Hawaii coach admits he was joking about requesting Michigan game film

(Updated)

Hawaii football coach Nick Rolovich told ESPN Radio on Thursday that he was joking about requesting film from Michigan.

“This has taken on a life of its own — I need to watch what I say, I think,” he said on ESPN Radio’s Russillo and Kanell show today. “I was actually just joking it’d be fair if they just sent us a practice film or scrimmage film, that’d be fair. But it kind of blew up from there. There was never any real interaction or discussion of this. We’re on a 10-hour plane. It all happened when we’re on a 10-hour plane and took off from there.”

Harbaugh had disputed the request for film Thursday morning on WXYT-FM (97.1).

“I don’t know anything about it, any request for a scrimmage tape or a practice tape, if somebody mentioned that,” he said. “I’m not aware of any requests that the University of Hawaii made for practice tape or scrimmage tape. I don’t know anything about it.”

(Original post)

As Hawaii prepares for its game against Michigan, it will have to do so with little help from the Wolverines.

[Check out Dr. Saturday on Tumblr for entertaining things you won’t see on the blog]

Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich told reporters Tuesday he asked Michigan for scrimmage film to help his team prepare for Saturday’s game. He said he thought it was only fair considering Hawaii already played a national televised game against Cal, which gave Michigan film to scout.

“With them not having a game and us having a game, we asked if they would send us their scrimmage,” Rolovich said. “But they wouldn’t. … So there’s a little bit of uncertainty on our side.”

Michigan isn’t obligated to give Hawaii any film and it is unlikely it would have leveled the playing field anyway. Hawaii, which is coming off a season opening 51-31 loss to Cal, is a 40.5-point underdog, the largest point spread between two teams from the FBS.

[Visit Dr. Saturday on Facebook for stories you might have missed and chat with the writers]

Rolovich understands Michigan’s reluctance to give Hawaii any information, especially since the Wolverines haven’t made their starting quarterback publicly known.

[ STACK: How Clemson’s Watson prepared for the biggest season in school history ]

“I guess they’re trying to hide the quarterback for a reason,” Rolovich said. “I guess it’s a little bit of a strategery and maybe something for us to talk about, but there’s enough to worry about than us worrying about who the quarterback’s going to be. Anything can happen in 60 minutes. The ball’s funny shaped and bounces funny sometimes.”

[Visit Dr. Saturday on Facebook for stories you might have missed and chat with the writers]

– – – – – – –

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday