Warriors seek second-half rally
In Nevada, the shortest line is at the cashier’s window, a reflection on the difficulty in getting paid.
The image, in Reno this past weekend, is a metaphor to the Warriors’ current predicament. This is supposed to be the Warriors’ payoff year. They entered the season with a senior-heavy offensive line, a returning starting quarterback, stars at key positions, and a manageable 12-game schedule with two byes. Instead, the Warriors closed the first half of the regular season at 2-4 overall and 0-3 in the Mountain West.
The Warriors have rallied from more difficult situations. In 2001, they opened 1-2 — one of the loses was in a rescheduled Nevada game — before surging to win eight of the next nine. That finish led to the creation of the Hawaii Bowl. In 2004, the Warriors fell to 4-5 after 70-14 smackdown by Fresno State. The Warriors then won four in a row, a streak that featured back-to-back (controversial) victories over Big Ten teams (Northwestern and Michigan State).
There is historical evidence the Warriors can rebound … or not. Cleaning up self-inflicted mistakes could pay off.
Great Morning All!
Fix it!
16 points? Pfffttt…
56 – 14 Akamai Okole
10 campuses? 3 offering 4 year degrees? 1.1 Billion dollar budget? 1 Campus competes directly with Manoa sort of? No money, sure for me not for you! Very short sided ill managed-
A better way to put it instead of no money and the nicer way of saying it is there are not enough people in Hawaii that care about Hawaii football to put in the kind of money to help the program succeed. Most people spend money out of their discretionary funds. If that is not enough to help the program, then so be it.
Hawaii WILL have intermittent success. It just won’t have long term success like Boise State. The programs with the money wins. I will continue to support the football program by going to games. But, I don’t anticipate long term success (20 + yrs of 1st or 2nd place in mwc). That is just being realistic. Until, the next run that Hawaii has in the mwc, we will continue to hope and live through the 56 – 14 years to get through the down years.
The tough decisions must be made.
A saying goes, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”.
The biggest challenge for our relatively new head coach is what program changing decisions will he make?
Whatever he decides it will be his first time, right or wrong he must decide and carve a new path.
Perhaps and I am sure that he has or will be calling upon several of his mentors June Jones, Chris Alt, Dick Tomey, George Rush and the like to seek counsel.
Rolo is a smart man and I trust he will do the right thing.
I guess some people don’t get it. This state doesn’t have the money to compete at the level of Boise State year after year for 20 years plus years. There are not enough people in Hawaii that care enough about Hawaii football to spend that kind of money to make an impact. I know Hawaii will win again. And, then the cycle will start and they will lose again. That is the landscape of college football. The programs with money wins.
We all can vent our frustrations. That’s good. But that’s it. Seeing some changes are ok. But seeing drastic changes just won’t happen. We enjoy the times Hawaii wins and are disappointed in the times Hawaii loses. That’s how it is.
Instead of talking about it, we all can do our part to help support our UH football program–if each one of you just donates $25 (price of dinner); and 40,000 fans do this, we will have $1M raised.
You can do this by clicking on the bottom of this link:
https://www.uhfoundation.org/impact/students/warrior-nation
I firmly believe our road trip schedule of flying out late on Thursdays (sometimes red-eye overnight like the Wyoming trip) plays havoc with the team’s body clock (maybe coaches too); and is affecting their play in this part of the season.
Can they change it to leaving in the morning instead?
ps: didn’t like our defensive play of blitzing everyone on Nevada’s 4th down and 7; late in the game; where their RB slipped out of the backfield for an easy swing pass to score a TD. In fact, we should do more swing passes to DSJ or RT in our play calling.
As for this loss to Nevada; I think this was simply the case of OVER-CONFIDENCE–which can kill anyone. Everyone including the fans thought this would be an easy win vs a 0-5 team, that even lost to Idaho St. at home.
Plus the refs didn’t help–as someone mentioned they wanted Reno to win because of what happened in Vegas.
You cannot even get 40,000 fans to come to Aloha stadium. If there were 40,000 Tom’s, then we would have $1 million dollars. For me, I am content on spending on tickets for at least 3 – 4 home games per year out of my discretionary funds.
I can vent my frustration’s on this blog because I can. But, if my 4 games are not enough, oh well too bad. I enoy when Hawaii wins and is disappointed when they lose. That’s life.
On the bright side; our OL might still be the best in our conference!
And Diocemy St Juste & John Ursua could snatch All-American honors at the end of the year!
We still need to build on these strengths; and focus on our weaknesses!
What:
not talking about just 40,000 fans coming to Aloha Stadium; but you are forgetting the thousands of fans all across the nation and world; plus the neighbor islands!
Wonder if we need an O-Line shake up, even starting some second string guys.
O-line shake up? why?
Without them, Saint Just would not get thru…
But I like Boise State idea of two or three platoons
of specialized players and plays coming in fast
and furious…and well executed.
Guud Morning Tsaikos…Bootiful Day!
#4..al…”The biggest challenge for our relatively new head coach is what program changing decisions will he make?” totally agree this question needs to be asked. Last night’s show coach didn’t address the question. Very “vanilla” Q & A show.
#13 Ipu Man…DSJ thrives because of the o-line…no doubt.
Old School Dave…”UH is still stuck in the “You like buy Sweetbread and Portuguese Sausage?” mode.” Totally agree. Not sure how much our corporate donors give but guess nowhere near the more success programs. ABC Stores, Zippy’s etc…locally owned and operated corporations.
Now that we back to the drawing board, what will the “new picture/architectural concept look like?
We got a over a ton of solid building blocks. What you gonna build Willis?
IMUA WARRIORS!
We want Gary Andersen as DC. Him and Oregon St parted way today.
Rolo is an offensive coach. He needs a strong defensive coach. We a a new Defensive coordinator, a new safeties coach who are young and have not coached a lot of FBS, not to mention power 5 football. In a nutshell we are grossly overmatched. Lempa has been around and proved himself. You can’t do nuttin for this season already. Rolo is stuck because our defense is so bad and you can’t turn the faucet off. The only way UH has a chance to win is to outscore people. Our offense can move it, but we have to score more. We need more explosive plays. And we are losing the special team battle, and making stupid mistakes to compound our problems. Haven’t we found our enemy yet? Ourselves. It starts with the Head Coach and he needs to hold his coaches accountable for their units performance. The only positives I see is St. Juste, Ursua, and Tavai. Brown needs to go to the end zone more, but play calling needs to happen. “Bowl game? Are U kidding me! Bowl game? We’re just trying to a game. Any game.”
Seems that the offense is doing okay as they put out yardage and drives that leads to scores and otherwise are competitive except poorly timed penalties hurt them a lot. The problem is probably more on defense and maybe harder to diagnose? Is it poor play calling or other team’s offense is that much better? And special teams – they’ve already blocked like 4 kicks which is outstanding but unable to kick field goals and letting the big one get away (Wyoming) – needs great performance to help the team win. Coaching staff is still very young and somewhat inexperienced. Looks like M Mckenzie made the right choice with a team that wanted him at QB… can only wonder if he stayed with Hawaii…
15.
No chance. Why would he want to go from being the HC at a Power 5 school to a DC at Hawaii?
3.
I work with a lot of millenials.
They don’t care about sports.
Or rather, they’re into MMA, and, good god, E-games(Colin Cowherd once said he’d rather be shot in the head than cover a video game tournament).
GETTING RID OF THE SAME DAY DELAY telecast hurt the potentiality of lifetime fans.
Is trash talking affecting our O line guys resulting in retaliatory physicality? If so, have them go undergo constant insults at practice so they get used to it. Might help.
