Distribution of Balls

Jason Kaneshiro writes about Colt Brennan's sharing of the wealth when it comes to his receivers. For his O-line, it's pizza, for his receivers, it's the rock.

Davone Bess continues to be the Warriors' busiest receiver, ranking fourth in the nation with 7.38 receptions per game for an average of 82.9 yards, good for 14th nationally.

Ross Dickerson (64.8 ypg), Jason Rivers (64 ypg) and Ian Sample (60.5 ypg) are also among the WAC's most productive receivers. Chad Mock, who started seven games last year and one this season, has 16 receptions for 226 yards.

Ryan Grice-Mullins led the Warriors in receptions last season and was putting up big numbers again before an ankle injury sidelined him for four games. Dickerson moved from outside receiver to replace Grice-Mullins in the slot and caught 28 passes for 362 yards and five touchdowns in those four games.

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"Colt has a good feel for all the receivers now and a good understanding," Lee said. "I think right now the guys, Colt and all the receivers, have a really good understanding of coverages and our system. They know where they have to be, they know when to do certain things."

It must give defenses fits, not being able to key on a #1 receiver, because they're all #1!

Stephen Tsai writes about the defensive line rotation UH will have going on during the Utah State game.

Because of Logan's breathtaking high altitude — 4,400 feet above sea level — the Warriors planned to rotate three sets of defensive lines for their 3-4 schemes.

The starters are ends Melila Purcell III and Ikaika Alama-Francis and nose tackle Michael Lafaele. The run-stopping unit is composed of Lawrence Wilson, Rocky Savaiigaea and Kahai LaCount. Reinebold said he had hoped (Victor) Clore would be on the third unit, made up of pass-rushers.

Without Clore, the Warriors will use Laupepa Letuli, who moved from offensive guard to defensive end on Monday, in an expanded role.

"We'll start him out on long downs, in pass-rush situations, where it a little bit easier to see some of the blocking stuff," Reinebold said of Letuli, a second-year freshman. "We'll have a more experienced guy in there on first downs."

Reinebold said Letuli, David Veikune and, possibly, Karl Noa will form the pass-rushing unit. Noa did not play last week because of a strained leg.

I hope Letuli, who is a freshman, has a great game. If he stays as D-line or goes back to O-line later, this will be great experience.

Dave Reardon writes an interesting profile on the Utah State football team and the atmosphere in Logan.

(Utah State head coach Brent) Guy has reason to believe he can turn things around. He was an assistant here before, when things were better. They actually won a bowl game, in 1993, when Guy was on John L. Smith's staff. Then he went to Boise State and Arizona State, places where they usually win, before Utah State hired him for his first head-coaching position last year. He's 4-15 so far, but Lewis says he's on the right track.

"He knows everything about the situation, and he's seen the mistakes made by others," says Lewis, who has been the voice of the Aggies more than 20 years, and went to school here. "Most guys tried for the quick fix of JC transfers. He's gonna build with young kids."

Young kids like true freshman quarterback Riley Nelson, a record-setting star at Logan High School who decided to stay home, and is starting already.

Guy believes Utah State can be another Boise State. One similarity is the need for a wide recruiting base.

It'll be great for the conference once the "lower tier" teams start "playing up", which is still a lame phrase. It's already happening with Idaho, SJSU and New Mexico State, so it's good all around.

But to stay in the NCAA's good graces, Ferd Lewis writes that Utah State needs to get their average attendance up.

Indeed, attendance numbers are a Utah State concern because the Aggies need to make the NCAA-mandated minimum season average threshold of 15,000 in either turnstile or paid attendance. Tomorrow is a key game if the Aggies are going to get there. If the UH and Nov. 25 regular-season home finale against New Mexico State don't bump that figure up to 15,000, then the Aggies head into 2007, the second year of a rolling two-year NCAA certification cycle, forced to meet the minimum

Speaking of attendance, Bobby Curran writes of Hawaii's own attendance woes, though not as bad as USU's.

There are two scary parts to this success.

The first is that as good as the Warriors have been, they can get better - and probably will.

The second is that at last Saturday’s homecoming game there were still fewer than 30,000 fans at the stadium. The crowd that attended was excellent. They were loud, and when Idaho had the ball in the red zone, they were positively disruptive. I have long believed that the attendance is most influenced by the product on the field.

Now I’m not so sure.

This is starting to look like the best team in school history. It is certainly the most exciting. I can’t remember a Hawaii team with so many excellent players. Colt Brennan is the best QB ever to wear a Hawaii uniform, and I’m not sure it’s even close. Nate Ilaoa does things with the football that almost seem impossible. The offensive line features at least two players who are destined for the NFL, and the receiving corps is magical.

This is definitely a special, special team. GO WARRIORS!!!!