Warrior Beat: QB McDonald delivered
SAN DIEGO >> Under a nearly full moon, head coach Nick Rolovich howled with enthusiasm following the Warriors’ remarkable 31-30 victory over San Diego State.
When it was noted Rolovich, for the second consecutive week, was wearing a specially designed shirt honoring his college protector — Vince Manuwai, a former UH linemen and teammate — he declared he would keep wearing it.
“Damn, right,” Rolovich said.
Rolovich believes in meritocracy, loyalty and faith — the qualities that made Manuwai an eternal friend; the reasons why he entrusted his offense to Cole McDonald one more time.
McDonald took the first snaps in the quarterback rotations in the practices leading to last night’s game. And while Rolovich kept up the pretense of indecision publicly — he told reporters on Wednesday he would start slotback John Ursua as the wildcat quarterback — it appeared there would be no doubt McDonald would be his choice.
McDonald, of course, delivered — a career-high 452 passing yards, with three TD throws and a scoring keeper.
“I came in this week with a different mind-set,” McDonald said. “I had something to prove. A lot of people were doubting me. Whether they were fans or people I didn’t know, people were always saying, ‘he’s not good enough.’ ”
McDonald then credited the offensive line, receivers, running backs, and the defense.
“The guys left everything out there,” McDonald said. “I thought the defense played their hearts out. The O-line blocked their butts off. The receivers made amazing catches. The chips fell where they fell. You can’t ask for more.”
Accurate passes and 0 interceptions. This was Cole’s night. It worked out well for him.
Credit the defense. Timely stops at the most crucial points of the game. And last of all that missed 3 points extra points in 00:03 seconds final regulations. That was a heart breaker for San Diego State. Just wide right of the field goal post. That sent the game into OT. Hawai’i gets first shot, while San Diego State chose to go on the defensive end first. In OT. All they needed was one TD and a field goal. The extra 2 point conversion failed for San Diego State. Just out of the reach of the offensive player’s hands. Hawai’i wins!
for a while, I doubted my prediction that UH would win and my inner confidence may have wavered, but it was still there even when the FG try seemed like a “garan-ball-barren”
also, doubted Rolo’s game strategy in the 2nd half
defense played well — making critical stops and”flying around” like it was in the 70s
Cole also played well, but he also miss-fired on passes and the old feeling on missing the page appeared
now, what to do with Chevan’s situation — sit him in the Hawaii Bowl or let Cole start and CC come in the 2nd half while still preserving his red-shirt status allowing him to play 4 years?
that would be most interesting if Gabriel should sign with UH and the current St Louis QB, a sophomore, signs with UH in 2 years — it would secure the QB position for the next 6-7 years
anything could happen like it did with McKenzie — a most unfortunate injury to a skilled and well liked young man 5,000 miles away
and let us not forget the true freshman QB Moussa [sp] who has a strong arm and has learned the R ‘n S system well
Maddog50:
have a great flight home!!!
truly a staunch support of UH football!!!!!
back to the COLD weather
OK, now to procure Hawaii Bowl tickets ASAP!
UH will win!
Blessman will be an anchor for the dline next year, I hope we get local boy transfer or two and some other folks to compliment him….
There’s a lot of youth on both sides of the field. Optimism abounds. Also, you know it’s your night when your punter shanks a punt for 10 yards and it rolls another 20.
whitey:
morning paper, actually the only paper, had a nice article about Sitka.
ever go there for fishing? map seems to show it near to Juneau.
Cole’s delivered the pressure-packed TD in OT. I think that TD ranks with other game-winning TDs by a Hawaii QB. Awesome composure. And the D delivered again…big time. Collectively, a team win.
He’s back. And it’s great to see. Let the QB challenge begin again! Can only strengthen the team.
What a season. Think the only ones who had faith in the Warriors from start to finish was the team itself, players, staff, all part of the team. Maybe Tsai believed 100% also.
In terms of delivery and excitement, this is probably the best season of all.
Hawaii bowl tickets…what happened to the rest of the stadium?? Game is on Saturday, not Christmas Eve, can we just get 30k+ to support our team and this bowl game.
Do not want to end up with a really small new stadium. That would scream small time. That would suck.
Great game, great season! 8 – 5, who would have thought. Good job by coaches and players to push through the mid season lull and finish strong. Wasn’t long ago that we could only dream about winning an away game on national tv against a quality opponent.
Congrats to the team, coaches, and staff on the win! Strangely, the past struggles make this victory over long time nemesis SDSU even sweeter!
Hope UH extents Rolo’s contract and gives raises to the assistants! Going 8-5 should be rewarded!
I smell Beaver (2-10) approaching! UH needs to round the wagons.