Looking now at the penalties called on the O-Line, I can attest the ref’s hate Hawaii.
aloha everyone !! rolo it’s getting hard to watch hawaii games again !! offensive is good just got to clean it up !! Defensive is the big problem for you guy’s !! it’s homecoming week !! might be a blessing for you and for all of us coach bob wagner and 92 football is in town !! get coach wags to help out your new Defensive coordinator !! or better yet lead the defene !!
I remember when coach Mac left after JJs first season here and the defense went down hill when JJ decided to use existing coaches to run the defense. He then sought out an old friend who brought new life to the team. I think Rolo needs to do the same. I know there is one guy out there who I wanted to have the head coaching job here who could breath life to a defense on life support.
On our oline. They are very good. No doubt in my mind. Yeah they got to clean it up but I have to add those refs need to clean it up too. On one play a Nevada dlineman took a huge swipe and slapped one of our olineman on the side of the head right in front of a ref. Nope. No call. I also thought the holding call on SJs touchdown called back was a joke. The refs seem to be stretching the rule book when it comes to UH. It wouldn’t bother me if it went both ways. But right now I don’t see it that way.
Gary Anderson has a pretty good staff. Maybe poach a defensive coach who is also a solid recruiter. We have an opening right now so nobody needs to be let go. Just move guys around.
where have all the “safeties gone” long time passing or failure to defend against a single receiver coming across the middle for TDs or long yardage
what do they see that I don’t that keep them glued to the sidelines?
OSU’s Gary Andersen was guaranteed some $12 million through 2021, but has agreed to waive that in order for the program to move on. Sounds noble of him. Andersen may end up back at Utah, since he’s good friends with Kyle Whittingham.
Former UH assistant and current DC Kevin Clune still on staff, but that may not last long after this season.
There’s still 6 more games. Let’s see if Rolo can make the adjustments to win 4 of the next 6. But the two big ifs are 1) “if” Dru can manage the offense without taking huge, unnecessary sacks and incur untimely fumbles, and 2) if Legi can get the D to play D like we know they can. Right now, Legi is making the wrong calls. The play makers are there.
Maybe a fake punt would help…
RE: #23
z — yup, but I hope history does not repeat itself. I recall Kevin Lempa becoming the DC for 2-3 years. Then one of the biggest football stories in the nation was when JJ allowed Jerry Glanville to become his DC. The “man in black” and his big bag. No shoddy tackling from the man who pioneered the 3-4 defense and demanded JJ give him a few “draft picks” for his defense. 🙂
When Glanville left, JJ got McMackin to return in 2007 and switch to a 4-3. Mac’s defense held on well enough for another bowl game. 🙂
If UH ever gets 40,000 fans at Aloha Stadium, the stadium staff will be so overwhelmed that people won’t be able to get home until 2:00 am. Still remember the gridlock for the UW game back in 2014 and that was with only 32,000. Wasn’t that way back in the 80s & 90s.
UH is still calling me up at dinner time asking for more donations.
“You get use to working a certain way, you no like change one bit.”
UH offense is solid … no changes were needed among coaches. I would move Estes into Chris’ job. In is UH alum and multi-year pro o-lineman.
Defense might be touchy … hard to lose Legi due to recruiting strengths and d-line coaching ability. He might need to get some additional professional tutoring from Dan Brown or Gary Anderson.
Stay away from suggestions but just this once-Get Coach Smith upstairs-he and Coach Rolovich can call the game. Coach Smith is more well versed on personnel groupings and play sequence. Put John Estes who has worked directly with OL on the field. I think Coach Estes might have a better and more timely connection with the OL
16, Lempa’s defense averaged 37.3 pts allowed per game, last season. This year, the defense is allowing 37.2 pts per game. I know, they played some tough teams last year.
Last year we averaged 28.3 pts per game on offense. This year we are averaging 27,5 pts. and we scored only 21 pts in the last three games each.
33. Good point I was wondering why he was on the sidelines.
Question for the week:
1 Our defense gives up huge chunks of yardage on both rushing and passing downs. On rushes, they succeed up the middle and on the edge. Are our players too slow, too weak, bad technique or out of position? Same question for our secondary.
