Warrior Beat: ‘Doggone it
Sometimes the bully wins.
Fresno State showed why it is the Mountain West’s, well, um, top ‘Dog with its dominant victory over Hawaii last night. The Warriors practiced hard, prepared diligently, fought the good fight, and sometimes that’s just not good enough. Especially against the well-balanced Bulldogs.
But here’s what we learned:
> The road can be rough, especially for a team that does not use charter flights. Without a charter, the options are to fly to NorCal or SoCal, then drive to Fresno. North or South? It doesn’t matter. Fresno is about 3 hours, 30 minutes from either the Bay Area or Los Angeles. After last night’s game, the Warriors made the long drive to San Jose, from where they departed for today’s scheduled flight back to Honolulu.
> It was a very, very small sample size against a defense that muzzled its pass rush, but Jeremy Moussa showed his arm strength in his two series. The Warriors did not want Chevan Cordeiro, who is on the redshirt track, to burn a game that had long been decided. So, it was agreed if the score were one-sided, in either direction, Moussa would get a shot. It’s still Cole McDonald‘s offense — based on his leadership and production — but UH has nice depth at position that was uncertain following Dru Brown‘s departure. McDonald will be a junior in 2019, and Cordeiro and Moussa still will be freshmen.
> If you were a defensive player on the travel roster, you played in last night’s game. That’s what happens with a team playing its 10th game without a bye. The defense is struggling, but it’s youthful struggles. Of the 22 players with double-digit tackles, only three are seniors — Jahlani Tavai, Manu Hudson-Rasmussen and Zeno Choi. And Tavai did not even play last night.
> Ryan Meskell might be the most improved Warrior. Last year, the Warriors combined to convert only four field goals.This season, Meskell is 11 for 14.
> Fresno — and every other Mountain West member not named Boise State — probably wishes it had UH’s TV contract with Spectrum. UH gets double the money the non-Boise teams receive without the mandated late kickoff times.
“Savich October 27, 2018 9:13 pm
Defense is crap. Covering on a slot back, turned out a pass touchdown on the same cover. Crap and slow.”
islandman October 27, 2018 9:22 pm
The defense only gave up 13 pts in the 2nd half ( 37 in the 1st ).
cappie the dog October 27, 2018 9:44 pm
I love the juxtaposition between your comments and the previous blogger’s comments.
You’re presenting objective facts, but it probably won’t sway that person’s opinion.”
uh… no. savich was right. The defense is really bad. it doesn’t matter that they only gave up 13 points in the second half after the fresno offensive starters left the game and were running out the clock. the UH defense still gave up 50 points during a conference game and look absolutely befuddled doing it. RRFL!
The effort by our players were there, I could tell they had pride and played hard…… the strategy, preparedness and coaching left a lot to be desired, especially on the defensive side.
Cory Batoone Grade: F
Sorry Cory, you need to do better. Now don’t go quitting on us, I’ll tell some of our mutual friends if you do? :}
#1 – Crazy People are never right.
The regular defense didn’t give up the 100 yd missed FG return.
13 pts in the 2nd half was pretty good. Fresno was still trying to score. And Fresno got caught holding vs. UH’s defense.
If you think, Fresno looked pretty good on offense, wait for Utah St with their hurry-up spread option offense that likes to throw deep.
The USU nose guard is Christopher Unga, Tui’s brother.
Watching Fresno State dominate Hawaii gave me flash backs of the BYU Game.
While we want this team to win every game, got to be realistic making it to 7 wins and getting that Hawaii Bowl invite is crucial for team building for next season. Playing 13 season games and 1 Hawaii Bowl Game gives this team 14 valuable games together. They could use the extra practices in December to build depth, game experience, add strength and speed to those young Freshman and Sophomore bodies.
Plus, its good for the young team to get that Hawaii Bowl experience with staying in hotel and activities that come with being in a bowl game.
Moussa showed he has better arm strength and accuracy hitting the receivers on the numbers against the Fresno State 2nd, 3rd and 4th stringers. Moussa throws an accurate ball on the move, something that McDonald has trouble doing. McDonald/Chevan are similar by throwing some high passes that make the receivers jump to catch or just behind the receivers at times. But McDonald has the wheels that Chevan (Is more quick that fast) and Moussa need to work on to run the RPO.
Remaining 3 Games of the Murders Row part of the schedule:
Utah State at Aloha Stadium *Home Game (Spectrum Sports)
-BYE WEEK-
UNLV at Aloha Stadium *Home Game (Spectrum Sports)
SDSU at Aloha Stadium * Road Game (ESPN Networks)
Live Aloha/Play Warrior
Go Warriors of Hawaii
Wait, let me guess … this was the best defense, offense, QB, WR, or RB we’ve faced all season.
Just waiting for someone to drop that one.
UH defense gave up 50 points. the td return was only 7 out of the 50. they didnt’ stop the run all day and gave up huge yardage. DBs consistently were out of position and gave up big plays. There was no pass rush at all. The defense is and has been consistently awful. It also seems like other teams have figured out the Rolo version of the run and shoot as well, now that they have film on this team. I don’t know what UH can do to fix it, but now, even winning UNLV looks iffy.
save the green jerseys for the unlv game.
In two years (2020) Corderio=Milton and Moussa=Taamu. They both going to need some meaningful game reps here and there next year to keep their development on track. Uahinui is “no slouch” (per Mr. Tsai) as well so very deep soon. Real soon.
Every single offensive linemen comes back (except Chung) next year. If coach Webber can develop some proficiency with the (for now) second unit you could design specific rotations to capitalize on the opponents weakness (run or pass personnel). With a whole off season to prepare we could see more “stretch” and designed “traps” (McDonald had a nice one against Nevada) next year. But most importantly I think you will see a greater comfort level with protection next season.
All the receivers except Armstrong-Brown and Stubblefield come back. I hear Ursua might be gone too. But this group has guys of all shapes, sizes, and speeds, with a whole off season to “lengthen” the playbook. Specific rotations could be designed here too to keep Byrd and Ward “fresh”. McDonald will have more time to pick apart secondaries deep or middle for sure. And hopefully we can get a Furuta type “punishing” H/TE to rotate in and keep the DB’s off balance. Torres ended up back in the rotation after some thought.
But the RB’s are the deepest group next year. Just a little “tweaking” to the running scheme (plus dump checkdowns and flat passes too) to maximize the abilities they have. We need to get them into the open field. Easy (um.. easier ) next year.
When the season began I figured they would be 5-5 (at best) at this point right now. I thought the defense would be a little further along than they are possibly carrying the team as the season wore on. Things kind of went sideways aside from the Wyoming game for that group. Point is there is potential on offense for next year like we have not seen in 10 to 14 years. The pieces are all there, can Coach Rolovich make it fit? I think he will.
Great Morning All!
You get what you pay for.
You are who you are.
You’re still flying in Coach.
…and there’s the sun.
Pomai,
59 – 28 Akamai Okole
The GB Packers are the 2nd NFL team to get caught for a Safety today.
…stuff happens.
Utah State #18 in AP poll, and #20 in coaches poll.
We ran into a well oiled machine last night. Problem is we running into another well oiled machine next week. I feel like fresno and utah state will be the 2 best teams we see all season. Good news is we only need 1 win to be bowl eligible the bad news is we gotta play utah state and San Diego st still.
after the failed FG and 108 return for a TD, TV went off and I was off to do something else — have Iwe given up, HELL NO!!!!!!!!!!! we shall be there on Saturday
WR receivers who committed early was during UH winning ways — are they still committed? we shall see.
3 straight losses can certainly put a damper on my Sunday mornings and into the coming week
unfortunately, UH will end up at 6 – 7. but better record than 2017 – both OD and DC and especially the HC needs to look real hard at themselves and decide what needs to be done for 2019 — analyze, develop new goals/objectives, select the best 3 options, massage it until January 2019, decide what will be the best options, brief all players, and discuss their plan with the team, and start working on getting ready for spring ball — oh, not to forget “off-season” training for all players.
last 3 games have shown a definite weakness of speed by the DBs during each game — bigger, stronger, faster WRers? yes, but the failure to select the best method to counter these players is a coaching weakness
many young players had their early chance to be on the field and hopefully, this will bring a strong desire to be better in 2019
In 2020, Cole will still be here. Will Chevan and/or Moussa want to wait that long ?
NOT ENOUGH TALENT!!! That’s all. Gotta recruit for next year, no two ways about it.
7. .. One Fresno TD was set up by Cole being intercepted at the UH 47 and the DB returning to the UH 16. One TD was that 100 yd. return on the FG attempt.
So i didn’t check more, but that means maybe the defense only gave up 36 pts. on their own.
I think defensively its hard to tell where the failure is. Is the coverage bad, or is the pass rush causing the secondary to fail? Is it the scheme? Is it preparation? Is it effort? Is it ability? Fatigue? Youth? Well when you watch the videos (I didn’t see the Fresno game yet) it is a little of “all of the above”.
Batoon rotates a lot of guys in. Not really for specific personnel packages (I think) except for Williams (run specific). They are so “not” aggressive. When they do blitz it looks like linebackers just “filling” gaps and pursuing upfield. Even with Tavai. They look so “rigid” in their responsibilities. No “looseness” (even Tavai). I think they just need one or two guys to get “Nuts”. More passionate , “violent”, “sharp”, technique with liberties given to certain playmakers (like Mautautia and Tavai last year) to gamble now and then when in “Nuts” mode. Particularly from linebackers and nickles but could be from anywhere. Scott, Pavihi, Hendrie, Thomas, Padello, Mautautia, Bethley, Time, Okeke, and Wilson all have the “get nuts” ability. Plus D line will be stronger and more physical next year. Should give the secondary a more confident mindset.
Next year they return everybody except for Tavai, Choi, and Hudson-Rasmussen. Lots of potential to scheme anything you can imagine with an offseason to extend the playbook. Just got to get on the same page coaching wise. Especially tackling. Whole offseason lots tackling drills. Just like how the offense bonded off season defense needs to put that kind of work as well. Totally capable to become dominant (Taala especially) and carry them next season. I have confidence in Coach Batoon. Setting up the “big picture” I think. Time to turn it up right now though. Can do.
McDonald could be the next Taysom Hill NFL wise. Maybe UH wise too 2020.
Just for context here – the announcers on the ESPN2 broadcast said that they might be seeing the best college program in the state of California. That may be true of Fresno. Main thing is the Warriors fought hard.
Fix what can be fixed. Chase the things we need but don’t have (recruiting). Every team, every season is a work in progress.
It will be fun to see our guys play at home next week.
GO WARRIORS!!!
It was on a different thread that someone suggested the root problem is a need for a commitment from the state in supporting an athletic operating budget that competes with the top Group-of-Five teams. My two-cents worth, I agree this is primary in order to move the program forward. A first big step would be a commitment to build the football stadium on campus in partnership with private investors. This would include an improvement of current athletic facilities.
Where’s kaiwi Chung in the back field? Why isn’t Dakota torres lined up at the te position for at least a couple plays? Change it up man.
Hard game to watch. Props to the UH players were playing their hearts out, but it was simply a matter of a Fresno State team that was more physically stronger, bigger, faster, and talented than them. It does pain me to see this. Fresno might be the best team in California this year.
Bottom line is the the talent level at UH still has a ways to go. Coaches coach, and players need to execute, but they can’t do it if they’re not physically able to do so. Simply firing this coach or that coach will be like rearranging furniture on the Titanic until more serious issues regarding financing the program can be addressed (increasing the recruiting budget, upgrading aged facilities, upgrading the strength and conditioning program, improving the team’s nutritional needs, transportation, and eventually an on campus stadium). UH does “OK” with some soccer with they are provided, but the inequities do show when playing the MWC’s best teams. USU will come to town a very big, strong, and fast team this week. Their head coach Matt Wells earns double of Coach Rolo ($800K to $400K). Their weight room is double the size of UH’s at 20,000 sq feet.
UH can be a great place to attend school for 4-5 years for many student-athletes. Why not enhance this by providing the necessary resources and facilities to prospective athletes? The fact that UH/Hawaii is isolated plays a major role in the lack of urgency in failing to upgrade the basic needs of the football program. Common attitude in the State, UH, and general pubic will continue to be: “For what you need new stuff? Just make due with what we give you! Dis is Hawaii and times are hard (been hearing this for some 40 years).” Everyone stay protecting their own Kuleana. BTW, read that UCF has major upgrades to their existing facilities. UCF students pay $200 per semester for the activity fee (68,000 enrollment = $25 million). What a concept! In the meantime, UH travels some 9 hours flying commercial (including 3 hours by bus to Fresno) while MWC opponents fly on charter flights.
31. DB covers the back out of the backfield LB takes TE, watched them practice that play 5 times in practice. LB got lost AGAIN don’t know why??? Except missing Tavai!!!
Eternal optimist I am. Refuse to accept we will stick at 6 wins period. We have three weeks at home some time to rest and mend before final two. Read all the comments on several blogs etc. and I still believe after theses last two Outing we can cross the finish line to a winning season. Bowl just don’t care, care about this week only. Back against the wall for at least one more-gonna stick with my mind set-GoWarriors!!!!
Is it talent or preparation?
Last week an underdog of a team, Purdue was not given a chance against a “semi-pro” team in Ohio State. Their talent was supposedly not in the same neighborhood as OHio State’s. Yet, they beat the then #2 team in the nation.
We may not have the talent as USU, but who know? With proper preparation, we may be able to do what few thought Purdue could against OSU.
It should have been Chuckie Keaton to lead Utah State to the polls.
Too bad he was so prone to injury.
I remember a game where Utah State had Auburn on the ropes.
Largely, the history of Utah State football was that sometimes they would give BYU a hard time.
I don’t want Hawaii to lose, but if we’re going to lose, at least we can help them get past Central Florida in the Group of Five sweepstakes.
islandman- I stand corrected. I appreciate having somebody to communicate about softball, women’s basketball, and other “minor” sports.
I’m not a feminist or anything, or some Title IX zealot.
It’s just that in the mid-eighties when the men’s basketball team was a trainwreck, I turned on the TV and watched Judy Mosley for the first time. I was a fan of the program ever since.
Do you agree or disagree that if women’s soccer had a higher profile, the head coach would be in the hot seat right now?
This was such a winnable game.
It’s almost West Virginia losing to Pittsburgh in football tragic.
41.
I want to correct what Cappie the Dog said.
Utah State was in the final 2016 pole.
Don’t believe what you read on the Internet.
The full moon is past but the crazy person is still howling.
“islandman October 28, 2018 12:46 pm
7. .. One Fresno TD was set up by Cole being intercepted at the UH 47 and the DB returning to the UH 16. One TD was that 100 yd. return on the FG attempt.
So i didn’t check more, but that means maybe the defense only gave up 36 pts. on their own.”
lol ONLY 36 points on their own. islandman, stop. that’s a bad defense, my dude. stop making excuses for them. Currently, Hawaii is ranked 104 in the NCAA in total defense. Hawaii gives up on average 34.6 points a game (rank #106), 128.6 rush yards a game (rank #109) and ranked #117 in defensive efficiency as per NCAA.com and espn.com.
UH is not a good defense, and aside from Wyoming (which isn’t a very good team and is… uh… offensively challenged, to say the least), UH has not been a good defense all season… not like my kahuku red raiders. RRFL!
48. Rolovich has said his aim is to score 35 pts per game at least. So if they did that, we would have been close if the defense allowed just 36. We ain’t going to get the Dick Tomey days defense nowadays.
43. I don’t think she would be on the hot seat, since they improved so much this season. Fullerton had tie games with #1 LBSU and also #3 UCI during the season.
“islandman October 28, 2018 7:53 pm
48. Rolovich has said his aim is to score 35 pts per game at least. So if they did that, we would have been close if the defense allowed just 36.”
lol what? just because the offense should score more points doesn’t mean the defense isn’t bad. “good defense” is usually not defined simply as “the offense scores more points than the defense.” if you’re gonna let the objectively terrible defense (by EVERY metric used in football, including defensive efficiency) off the hook because you think the offense should score more, than so be it. But it doesn’t change the fact that UH’s defense is bad.
cappie was praising you for using statistics in your argument. so here are some: the UH offense has sputtered since BYU, averaging 21 points a game and cole mcdonald has only thrown 4 tds to 2 interceptions in the past three games. the defense gives up about 34.6 points a game in that same three game span… you know… because it’s a bad defense.
UH is losing games right now because it’s a bad defense paired with an offense that all of a sudden has become strangely bad as well.
“We ain’t going to get the Dick Tomey days defense nowadays.”
nobody is saying that UH defense must be elite desert-swarm/legend of boom to be considered a “good” defense. I’m saying that by all objective measures of a defense, including the eye test, the UH defense fails pretty badly on all of them.
and anyway, it’s kind of weird that you appear to think that there are only two options here: legion of boom/desert swarm or extremely terrible
if UH scored the rolovich prescribed 35 points a game and the defense held everyone to 34 points a game, on average, and UH won the national championship, that doesn’t mean UH had a good defense that season. it means their defense was terrible but their offense allowed the team to win.
maybe next year, the players will develop and get more comfortable with schemes, and more importantly, UH recruits much more talented players on the defensive side of the ball, particularly with the pass rush
Why can’t Hawaiian Airlines be the official airlines for UH so they can have charter flights?
If UH cannot beat UNLV the coaches should all quit. 7-6
Keliiliki needs to put on about 15-20 pounds of “muscular girth” and redistribute his center of balance. He can be the H/TE heir to Torres. He has the ability, just needs more weight. Tavai can be the heir to Furuta,……Jonah Tavai (nice hard to grasp dimensions and he can block like Dayton can). Ask Jahlani to help get him here.
Prior to demolishing New Mexico who appeared to play half hearted, Wyoming gave USU all they could handle. USU ultimately won out on a100 yard KO return and the result of an easy interception setting themselves up at the Cowboy 5 for another TD. The QB love finished with 58 yards passing on 28 attempts with a pick. Wyoming switched to a running QB in second half-he rushed for a clean 100 yds. My point is-GoWarriors!!!!! It’s only a loss if you let it be such-
I can’t believe I misspelled “poll”.
Isn’t Ryan Meskell quietly having the best season for a placekicker since Jason Elam?
Everything but the leg.
Just be Ray Wersching.
Savich u one lolo
66. Good find but Wyoming for the most part has a pretty good defense, i think.
56. I agree, UH defense should improve. But for example in 2002, when UH was 10-4, the defense allowed 27.8 pts per game while the offense scored an avg of 35.9 pts per game.
In 2010 ,
In 2001, UH allowed 26.5 pts per game but scored 40.2.
2007 and 2010, 25.5 pts per game allowed but scored around 40 pts or more per game.
56. If UH had scored 28 plus 1 or more points somewhere, they would have beat Army, final score was 21-28.
They can put a man on the moon but cannot rid the blog of cockroaches.
Stephen the cat must be still sleeping while the cockaroach plays. Turn on da light and watch da bugga scatter!
Here is my take on UH season…..
The first 3 games, they were having “fun”, making plays and winning games.
Even coach Rolo was having fun making calls.
Going undefeated at that point made expectations grow and pressure mounted.
Not as fun anymore.
Now they are second guessing themselves.
Not making plays are the result of this.
You have to find the “joy” again and game play will improve.
After all…..
Its just a “game” and you should not be playing if your not having fun.
Get rid of the pressure and doubt that is weighting you down.
Go out here and find the joy you were having before and things will start to click again.
