Warriors D, Kiran Kepoʻo, Georgia's D, Halo 3

Stephen Tsai talks to Greg McMackin about the improvement of the UH defense.

This season, opposing offenses converted 28.7 percent of their third-down plays. They were successful on 39.3 percent of third-down plays in 2006 and 48.5 percent in 2005.

"I give the other (assistant) coaches real credit for that," McMackin said. "I sort of introduce everything and teach it to the coaches, and they teach it to the players. I can't ask for a better job they've done."

The previous two years, the Warriors attacked out of 3-4 alignment. This year, McMackin implemented the 4-3 as the base defensive formation. But UH also has an Oky scheme (3-3-5) and two types of nickel defenses (4-2-5) involving different personnel. Including the different blitz plans, the Warriors have used about 140 defensive schemes this season.

"These guys have picked up a pro package, and done it really well," McMackin said.

Dave Reardon has some great news regarding Kiran Kepoʻo.

Kiran Kepo'o won't have a tangible impact on the Allstate Sugar Bowl's outcome, but the fact that the redshirt freshman quarterback is on the Hawaii travel roster of 114 players says a lot.

So does the following sentence, uttered by Kepo'o last night:

"I'm doing fine."

On Sept. 18, Kepo'o was in a bicycle accident on lower campus and ended up with serious head trauma and requiring surgery for a fractured cheek.

Kepo'o has recovered enough to probably start running this week. His goal is to return to active duty with the team in time for spring practice.

In the same article, June Jones praises Georgia's defense:

When June Jones looks at the Georgia Bulldogs defense, he sees a whole different level.
"They look like the Baltimore Ravens," the Hawaii coach said after watching tape of UH's Sugar Bowl opponent. "They've got a whole bunch of guys and they're good at everything. Every one of those guys looks like he will play in the NFL."

The Savannah Morning News discusses the game and some keys to a Georgia victory.

Doesn't take a genius to figure out how to beat Hawaii ... get pressure on Colt Brennan and knock him around. And cover. Hold this WAC Unit of the Year under 24 points and you win the game. And it would help if Knowshon Moreno runs wild, too.

Knowshon will be all jacked up, too. So, don't worry about it. Loosen up. The Bulldogs will hunker down on these guys.

And finally, "Jordan1s" recreates Dan Kelly's clutch game-winning field goal against Nevada... using Halo 3. Awww yeah.