Quick Reads

I spoke briefly with Mike Cavanaugh this morning. I asked him point-blank if he might be returning to the University of Hawaii football coaching staff. “I’m not talking about all that stuff, any of that business stuff,” Cavanaugh said. “But I love all of you. Mele Kalikimaka.” A couple of hours after this initial post, a source close to the situation told me Cavanaugh will not be joining the UH staff. Too bad. While it was a longshot, it would’ve […]

Hercules Mata’afa became the second Polynesian College Football Player of the Year from a Hawaii high school in the four years of the award’s existence today. Mata’afa, a defensive lineman from Lahainaluna who plays for Washington State, joins Marcus Mariota (Saint Louis School/Oregon, 2014), Ronnie Stanley (Notre Dame, 2015) and Sefo Liufau (Colorado, 2016) as a recipient of the award given by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. The fourth-year junior was named the Pac-12 conference’s Defensive Player of the […]

The 45 minutes I got to talk with Dino Babers on Tuesday morning resulted in some of the most enjoyable conversation I’ve had with anyone in a long time. The Syracuse football coach with the strong Hawaii ties is a breath of fresh air. Quite a bit of what we talked about didn’t make it into Wednesday’s column, so here are some of the leftovers. Our conversation was mostly about Babers’ connections to the islands. “Outside of game-day at Aloha […]

Here’s how I voted in this week’s Associated Press college football poll, with some additional information about who these teams have beaten and who they play this week. I really wanted to vote for Iowa State somewhere in the poll since the Cyclones knocked off Oklahoma. But how do you do that when Oklahoma beat Ohio State, which is getting into full gear now? Three voters — Kellis Robinett, Chris Murray and Gary Horowitz — did vote for ISU, 23rd […]

For about five seconds on Saturday, I thought about putting Georgia at No. 1. Then I remembered what Oklahoma did to Ohio State, and saw Clemson and Alabama play in the late games. This week’s “OK, I was wrong:” Yes, Washington State took advantage of an overrated USC,and at home, but we’re now at a point where 5-0 with a win against a very talented but flawed team means quite a bit. This week’s “Maybe I am on to something:” […]