Nate the Destroyer, Pilares, Pat Hill, Etc.

Congratulations to Nasti Nate Ilaoa, who has signed with the Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League.

Brian McInnis writes about the status of Kealoha Pilares' knee injury.

Pilares himself expressed reservations about his ability to go against the WAC rival Bulldogs (6-3, 5-1 WAC), despite the Warriors' having two byes over the past three weeks to help rest injuries.

"They want me to take care of it for the last three games, (at Nevada and at home against Boise State and Washington)," Pilares said. "Rest it up."

On the other hand, coach June Jones said he expected Pilares to play when asked at yesterday's weekly Honolulu Quarterback Club luncheon.

Stephen Tsai talks to Pilares about it.

"It's really weak," Pilares added. "It feels dead. ... It doesn't give back when I push down. Just lateral movement is sore. I can't really make cuts."

Since suffering the injury, Pilares practiced during two bye weeks and played in the Oct. 27 game against New Mexico State.

"I didn't give it time to rest, I guess," Pilares said. "I kind of rushed into it. It got worse and worse."

June Jones compares the UH offense to the Patriots offense, and talks about the upcoming stretch run.

"This is kind of a playoff run, when I was in the NFL, at this point usually in early December or late November, you had to win four in a row to stay alive," he said. "That's kind of what it feels like right now. We've got four big games, and three at home (Fresno State, Boise State and Washington). The kids are pretty focused and have been able to put everything in perspective from week to week."

Ferd Lewis has a pretty interesting column about Fresno coach Pat Hill and his scheduling philosophy.

Nevada has a bye this week, and they're using it to plan for Hawaii.

Ault and the coordinators will likely spend part of the weekend trying to find ways to beat Hawaii, which is 8-0 and ranked 12th in this week's Associated Press poll. Ault said the bye week certainly helps.
"We welcome the extra week to practice and get some ideas down," he said. "It still comes down to execution.
"(Two weeks is) going to be more than enough for us. We'll be more than ready for Hawaii."

Philip Dear of the Tufts Daily has a good article about UH, Colt Brennan and with the crazy season, their chance to get to a national title game. The last month of the season would have to be doubly crazy as the first 2/3rd of the season for that to be a possibility.

The Warriors aren't just winning all of their games, but they're winning them emphatically. In only eight games, they have outscored their opponents 415 to 179, scoring at least 42 points in each. The Warriors are ranked first in the country in points per game, averaging 51.9, and second in the nation in passing yards with 3,676.

Quarterback Colt Brennan, one of the leading candidates in the Heisman Trophy race this season, leads the Warriors. Brennan has thrown for 2,820 yards, good for ninth in the country, but has done so in two to three fewer games than the first eight quarterbacks. But more importantly, he owns a passer rating of 160.3, which ranks him third in the nation.

And in an article about Heisman candidates and some problems with media exposure, Caulton Tudor of the News & Observer has some good things to say about Colt Brennan, even as he writes that it would be difficult for Colt to win it.

Among the early quarterback favorites, John David Booty (Southern California), Brian Brohm (Louisville) and Chad Henne (Michigan) have struggled and/or battled injuries. The primary exception is Hawaii's Colt Brennan, who has lived up to expectations on an 8-0 team.

But Brennan also faces a testy remaining schedule -- games against Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada and Washington. And even if the Warriors finish undefeated, can a football player from Hawaii win the Heisman? Logically, you have to think no. Geographically, it would be more of an unprecedented outcome than the surprise win by Oregon State's Terry Baker in 1962. Brennan probably has more of an exposure issue than Oregon's Dixon.