GameDay: Hawaii at New Mexico State

Dave Reardon's gameday preview highlights the matchup between the UH corners and NMSU's leading receiver.

Chris Williams wasn't even listed as a starter for the Aggies in training camp, but he replaced an injured Tim Tolbert and now he's second in the nation with 121 receiving yards per game. He's coming off his best game, grabbing 13 balls for 191 yards against Boise State.

Williams is a diminutive 5-feet-8 and 155 pounds. He's a major reason the Warriors are deploying Gerard Lewis (5-9, 168) and Myron Newberry (5-8, 164) as the starting cornerbacks. They aren't much bigger than Williams, but they have the speed to cover him and have been playing the best lately among UH's six-man cornerback by committee.

I'm confident our defense will not give up more than.... 400 yards passing! That's actually holding Chase Holbrook in check, especially when NMSU desperately tries to come back from a 28 point halftime deficit and UH plays the second string in the 4th quarter!

Stephen Tsai's gameday preview has a lot of info, but I noticed this bit at the end:

After missing five of seven field-goal attempts, the Aggies conducted open tryouts for a kicker. The area is such a concern the Aggies have gone for it 21 times on fourth down.

I always hate it when opponents go for it on 4th down, but the Warriors have been doing pretty good in stopping teams from converting this year. In the past, it seemed like it was almost a given that teams could convert on 4th down against UH. Defense is coming together!

Stephen Tsai profiles NMSU coach Hal Mumme.

Dave Reardon also talks to Mumme.

IF YOU'RE A coach, some stats you know. Mumme knows Holbrook, a sophomore, leads the nation in passing yardage.

Some stats are so bad, you stop keeping track.

Mumme is told his team is 116th in pass defense.

"You mean there's three worse than us?"

Mumme laughs, because that's all he can do.

This is how the UH offense must look right now:



Then again Hawaii is ranked 106th in pass defense. So there's drool all around.

Ferd Lewis writes about similarites between Mumme and June Jones:

The over-under on the number of passes thrown? "Something like 120," predicts NMSU coach Hal Mumme.

With two such disciples of air power, UH's June Jones and Mumme calling the shots and trying to out-do each other, Mumme joked, "the first one who punts is a wimp."

At least we think it was a joke.

But, then, both are coaches who march, er, pass to similar drummers. Coaching iconoclasts from the same pod. One, Mumme, who flies a pirate flag over his practice field watch tower, and the other, Jones, who introduced the so-called "Chad Owens rule" five years ago permitting players to showboat a little when UH is up by 24 points or more. Brothers of the same throw-first-and-ask-questions-later fraternity. Two deacons of the church of the forward pass.

In the Aggie Gameday Preview from the Las Cruces Sun-News, Colt Brennan talks about being in a passing offense.

"It definitely can be a quarterback's dream," Brennan said. "It's great when things are going good, but there's a lot of pressure on a quarterback in this offense. If you're not throwing four touchdowns a game, you're not doing your job. ... Guys in the Big 10 hand off the ball 20 times to set up their 20 pass attempts, and here you throw it most the time. But it can be a lot of pressure knowing you probably aren't getting the job done if you aren't getting those four touchdowns and 300 yards every time out."

Colt is right, but I think everyone expects him to pass for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns with no interceptions and an 80% completion rate. In the first half. Anything less is a disappointment! Nah, but like I said earlier, it's getting easy to take Colt for granted, and we mustn't do that! We mustn't!

Ferd Lewis also has some pre-game odds and ends, including this:

Mumme said he has pushed the idea of a national clearinghouse for college football officials with Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson.

What Mumme — and others — have proposed is putting all Division I-A football officials under the jurisdiction of one commissioner of officials. A "czar of officials," as Mumme puts it, would assign the officials for all Division I-A games.

Currently officials are overseen and assigned by various conferences.

That's actually a great idea. Plus, it takes away a scapegoat from whiny Michigan State coaches.

The Aggie Gameday Notebook has an injury report on NMSU.

NMSU tonight will be without starters middle linebacker Michael Hernishin (left MCL sprain), outside linebacker and Hawaii prep star La'Auli Fonoti (dislocated finger) and defensive tackle Jeremy Weeks (back spasms). The other two defenders NMSU have played the season without are free safety Cole Marton, who broke a bone in his foot in the season opener, and middle linebacker Shana Leaupepe, who was killed in a drive-by shooting this summer.

Starting cornerbacks Alex Bernard (hip flexor) and Courtney Bryan (ankle) are both banged up, but will start tonight.

I wish NMSU wasn't so decimated with injuries. It would make the game that much better. Nonetheless, I think it'll be one of the best games of the season, if you like offense. And honey, I love me some offense! But I also love me some defense, so let's hope the Warriors D comes out fired up and forces some early turnovers. It's gonna be a good one! GO WARRIORS!!!!