Hawaii football: Cole McDonald not lacking for motivation against Oregon State
Cole McDonald has nothing personal against Oregon State. He even has fond memories of some former members of the Hawaii coaching staff who now work in Corvallis.
But come Saturday at Aloha Stadium, the Rainbow Warriors’ starting quarterback plans to hold nothing back. The opponent is immaterial to him.
In Week Zero against Arizona, McDonald thrilled a national TV crowd with some freewheeling gunslinging, uncorking four touchdown passes to go with four interceptions. But with his fourth pick, coach Nick Rolovich went to backup Chevan Cordeiro late in the third quarter. McDonald’s night was done at 29-for-41 passing for 378 yards. Cordeiro guided UH to two fourth-quarter scores, just enough to stay ahead of the Wildcats in a 45-38 thriller.
Thanks to an early-season bye, McDonald, who was quickly reaffirmed as the starter, had an extra week to learn from his mistakes.
“I’ve been working, been making those throws,” McDonald said to a media scrum on Tuesday morning. “It’s just honing back into my game, and trusting the offense and trusting the schemes. Just really preparing for Oregon State.
“I looked at the film. There were some throws, probably seven of them, where it was just a bad read, and four of them led to an interception,” he said. “I tried to do a lot. Forced some things when I shouldn’t have forced it. It’s just learning from my mistakes. If I take those away, throwing for however many yards, almost 400, in (almost three) quarters of play. It’s just learning from those mistakes. The wide receivers, they make plays all the time, O-line is giving great protection. It’s just learning from that and moving forward.”
#HawaiiFB quarterback Cole McDonald spoke today of his desire to respond to his struggles against Arizona, as well as outside criticism in this week’s matchup with Oregon State. pic.twitter.com/JG4cl6tIi8
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) September 4, 2019
McDonald is himself a former backup who emerged to win the starting job heading into the 2018 season — and went on to throw 36 TDs and 10 picks en route to Mountain West honorable mention status — surprising some immediately when he guided the Warriors to a road win at Colorado State in the 2018 opener.
He said Tuesday he’s thrived off naysaying in whatever form it takes, including on social media.
Every time Cole McDonald throws a pass, the football gods flip a coin 🤙 #HawaiiFB
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 25, 2019
“For me, I like when people doubt me. I like when people call me the underdog,” McDonald said. “Talk smack, try to get underneath my skin, because that just motivates me even more. Not only to prove them wrong, but to kill them with your success. That’s one thing I’ve learned. I don’t like to say much. I don’t really talk back, I don’t really talk smack. I’m just going to kill you with success. And that’s the best way to do it.”
To a question on whether national TV (the Arizona game was televised on CBS Sports Network) affects his mind-set, McDonald said immediately he could not care less.
“That’s just me, the competitor I am, the type of gunslinger that I am. I’m going to throw it deep as many times as I can regardless of how many picks I’ve thrown. … I know my defense is going to stop them, we’re going to get the ball back and we’re going to score. I’m not going to get gun shy. I’m going to let it fly. Four picks, five picks. Whatever it takes, as long as we get the win.”
Should be a good game with two gunslingers and a bit of bad blood to stir the crowd. Defense may be the difference or it will come down to a field goal. Or…..
Cole has a lights-out game to bury the Beavers. Hoping for the latter. Go Warriors !!!
Let’s take care of the football on Saturday…. .
No mercy. I’ll bury the hatchet after a WIN!!
51-30
I expect a close game, but personally hope for a Warrior stomping of the Beavers.
cole: 5 TDs with 508 yards on 9/7/2019. each starting receiver with a TD and one to a RB be it shovel or out in the flat
It’s Wednesday and time to stir the pot a bit. I’ll follow up A-House and my reasons why the Warriors will win on Sat.
1. OSU has only a week to prepare while UH has 2. The RnS may look like Oklahoma State’s spread, but that’s only cosmetic. ‘Zona had the summer to prepare and they still got burned. Same-o, same-o goes for OSU.
2. History can indeed be a teacher. After the 1qtr, ‘Zona was trying everything to slow the Bows. They switched from their 4-man rush to a 3-man. They dropped 8 and changed up to blitz from time to time. Not bad, they did get 4 int’s. For OSU, they were blitzing their linebackers often and got penetration and tackles for losses. Oklahoma State countered with bubble screens and quick passes and scored with their first 6? possessions. Cole learns from his mistakes and shreds the OSU defense. AND, the Warrior running attack gets revved up starting in the 2qtr. OSU can try to blitz but Cole gets the ball out quicker and more accurately than the freshman QB at Oklahoma State.
3. The UH defense will have an early prayer of thanksgiving that they don’t have to contain Khalil Tate this week. They’ll be able to get after the qb. Luton, the OSU qb, received good grades after the game, but I don’t believe Oklahoma State’s defense was very good. Makes a big difference if I’m wrong, but that’s why I don’t do this for a living 🙂 OSU is supposed to have a good running game, but so did ‘Zona (even better). I like the way the Warrior D is shaping up. Do need to clean up the miscommunications in the back end. OSU surely saw what happened and will try the same. That’s OK, we’ve had 2 weeks to work on it.
Still working on the reasons we will lose. I’ll check back after the game…or not.