19. I work with a lot of millenials.
They don’t care about sports.
Or rather, they’re into MMA, and, good god, E-games(Colin Cowherd once said he’d rather be shot in the head than cover a video game tournament).
—————–
If that’s true, then that says a lot about the future of Hawaii football and the fan base of Hawaii football (assuming you live on Oahu). There could be a time when we see 14,000 at the stadium instead of 21,000 – 23,000.
Interesting observation.
20. Is trash talking affecting our O line guys resulting in retaliatory physicality? If so, have them go undergo constant insults at practice so they get used to it. Might help.
Lol, just have the team read this blog after each game they lose. Sorry that sounded too funny.
How come when we blitzed,we did not reach the Nevada QB, yet when they blitzed at least one time, they sacked our QB. Is there any play where Dru can pass the ball out fast before being sacked on the blitz, like Nevada’s QB did ? Or is it hard to read the defense sometimes ?
Someone said that UH went to a more base defense in the 2nd half, per Rolo.
Samson Satele for o-line coach to assist Estes?
Plenty of GOOD questions.
Suggest that you all “call the coach”, tomorrow 6 – 7 pm.
Maybe it is just oxygen deprivation, you can not say the high altitude does not affect physical performance, did they have oxygen on the side lines. , If not get it asap, you can not think and physically perform without it. The Wyoming game affected the Colorado St. game at Aloha Stadium ,and the game at Nevada, will affect this up coming game. Get Oxygen for every game both away and home games.
Jet lag and oxygen deprivation will kill everything.
#36 Bad defensive formation…linebackers out of position, corner backs bad techniques, safeties out of position….need a solid base foundation and simplify the defense..better coaching
Maybe
Look I’ve coached secondary’s for year,s this team needs some DAWGS = Pukies, Junebugs, J. Boogies or code word “SPEED”. You Wanna WIN! GO GET’UM, and bring them in as freshmen and develop them to play ALOHA! Don’t get ALOHA and try to teach them to be fast!!! We need GRINDER”S the majority of these kids don’t GRIND! I saw a few working hard last summer on their own and a few after practice but just a few. Rolo can’t want it more than his players!!!
Also I think Rolo may be playing Possum and “Stacking Talent” for his run, remember this is still Chow’s players on the field and it seems they love other things more than football (you know what I mean too). Rolo is no dummy he knows it’s year 3, and 4 that really count then it’s his team!
Oxygen
Time waits for no man…
Tick.
Tick.
Tock.
I think it’s still a bit too early for the “Fire Rolo” chants, even after the disappointing loss on Saturday. But the penalties and poor performance on the defensive side are real concerns that Rolo and the coaches need to address immediately. The Norm Chow Era is still a fresh memory for a lot of Hawai’i fans and I hope Rolo understands that.
Hawai’i can defeat San Jose State this weekend…but will they? If they play anything like the way they played against Nevada, then all bets are off.
Line is now -18.
how you figgah ? – we dat good ?
#39, Our QB wait too long, then no throw away the ball. He think he fast and try scramble, but every time he eat the dust.
Coach DB, you sound like someone with years of coaching experience. I guess it’s possible to find players that every team over looks. The coaches lack the funds other schools have. With that, they would have to out work every other coach in the conference. Rolo sounds like he is willing to put in the time. By year 3 and year 4, we will know if he made a difference in the win loss column. Compared to chow he improved. But, against the Boise St, CSU, SDSU, we’ll find out in year 3 and 4 if Hawaii is competitive. I think we can wait. Besides, is UH going to fire the HC everytime the team ha’s a losing season? I don’t think the pockets are that deep at the schooligans to be letting go HC every year the team goes under .500.
Also, good insights about player’s loving the sport. Speed and loving the sport you can’t teach.
