June Jones: Bring on the best

The Hawaii coach feels the Warriors are capable of competing with anyone

Oregon State is next on the schedule, but June Jones and his Warriors are ready for the world. The Hawaii coach feels his team can compete with the best in college football, and he wants to expand the game internationally.

At his weekly news conference yesterday, Jones addressed a comment he made after Saturday's victory over Purdue about being able to beat top-ranked and undefeated Ohio State. He also revisited the topic of marketing UH football and playing games in Asia and Australia.

When asked about the Ohio State remark, Jones said the No. 24 Warriors -- who have won nine straight and seven in a row at home -- can compete with anyone at 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.

Hawaii has a chance to improve its national standing again Saturday against the Beavers of the Pac-10. Oregon State (8-4) counts No. 2 USC among the teams it has beaten this season. UH is favored by more than a touchdown.

"I know they're a very good football team defensively. They do a lot of different things, give you a lot of different looks," Jones said. "They've got a great running back (Yvenson Bernard, 1,102 yards). They're a very talented team. They've beat some pretty good football teams."

The Beavers also have five coaches who coached and/or played at UH. Jones said the presence of Mark Banker, Mike Cavanaugh, Greg Newhouse, Joe Seumalo and Brian Smith on the OSU staff forces some adjustments.

"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."

Speaking of doing things differently, Jones talked again about one of his favorite out-of-the-box -- actually, out-of-the-country -- projects.

"We need to still look at international marketing. It's the only way we're going to be able to overcome in Hawaii," Jones said. "We've got to bring in more revenue to go to the next level. To be somewhere where you'd like to be, you'd better have something to offer. Right now we don't have that."

Jones and Fresno State coach Pat Hill have discussed playing in Japan and Australia. Jones also wants to expand to China.

"Marketing, playing there, all those things. They're all part of the same picture. TV, logos, the whole deal. Japan, Asia, Beijing. All those places I've mentioned before," he said.

UH has nine of 13 games set for next season. Jones said it is unlikely an overseas game could be scheduled for 2007, but he did not know if it is impossible.

"There's some NCAA regs on it, there's some other things. I know that we've been talking to Australia, looking at it. To be honest I haven't talked to those people since the season started. But we've had some serious discussions about it and they made a trip up here," Jones said. "I would not think that a year from now is not doable. But I would say '08 makes more sense."

UH has two nonleague games scheduled for 2008: Aug. 30 at Florida and Nov. 29 at home against Washington State.

Biting his tongue, sort of:

Jones said he resisted the temptation to talk to Purdue coach Joe Tiller about comments Tiller made before last week's game about not wanting to play at Hawaii. Tiller's remarks included accusations of biased officiating by WAC crews. A Pac-10 crew handled Saturday's game.

"I thought about it, but I'm older and wiser," Jones said. "I was more resentful because it goes national and it downplays the state and Hawaii more than the program. And it really was a bad deal for Hawaii, not just the school. Made it seem like we're cheaters."

Tiller said he was warned by John L. Smith and Randy Walker, then the coaches at Michigan State and Northwestern, to not play at Hawaii because of the officiating.

"He's a crybaby," Jones said of Smith. "And we beat 'em. Just like we beat Purdue."

Tickets scarce:

Around 1,000 tickets for Saturday's game remained available yesterday afternoon, Jones said. It will probably be the first home sellout since the 2005 season opener against USC.

"I think it's proven out that winning has more to do with it than anything else," Jones said.

Jones among finalists:

Jones is among nine finalists for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.

The other finalists are Houston's Art Briles, Michigan's Lloyd Carr, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe, BYU's Bronco Mendenhall, Arkansas' Houston Nutt, Boise State's Chris Petersen, Rutgers' Greg Schiano, and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops.

Haka challenged:

The team ritual of performing haka dances has been challenged by a UH faculty member, questioning if infringement of a copyright owned by the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team is occurring.

"At this point, we do not believe we are performing a haka that violates any of these copyright laws," Frazier said in an e-mail yesterday. "Our legal services are taking a look at the issue.

"We believe that everyone has a right to build a performance, haka or otherwise, that is within reason."