The number’s Cole put up this year is mostly due to this system. Good numbers and bad numbers. All due to the system. You can see Cole’s limitations when defenses drop 8. Ugly. All season. Cole’s quarterbacking abilities lie somewhere in between the “awesome” and the “ugly” that the system puts him in.
The “Game Plan” needs to account for Cole’s limitations against certain coverages (moving forward) and give him a better chance for success instead of all the blame when he fails. Sucks for him. Not all his fault. Coaches have some culpability here. He has so many “gifts” physically, unreal ability. Chevan is also a “system” quarterback (for right now) but he knows how to “naturally” exploit this system. The coaches give him more “wiggle room” on his decision making as well which makes it look like he is a better QB than McDonald, but he is not, not yet. Not right now anyway. Moussa however will be a different story.
We have to remember this is the first year in this system (except for Chevan) so there will be tremendous room for growth as more modifications can be installed (especially vs 8 man coverage). Cole’s physical “gifts”, Moussa “golden arm”, and Chevan’s “stone cold” gaming ability gives UH something that we have never seen before here. Unbelievable. We (the fans) are so lucky. Once the defense figures things out (build around Blessman and Bethley) Hawaii will play on New Year’s Day somewhere again. The Beginning. Get the marketing ready.
T E A M
D
E
P
T
H
UNITY
HELP FROM ABOVE. Mahalo, Ke Akua!
Let’s go Bowling!
Good win yesterday. Not sure why Long went for two when he could have played on and win it later. The 2 is not as “easy” as the 1. He could have given his guys a chance to win it on the next possession but…I’ll take it!..Mahalo for that.
Cole seem to be back with his confidence. Watched a different team yesterday. Not sure what happened but…keep it going. D flying around and making important stops, O look like it’s back.
My. my, my, what a difference a year makes…
Good decision to start Cole. Now we got Chevan for a bowl game appearance. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get a series or two…but happy we got some qb options next year. Looking good.
I hope people realize that here we are at the end of the season having won more games than we all thought we were. The losing streak after a hot start was frustrating, but should have been expected. The poor play during that streak only made it feel worse. Still, all of the losses were probably marked as losses on most of our preseason predictions anyway (except I actually picked us beating Nevada and Army while losing at Colorado St. and Navy instead).
I’m happy with the record this season and hopeful for a good showing at the Hawaii Bowl.
I’m also betting Cole transfers out. Not that I want him to.
Funny how things happen. SDSU coach starts off by saying his team should play instead of UH in the Hawaii Bowl. That has got to have been a great motivator for the UH coaches to use. Then when SDSU jumped out to a 14-3 lead, it pretty much forced SDSU to keep their starter QB playing until late in the game. And then after their kicker missed a “sure thing” game winning field goal, the coach decided to go for two and a win in overtime versus going with their kicker for a tie. I wonder what Rocky Long’s takeaways are from the game.
It was SDSU AD who made the statement about Hawai’i Bowl, not the coach. He must have been “thanks, thanks for giving them motivation.”
Good win for the good guys. There is a press conference with coach long explaining his late game decisions if you can find it. Anyways, looking forward to watching the Warriors win the Hawaii bowl.
by David McCracken, Hawaii News Now
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2018/11/25/warriors-pull-off-upset-against-san-diego-state-overtime-/
#21 has a film clip of the last play – missed 2 pt. XP.
audio is of the crowd.
Highlites including Cole’s many long chunk play passes.
Meskell’s FG kick hit the left upright.
Defense held Aztecs to 24 pts in regulation. UH season average is
35.4 pts allowed per game.
Box score says Cameron Hayes caught a 12-yd pass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NXmULLkR0I&feature=youtu.be
Hawaii Bowl Bound… I wonder who is going to be the opponent?
So many predictions, from so many sports pundits?
Hawaii v. Memphis
or
Hawaii vs. FAU
or
Hawaii vs. Louisiana Tech
or
Hawaii vs. Marshall
or
Hawaii vs. Middle Tennessee
or
Hawaii vs. Southern Miss
All tough opponents, but Memphis would be the toughest of them all.
Look at all the losses that UH had incurred, scoring drops considerably to 0-7+ pts all in the 2nd half. Ridiculous! That failure falls on the coaching and QB play (except for Super Sport Chevy coming in). Changes gotta be made going forward. Plus recruiting has to improve to get some more speed and depth. This up and coming bowl game should spark some motivation for everyone at UH. Somebody has to recruit donors as well to increase athlete stipends, athletic facilities and maybe training table (don’t what they serve by the way). Charter flights should help as well-is Hawaiian Air listening? I mean H Air makes big bucks.