#7 – so what time do they leave? What time do they arrive? Are connecting flights involved because they leave in the morning instead of the afternoon or evening? Do they stop in LA or LV overnight like McMackin and Chow did or try to fly to the destination as quickly as possible? What time do they practice since they can’t practice in the morning? What time do they fly back? Is there a connecting flight on the way back? Is this a simple thing to figure out when you have to fly commercial???
#23 – he hasn’t coached at the college level for 5 years. he should have gone to the mainland to get a different point of view and learn from other coaches.
#40 – if you think the O-line is undisciplined now… if it so important to have a local, then Brian Derby is the man.
#43 – see #8 yesterday.
45.
My friend at work, a degenerate gambler, tells me that the main man in Las Vegas who used to set the line retired. According to him, the new breed of oddsmakers don’t know what they’re doing; they’re not the standard-bearers of sports books anymore.
Supposedly they follow the lead of off-shore oddsmakers.
Three weeks ago, instead of working, I played lookout for bosses while he squeezed out a half-point cover of Ohio State/Army, staring like a zombie at his phone.
I keep telling him, “You’re betting too much money. Go watch the cornfield scene in “Casino”.
pipty.
haven’t had this amount of posts in a while.
Let’s see,
61, 139, 50 posts in the past 3/4 days not counting today.
I agree. SJSU Is good. 21,456 turnstile. 28-24 Hawai’i win. Predict. And as always, “my man…?”
Defense, Hawai’i is at over 100 in the nation. Junk. Offense is at D. Special teams is at C-. Coaching is at D-. Overall is at D-. Record is D-. Attendance at home, C. So, more stickers then? yes. That would be good.
The OL is slow. C.S.U. highlighted it. And then stayed there. holes or gaps in the OL. All game.
The O.C. was bad.
How much are tickets prices, adult? This is a key factor if you want to fill the stadium to at most 45,000 to 50,000 fans. 2-4 overall record. 0-3 M.W.C.
They have 105 players. Defensively, both ways if they lack good players. Forget about the fresh leg routine. Bark. play both sides. Offense and defense.
And lastly, pizzas at the home games, papa Johns, per slice is $6.00 dollars. $10.95 for the worst hamburger combo on the island. Soda is $4.50 dollars. The game Is expensive. This ought not to be. Too high prices on foods at the snack stands.
I hope Hawai’i wins over San Jose State University.
Penalties has been the nemesis for our Warrior football team. As just about every game, they shoot themselves in the foot by erasing big yardage gain and having a Touchdown called back. I really believe, as a long time Warrior football supporter, the nemesis is the Defensive line and the coaches behind them.
Unfortunately, Legi is the Defensive Coordinator and have taken the brunt of Warrior fans criticism. During the UCLA blowout, sometimes I wonder was it the briliant UCLA quarterback Rosen or a very poor Warrior defense that caused the blowout loss. In this game, it was golden for Rosen as he picked a apart our defense. You would think the second half there would be some adjustment, if there was, Rosen kept on picking a apart our defense. You would think there would be a correction and adjustment during the week in preparation for the Colorado State Rams coming to Aloha Stadium, there was none as our Warriors was blown out on OUR TURF!!.
I would hope Coach Rolo would hire an experienced Defensive Coordinator and well as a better defensive staff under that DC.
As for the Offensive side, I’d like to see another starting quarterback instead of Dru Brown. My choice would be that former Punahou highs school kid who was the number one quarterback in Hawaii, transferred to USC, and later decided to come home and play for the Warriors. Forgot his name, but Rolo should put him in game condition…..
LV odds is coning people to bet on UH so they lose.
slim chance of winning with the current coaches, schemes, and players.
59. They adjusted pretty good at Wyoming after UCLA, holding the Cowboys to only 21 pts in four quarters, although gave up some explosive plays.
Someone said the middle of the field was wide open in the Nevada game for the Wolf’s offense.
