|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TICKETCITY CACTUS BOWL: WASHINGTON v OKLAHOMA STATEDecember 31, 2014Hau'Oli KikahaTEMPE, ARIZONA THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. What do you see from Oklahoma State on tape? HAU'OLI KIKAHA: Solid offense. Running the ball effectively, converting on third downs. Pretty good offense, man. Solid. They can really throw the ball. They have some strong arms, some good receivers. All around a good challenge for us. Q. Not very often three guys on a defense, much less three guys that play in front of a defense, all gather All‑American honors. It looks like the three of you guys worked so much in concert, like Danny's success feeds your success, so on. HAU'OLI KIKAHA: It will be like that on any kind of team. Any offenses will focus on certain individuals of whom they choose, and it frees up other guys to get one‑on‑ones or plays to make in space. The better guys you have on the team, the more opportunities you'll have as an individual. Q. Oklahoma State, they have about six, seven, Polynesian players on their team. Is it good to see Polynesian players getting that respect and now starting to be recruited outside of the West Coast and Utah? HAU'OLI KIKAHA: It's really cool. I'm always happy for our people, I guess you could say. As long as they're doing things right and dominating on the field, it's really cool to see. Q. They have a quarterback with two starts under his belt. How difficult is it to scout a quarterback like that? HAU'OLI KIKAHA: You have to look at the plays he's been in, analyze what he does well, analyze what he doesn't. Obviously our job is to get after quarterbacks, get into their heads as much as possible. That will be the case Friday night. Q. What have you seen on film from the offense and who do they compare to? HAU'OLI KIKAHA: Gosh, I don't know if I can make any comparisons because they've been doing things better than a few guys in our conference that are comparable. Yeah, man, they have a solid offense that can run the ball and throw as effectively. They have really good protection lately. Obviously they won their last couple games. Those were dogfights. I'm excited for the challenge. Q. Do you feel like this team has a lot of momentum and you have to play your best to win a game like this, that just had a dogfight to get into a bowl game? HAU'OLI KIKAHA: Well, I mean, you always have to play your best game, especially in our conference, then against guys that are lined up against you that are seen as equal. Of course, we have to play our best game on Friday, try not to have any errors, just attack. Q. How do you feel you're playing as a defense right now? HAU'OLI KIKAHA: We haven't played for a month and a half, so I don't know (laughter). Well, it hasn't been a month and a half, but it feels like that long. In conference play, we did pretty good, but not good enough, to be honest. We had a lot of bend‑but‑don't‑break moments. We need to play better smash‑mouth football. Q. What was it like when Shaq came back? HAU'OLI KIKAHA: It was good to have him back. Love seeing him play, regardless of where he's at. But, yeah, having him next to me was pretty cool, watching him hit people. It's awesome. He's a vicious player, a good tackler. I was always glad to have him there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|