69 Islandman-correct they are pretty good, just trying to point out we can compete if we shake off some of the stuff from last few weeks. One thing for sure they were completely caught off guard by running QB. As stated always optimistic-
Dbs need tutoring on defending double moves.
Dline needs to help with pressuring The Qb
to be a supreme optimist is great and i wish UH will win the next 3 games — hey, it’s Halloween!!!
wishes are not only for X-mas — can also be for Halloween!
now, 9 – 4 will meet my expectations for 2018.
dang nations — pictures are so “grainy” cannot make out buses!!!
just noticed on my wall the 2019 season which UH opens against Arizona, followed the following week by Oregon St, and then travel to play at Washington
yikes 3 consecutive PAC 10 schools!!!!!!!!
start 2019 season 0 – 3
rolo should coach the game this week in one of his halloween costumes.
The blogmaster is probably tired as heck from all this travel, and he doesn’t have to play football or go to school and study. It’s a tough life for a player.
53: Yeah, but the blogmaster has to pick up someone’s poop nearly every day, several times a day. That’s no picnic for someone with three major beats to cover and a daily blog to host.
Is it correct that the football team does not have a strength and conditioning coach? If correct, why don’t we have one?
H-Man: Stephen previously reported that Tommy Heffernan and Josh Elms oversee the team’s S&C … at least for this season.
burro sabio: You can hear a man from the moon, but you can’t hear the men’s basketball post-game show from inside the Stan Sheriff parking structure.
Cappie, LOL
UH’s Offense is confused. One can see that in their play and on the sidelines with hand motions going left and right. All points to coaching. They are going to have to make some changes. Can Moussa RUN? they got to mix it up more and adjust to the diff pass Ds’ and get that 7th win then redshirt. Somebody said UTST vulnerable against running QB’s? Let it all hangout already open up their short playbook. It’s starting to look like 4-6 years ago?
Also, on another front, Ladies volleyball looks pathetic. How can they lose to a team they beat on the road? That loss is all on the coaching, got to pump up your players which is what coaches need to do from time to time- IN YOUR FACE! So what if you went 5 games on the night before, these athletes are 19- 21 years old for goodness sakes! this is not a makule team!
I hope UH is currently working on extending Rolo’s contract (along with raises to him and his staff) and won’t wait until or past the December signing date. If they just dilly dally, opposing schools (like OSU) will love to use the fact that he only has one more year on his contract and it hasn’t been extended in their recruiting pitch. That’s the nature of college recruiting.
UH is a very young team. Very few seniors in the starting lineup, which is promising for 2019. Gotta do something with upping the strength program as what they’re currently doing isn’t working. Returning players, especially on both lines need to get bigger and stronger.
Remember when UH’s players such as Maa Tanuvasa, Taase Faumui, and Junior Tagoai used to physically overpower and manhandle opposing linemen in the old WAC.
OSD: In today’s recruiting climate, it is unlikely that Ma’a Tanuvasa and/or Ta’ase Faumui would have ended up at UH.
Niko, Colin Scott’s, Jack Sims, Embo, Kesi—rugged dudes no doubt but not the biggest Dlinemen around – but I don’t remember we ever really getting pushed around—ever.
On the other hand, we had some really bad boys at linebackers- Alvis, John Taylor , Anthony Woodson, James Elias, ML Johnson ….
NotNati: True dat!
Admission reqs among MWC schools is another factor that plays a role in recruiting and does hinder UH. But, that’s for another day.
Boola, those were the days. I don’t know if we have had anyone as studly as Alvis Satele, ever. Itai Sataua was barely 200 lbs, at nose guard. Andy Moody 220 lbs? Kaimana Padello is a throwback to those kind of players.
Boola…maybe it comes down to the “Heart of a Warrior”. Those guys got it done.
Yesterday, Coach Allen went over some of the plays to explain why it worked and why it didn’t. Very interesting discussion. Found out it’s not like…you..go run to da telephone pole…you go run to the car ova deya..and I going trow on pass.
Much more intricate “science” to running routes and getting open. Probably will watch games with a different view point.
New post: http://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=47332