Please stop whining over Mackenzie Milton playing for UCF. Rolo tried his best to convince him to stay and play for UH, but he decided to go away when Scott Frost came into the picture. You don’t hear Utah, BYU, or USU fans complaining or whining about Luke Falk (from Logan UT) walking on at WAZZU when he receive no offer from schools in his home state.
UH coaches salary pool of $1 million (spread among 9 coaches) is what it is and is half of Boise State’s $2.2 million coaches pool. DC Andy Avalos earns $315K, while OC Zak Hill makes $285K. But, that’s irrelevant to many UH Administrators, State Officials, and the general public . They just want them to win with what they got. Hiring ex-coaches who don’t need the money is not the way to build a program, IMHO.
Funny, I wasn’t too impressed with Albertsons Super Market chain (HQ in Boise) when I lived on the continent. More power to BSU, I guess, for having them as major backers for their program.
I have come to believe that outside the singular QB position, that cornerback, at present, is the most difficult position to recruit. With offensive schemes that emphasis spreading out the defense and utilizing quickness, it is a position grouping that requires three (3) top level defenders. Your former nickel back, is in many instances covering the slot, which may indeed might be the most targeted receiver for the entire game. So, the fellows who excel at this, e.g. quick in tight spaces, good flex hip and the ability to turn and run, and then have makeup speed, and long arms also help….are a rare combination and commodity.
I played during a time, where you could hide some shortcomings (running zone packages), and the safeties could be dominant factor—but if you look where there is great safety play—you will always find really great corner play, e.g. Eric Berry to Marcus Peters or Earl Thomas to Richard Sherman. Great corners can be coached, but you can’t coach an average corner to become a great corner, which is some much based on innate ability–bottom line, these fellows are hard to find….and it really hurts when we lose a competent starter to Wisconsin…
They always talk about practicing more on tackling but basically tackling is 90% desire! With no desire, chances are…you’re not going to make the tackle. Anticipation plays an important part on defense. You can not wait and analyze the situation then react. you’ll always be one step too late. your mind has to be ahead of your actions. you got to recognize certain situations through repetition and posturing exercises…that’s why in football, you will always be one step too late if you’re a rookie thinking too much . when mentally the game slows down, then you know you are game ready!
IMO, Hawaii has to plan on giving up 28 pts a game, so the defense’s goal is to contain the opponent’s scoring to 28. To win, the offense has to score one point more. So far this season, the offense has sputtered mainly to penalties and sacks by the quarterback and so has failed. Fix those problems and Hawaii will find itself on the winning side once again.
I was watching the show moneyball again last night. In baseball you can use sabermethics in some sense to baseball. Too bad, it cannot really be used in football the way it is used in pro baseball today. Either someone has speed or they don’t.
Hawaii will just have to work within the budget they have. There wI’ll be down years and there will be great years. I’m looking forward to the great years. There are lot worse HC Matlin could have chosen from the applicant pool. If they are looking to build on the future, JJ wouldn’t have been a good choice. He would be here today and gone tomorrow. It seems with the current financial outlook, Rolo was the only choice. If he succeeds in Hawaii, look for a power 5 program or even a group of 5 program to poach hI’m away from Hawaii. That is a given.
For sure, our D-line needs to create more pressure and our blitz packages have got to find a way to get to the QB. We cannot expect our DB’s to play man for so long while the opposing QB is just standing there scanning the field undeterred. It seems our defense has felt the absence of Mageo and it appears that our safeties are playing banged up and that has affected their physicality in run support. That being said, it still doesn’t explain why the middle of the field is left so wide open . Stating the obvious, but, bottom line, the defense needs to get coached up and the players need to step up.
Guud morning Tsaikos…Bootiful Day!
Lots of suggestions about what kind of athletes we need. Me thinks ALL the programs are looking for the same attributes so no need to go over the needs.
We have good athletes. We need to figure out the scheme that will allow them to be at optimum performance. Easier said than done.
Let the coaches coach. Layoff finger pointing at a particular player. It takes the whole unit to execute the game plan.
IMUA WARRIORS!
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