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The best of college football on show in Sydney

Hawaii football shirt (Twitter)
Expert
25th August, 2016
3

Total commitment and playing for one another are the keys to victory for University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors according to head coach Nick Rolovich.

The Univeristy of California Golden Bears are 20-point favourites to claim the College Football Sydney Cup at ANZ Stadium tomorrow.

Asked by The Roar if the betting markets were a fair representation of the difference between the two sides, at least on paper, Rolovich replied: “Oh, I don’t know. I mean, that’s hard for me to talk about. I just hope our guys play 60 minutes as hard as they can.”

“You know, it’s a funny-shaped ball and it bounces different ways, so if we play hard and we play smart and we play unselfishly, those bounces usually can go your way. So that’s how we’re approaching it.”

Rolovich firmly believes that if players have the right attitude, then a good result is always possible no matter the odds.

“Oh, anything can happen in this game, yeah,” he said. “Anything can happen.”

Rolovich agreed that the fact the two teams had been taken out of their comfort zone to play in unfamiliar conditions on the other side of the world could make the game less predictable than some people think.

“It could, I guess that’s true,” he says. “We don’t travel many times where we’re closer (to the playing venue) than the opponent, so I told my guys I don’t want to hear any whining, that’s not what this is about.

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“We’re coming down and we’re excited to start playing this season. We’re honoured to play down here.”

“Australia, in general has been such a great friend and partner to our university in Hawaii that being able to come down and kind of somewhat repay for the guys who have come and played on the football team, I think it’s a nice way to give back.

“Being here for almost a week I think has definitely helped with jet-lag and that. I don’t think it was a huge acclimation process. We’ve done some reading and it might be harder on the way back, so we’ll try to prepare for that, but I think our guys, our team and our staff, have adjusted really well.”

“We’ve got to do the little things right and no matter what offence or defence you run you’ve got to take care of the football, you’ve got to limit the explosive plays and try to get explosive plays offensively, you’ve got to be good tacklers. I mean, it’s not a real complicated game.”

Quarterback Davis Webb will be playing his first game for the University of California after switching from Texas Tech, where he spent three years.

Rolovich expected Webb would make things difficult for Hawaii despite the pressure of playing in a new team.

“I’ve had one interaction with him and he seemed like a great young man,” Rolovich said.

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“He’s been through adversity, I think he’s got a fresh start and by all accounts he’s the real deal.

“I think that’s hard to bet on, that he’s going to be feeling a little bit of pressure. I’m sure he’s very excited for the opportunity and coming behind Jared Goff (the former University of California quarterback who was first pick in this year’s NFL draft).

“I think it’s a great opportunity for him and he’s going to pose us some challenges by his physical ability and his comfort level with the offence.

“I mean, it’s not like there’s a real big learning curve for him. He’ll probably fit right in real smooth and that’s evidenced by how quickly he was named the starter and how quickly he was voted a captain. I think that’s important.”

The match kicks off at 12pm AEST.

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