Hmmmn, a couple of items: we were very close to beating Army and Army has proven to be a very solid team; this will certainly help with local recruiting, as I’m sure a couple of the boys that were previously on the fence can see a program back on the rise; raises are not just needed, but essential to keep the core coaching staff in-tact; and we should be dangerous with three weeks of practice, it is a system that just gets more refined with repetition and further, we can work on more than a few wrinkles.
#19 … woops. I misremembered. Thanks! … https://www.mwcconnection.com/2018/11/25/18111291/about-that-hawaii-bowl-berth-hawaii-stuns-san-diego-state-in-31-30-overtime-thriller
Totally agree this win will help recruiting. This was a game changer. Rolovich delivered.
Wow, Cole and the team on both sides of the ball put it all together last night and with luck, beat a good but struggling San Diego State team.
Coaches: GRADE A+ for preparation & especially Cory Batoone who finally got his defense to actually win the game in my opinion outside of “LUCK.”
No matter what happens in the Bowl Game, this has been a most successful season in years and a solid foundation to build on.
The Athletic Department, State of Hawaii , Visitors Bureau, UH student body & especially the Local residents should back up UH Sports. If “YOU ARE A TRUE FAN” SUPPORT HAWAII ATHLETICS WIN OR LOSE AND NOT BE A “RAT LEAVING A SINKING SHIP.”
We also need better P.R. department & people to promote Hawaii Athletics & more Corporate Sponsors to assist FINANCIALLY.
ROLO & HIS COACHING SHOULD BE GIVEN A MODEST RAISE & EXTEND ROLO’S CONTRACT.
Redemption for a team which was picked near the bottom of the preseason conference polls. Redemption on a field where we haven’t won since before these players were born. Redemption, where a QB under fire came out, guns blazing, and broke records. Redemption for a Warrior defense which was supposed to be pushed around by the Aztecs. Redemption for players who played for the previous coach and showed what loyalty is all about.
A great night to be a Warrior or a Warrior Fan!
Live Aloha/Play Warrior!!!
Fresno State vs. Boise State in the title game of the Mountain West Conference title. Fresno state may still be headed for the Las Vegas Bowl in December 15, 2018.
Agree with one season. Between making the Hawaii Bowl an issue and 2 point choice. I don’t think the SDSU coach is very popular today.
The Game:
Defense, Offense, Special team. On special teams, it almost cost Hawai’i the game when incompetent punt returner had to be replaced by Jojo Ward. just so he could make a fair catch.
Offense: Armstrong-Brown makes crucial first down catches. That kept the drive alive for them to score.
defense: gave them all the 3rd down opportunities they needed. For a 4th down. 0-7 on 3rd down conversions for Chapman, before they replaced him with Agnew. San Diego State. Hawai’i they had all they could handle with Pavihi leading the way. #33
RB: Miles Reed, not bad. But for the fumble. Holding it long enough for them to win.
QB: Cole’s accurate passes.
It can’t be Florida Atlantic because they somehow lost at home to Charlotte.
Five wins.
That is the matchup I wanted because they looked, on paper, like the easiest team to beat.
And also so that Hawaii could avenge their season opening loss in 2004
Howard Schnellenberger really looks like the prototypical crooked coach. You shouldn’t judge a book by the cover, but he just does.
Louisiana Tech is my new choice of opponents because they somehow lost at home to last place Western Kentucky.
I don’t want the best team; I want the worst team.
I want that ninth win.
Just watched the post game interview with Rocky Long and the players. What a bunch of selfish losers. Not one mention of how essentially they were outplayed on both sides of the ball. I was there and believe me they were just plain beat. A fumble on a drive, a fumble on a punt return, 1 long pass single play drive and a very questionable PI call. Th Warriors just plain out toughed them period-
mho, if you are not within the top 5 “local” players, you will not see much playing time and excel like Mariota or Tua
those 2 were the top of the chart players and exceptional/gifted.
#1 local player from St Louis ‘d’ committed to Udub and may find success — good luck to him
most of the time, mainland players will be stronger, faster, and bigger than 98% of Hawaii players
still hoping the Aussie Samoan player who went to Minnesota is trembling in the cold and may opt for warmer location and UH would be his best place — com on ova!!!
Maddog50:
hope you beat the terrible snow storm sweeping the mid-west including Chicago
safe, sound, and warm at home!
Reading some of the comments here, there and everywhere, maybe Cole should have a so-so first half and a better second half. Don’t think that would make the haters any happier but I rather he be hot from the start and win. So what if his stats tapper off.
So apparently the UH football banquet was tonight. That’s really tight schedule since they just got back from San Diego. Anyway, shout out to Paul Scott who was named special teams MVP. As I’ve said, the dude is really physical and should help our run defense. Just a freshman so we’ll see more of him next year.
