problems. But he may be the UH player best at his job the past four years … yes, including Colt Brennan. They tie for bad games in their career with one each, and in both cases a lot of it wasn’t their fault.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Any road win for Hawaii is big. For the sake of team’s psych, this win against the 22nd ranked FSU was great.
Two weeks in a row, football fans in Hawaii are reminded that turn-overs are critical in determining the outcome of the game. There’s no doubt that FSU is a superior team, except that Hawaii scored more points than they did because they dominated the turn-over battle. This win reminds me of Bob Wagner’s road win against Cal in the early 90s. That team blocked two punts and got the improbable win, despite being a 17-point underdog. It’s sweet when Hawaii wins on the road as a huge underdog. BTW, Wagner’s team fell apart after that win over Cal. Hopefully, this year’s team will use this win at FSU as the turning point. Go Warriors!
October 5th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Awesome game. I had a gut feeling, and said the other day that this team fit the underdog role. Great special teams play. Great defensive play. Pretty good offensive play. I will say that the roll out pass that they installed for Inoke is a killer. It looks like Inoke’s arm is strongest on the move. That roll out pass with 8 seconds left to Salas should have been caught and taken in for six. Salas knows, but don’t worry about him. He will emerge as a great reciever. As far as how this win ranks: Yeah, I would say it is up there with the best. Fresno is not an easy place to win. Especially with the type of team that Pat Hill has this year. Great game.
October 5th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Great game Warriors!!! It was worth staying up way late to watch it. The way UH has been playing, I thought Fresno would stomp the Warriors. Luckily I was wrong and the Warriors stepped up their play and won. The game was exciting and the only thing that came close to ruining the game was the officiating.
I hope the Warriors continue to throw the ball deep now and then to keep the opponents defense honest and give Inoke more opportunities to blaze down the field and pick up big yards when the opportunity presents itself. Inoke overall was impressive throughout the game and showed great leadership by never giving up and keeping the Warriors in the game. I still think Inoke would be great in the slot or backfield because he has great running skills and instincts. Combine those with the fact he knows the plays/routes and he could really rack up stats and showcase his many talents. Awesome game Inoke and I hope you have many more great games ahead!
October 5th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Those who predicted the Warriors would lose are fairweather fans. I was at the Fresno game and I always think the Warriors will win no matter who they play. Chee Whoo!
October 10th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I think the Spartans finally have a shot to win the WAC championship. Boise and Fresno at home. Nevada on the road, Hawai’i already beaten.
Go Spartans!