Hawaiʻi vs Utah State Newspaper Wrap-Ups

Dave Reardon writes in his wrap-up about the Warriors' secret weapon that's not really much of a secret, the shovel pass.

"The first couple of steps, it looks like a pass," Brennan said. "Everybody's saying 'Pass, pass, pass,' then I shovel it to Nate real quick. It puts defenses in a bind, especially when you've got O-linemen who move the way ours do and Nate doing his thing. It's just a great play and I'm glad we capitalized on it."

A big key to the play's success is the offensive linemen selling it as a longer pass.

"We have to act like its pass blocking, then have the right timing to get downfield and block," left guard Hercules Satele said. "We didn't practice that play during the week because we didn't think we were gonna run it that much. But it worked out and Nate took it to the house the first time and then another long one."

Ilaoa now has 13 touchdowns for the season.

Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune also has an article about the effectiveness of the shovel.

“That's the one that really got us,” Utah State coach Brent Guy said after the Warriors rolled to a 63-10 victory at Romney Stadium.
“That was their best play.”
Hawaii's Colt Brennan completed 18 of 29 passes for 413 yards and six touchdowns.
Three of Brennan's completions - and one by backup Tyler Graunke - were shovel passes that ended up gaining a total of 180 yards.
One shovel went for a touchdown, two set up touchdowns and another moved Hawaii away from its own goal line and started a scoring drive.
“They kept us off-balance with pass, pass, pass, shovel,” said Utah State cornerback Drew Pearson. “They did a good job of setting up their plays.”

The thing is defenses can't really key on it or Colt will just pass it. This offense is unstoppable right now.

Steve Luhm also has a wrap-up highlighting how Utah State tried to prepare defensively for the Warrior offense.

"We had a different game plan," Guy said. "Everybody has pretty much laid off them in a zone and let them work the ball down the field. . . . We wanted to give them a different look."
Different look, same result.
The Warriors, who led 28-10 in the third quarter before reeling off 35 straight points, handed Utah State its worst loss since 1989.
Brennan hit four receivers for touchdowns, including a 29-yarder to Ryan Grice-Mullen only 89 seconds into the game.
Call it foreshadowing.
"To be honest, I'm surprised how they played us," Brennan said. "It's a good idea, probably. But when you do that - press the line of scrimmage like they did - it matches athletes against athletes, and our athletes are unbelievable."

Stephen Tsai's wrap-up also discusses the shovel pass, Utah's defensive scheme, as well as Michael Lafaele keying on the running back, funny quotes from Glanville, and this great quote from Ryan Grice-Mullins at the end of this Q&A style excerpt:

Q: How will the Warriors celebrate being invited to a bowl?

A: "Not very long," Leonard said. "We don't want to celebrate and say, 'That's the end of our season.' We have four more games. We want to win out."

Well, maybe sophomore Grice-Mullins can enjoy it a little longer.

"My last winning season was when I was a sophomore in high school," Grice-Mullins said. "My junior year, we were 1-9. My senior year, we were 0-10. Last year, 5-7. It's sweet to go to a bowl, but I'm so happy to have a winning season."

I think this is a start of many many winning seasons for UH!

Ferd Lewis has a short profile of Nate Ilaoa and his performance yesterday.

Then, there was peer pressure stoking his two pass scampers of 60 yards and a 33-yard run.

"If I let one of these (defenders) catch me from behind, I'm going to hear about it from my teammates," Ilaoa said. "In the huddle they'll ask me, 'can you go 50, 60 yards?' And, I'll tell them, 'I've got enough to get me there, I just need a little help from you holding your blocks' 'cause it is a team effort."

Running backs coach Wes Suan said, "back in (camp) he'd tell us, all he needed to run fast was to have someone chasing him."

Ferd's column also has more about the ridiculous offense.

"Nate," Brennan said, "made me look good. A lot of that was all Nate. I got (credit) for 60 yards (on a second-quarter touchdown pass) but it wasn't more than 5 yards."

Actually, they've made each other, not to mention their whole supporting cast, look good. Their growing synergy and the 7-2 Warriors' ability to make it all work with precision, as much as anything, is responsible for UH's sixth straight victory and the bowl berth it has clinched.

Now to the bad news. Dave Reardon's Notebook has news on the injuries incurred in yesterday's game.

Tackle Kahai LaCount (chest), tackle/end Rocky Savaiigaea (ankle) and end Laupepa Letuli (knee) were knocked out of yesterday's 63-10 victory at Utah State with injuries, and Savaiigaea and Letuli look like they might miss some games.

Three defensive ends -- Renolds Fruean, Keala Watson and Amani Purcell -- were lost, possibly for the season, in last week's 68-10 win against Idaho.

"That's the only (negative) thing," UH coach June Jones said. "We lost a bunch of D-linemen again. We're down to, I don't know what we're gonna do. Actually, we're probably going to have to switch some more guys. We've lost six or seven guys on the D-line alone."

Former nose tackle Siave Seti, who was moved to running back in spring practice, will probably be switched back to the other side of the line, defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville said. Second-string offensive guard Larry Sauafea practiced on defense two years ago, but probably won't be moved since he's a top reserve now.

The good news is Ikaika Alama-Francis is back to full strength.

After having sat out last week's victory over Idaho due to back spasms, Alama-Francis sacked Utah State quarterback Riley Nelson early in the second quarter.

Alama-Francis had two tackles for losses and five tackles overall.

"I felt really good, 100 percent," Alama-Francis said. "I needed that week off to get my back back and all that."

Let's hope Rocky and Laupepa get a good prognosis. I can't believe all these injuries along the defensive line. Let's hope if anything, all these injured players will be good to go against whoever our Hawaiʻi Bowl opponent is.

GO WARRIORS!!!!

P.S. Sorry if there are formatting issues with this post. Just trying something new.

LATE UPDATE: The Advertiser reports that Colt Brennan got another award.

Hawai'i junior quarterback Colt Brennan has been named the National Offensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Football Foundation following his performance against Utah State on Saturday in Logan, Utah.

Congratulations once again to Colt!