Also want to pump up Kory Bethley, who made some huge tackles last night. For some reason he reminds me of Julian Gener. They played different positions and both were a little undersized, but very physical, intense, nasty, and pedal to the metal, everything all the time type guys. Love guys like that.
Having all the “noise” over the past month+ must have made the last two weeks all the sweeter for the team, their parents and friends, and the coaching staff. They all showed the real glue that bonded them together instead of the possible selfishness that could have divided them and pulled them down. So, to the team, you deserve all the accolades being heaped on you. And Cole, you have shown your personal courage and the exceptional up-bringing by your parents. I can just see the big smiles on their (and your brothers’) faces. Sincere thanks to all the players and their support groups who decided to represent Hawaii. How truly fortunate we fans are!
Coming into the season, I didn’t have high expectations. Figured it would take some time to adjust to the new/old system. The red-hot start was misleading I think, because our opponents didn’t know what to expect either. But, after a couple games worth of film, they started to come up with some pretty good counter-strategies. After a period of struggle, I believe that the Warriors have learned to adjust too. Just my take, of course. In any event, this season has displayed the team’s courage, resiliency, and determination. The way they’ve pulled out these last two games are a testament to who they are and the quality of the coaching staff. And to think the coaching staff is the lowest paid in the conference. Makes a lie of the truism that you get what you pay for.
How can Utah State fall completely out of the AP poll?
Is there some sports writers bylaw that states that you can’t have three Mountain West teams in the poll at the same time.
IT IS NOT EASY PLAYING ON THAT BLUE FIELD!
Bronco Stadium looks like something out of science fiction.
And indeed, it was used as a location in a film called “Cremaster 1”. More art installation than film, it is part of a series called “The Cremaster Cycle”. The filmmaker Matthew Barney(once married to Bjork) is a Boise native.
Hawaii will win on that field someday.
And Cole McDonald will lead them.
What a great second act for the disparaged and deconstructed sophomore QB.
Some people are always way too hard on student-athletes.
Proportion.
This isn’t the NFL.
Incredible win! Congratulations Rainbow Warriors! “Live Aloha! Play Warrior!” You’re Not Pau Yet~ Let’s Go Bows!!!~
Best win of the year (so far) – congrats Warriors!
Good win, but I am still concerned about Cole’s inability to score more than 20+ points in regulation after the first 5 games where he was scoring double that. Sure he had a great first half, but then he didn’t do anything after that except in the overtime period. Not sure if it’s the play calling or Cole being hesitant or a combination of both. They looked like they were playing not to lose in the second half which if the SDSU kicker didn’t miss, would have cost them the game.
Looking at the game, I think it’s a shoulder issue
Coles inability? Last I looked there are ten other players on the offensive unit. There is also the defensive team they are facing. Any number of things and situations affect the offense’s ability (not Cole individually) to be more productive in the second half. 8 wins, a little south of 4000 yards passing and 35 TDS, speak for themselves….
Cole should’ve had 2 int i’f the dbs could catch. He threw in to coverage too much. But he did enough to win the game.
Should we be worried about the possibility of losing a QB to another school? I like all 3 but moussa hasn’t gotten a chance to show what he got.
If Cole is injured, then why is coaching staff still playing him?!??
Just what we need. Another lesser known-reserved only for Hawaii NCAA violation that spoils end-of-season!
STILL, if UH coachig staff is still playing McDonald if they know he is still i jured (what? Would be that injury from 5+ games back), that just . . . it’s bad.
An injured player is NOT (as pundits and coaches like to say) “a team’s best chance to win.” NOT when you have a gifted QB already at the ready from a school every damn college football program wishes would produce more of.
That would be Che7an as from that particular high school that Warrior football has, for those of you not paying attention.
Re: 45
I think you’re right……especially the last couple drives of the game. His passes had no zip, and he was constantly shaking his right arm.
Possible injury to Cole was one of our our contentions from the beginning. He is definitely not the same prior to Wyoming. He should have some rest for bowl game but maybe play Super Sport in the 2nd half.
other news …
Former University of Hawaii assistant Tyson Helton has been named head football coach at Western Kentucky.
Helton started his coaching career at UH in 2000 as a graduate assistant on June Jones’ staff. He served as the Rainbow
Warriors’ special teams coordinator from 2001 through 2003.
WKU plays Hawaii in 2022 at Aloha Stadium.
I don’t always agree with Rich Miano, but he made a good point today on the radio regarding how local fans treat or regard UH QBs when they booed local boy Timmy Chang during his senior year at UH. That in itself hurt local recruiting more than people realized. NFL mentality of locals in how they view the home team, UH.
“It’s always the QB’s fault!”
As Norm Chow once noted, the most popular person is the backup quarterback.
New post: http://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=47648