UH vs Florida Wrap-Ups

The UH website has a game summary along with links to notes, quotes and a box score.

Jason Kaneshiro has a wrap-up, along with some quotes.

"Speed wasn't the issue -- it was the fact that we didn't execute, defensively, special teams and offensively," UH linebacker Solomon Elimimian said.

"It's kind of the same feeling (as UH's 41-10 loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl)," UH center John Estes said. "But that was our last game and this is our first game. We still have the whole season to play and we have to clean it up."

Some notes and quotes from Stephen Tsai's wrap-up:

The Warriors devised a firewall plan for the Gators' aggressive pass rush. When the Gators aligned with three defensive linemen, the Warriors called for shovel passes, quick screens, draws, and stretch runs off trap blocks. Starting quarterback Greg Alexander varied the tempo of the silent count. Four times the Gators were assessed off-sides penalties.

"I don't have any excuses," McMackin said. "I'm responsible for everything. We lost contain on a (punt return) for a touchdown. We lost contain on a punter for a first down. We have one rule: Don't put the defense back on the field. Everybody has to do (his) job. If they don't do their job, then we get hurt for it. We, as coaches, have to work with them. I still believe in this football team. I believe in the coaches. The thing is, I was glad they didn't quit in the fourth quarter. They came back and scored 10 points."

After the game, McMackin emphasized he is not opening up the competition at quarterback.

So I guess the Gainesville Sun had it wrong. Or maybe half right, via UH Sports Extra:

Coach Greg McMackin “opened” the QB position after today’s 56-10 loss at Florida. Then he quickly pulled back, saying he had to look at the film first.

Even if the QB depth chart is unchanged, Dave Reardon writes that Inoke Funaki has the moxie to be a starter.

But Funaki has something special the others might develop with time or might not. He can get his Warriors teammates to overachieve, or at least not underachieve. He can pull this group together, out of the funk of being on the wrong end of 56-10.

That, and his ability to make something out of nothing, should qualify him as the starter Saturday against Weber State.

I'm usually not big on "he deserves it." That can mean anything, or nothing. In this case, though, it's clearly true. Funaki has done everything asked of him, including training the new guys to beat him out.

I tried to get him to say it himself yesterday, that he should start. No dice, he's too smart, too much of a team player.

This calls for a new word: Fu-moxie!

Ferd Lewis writes that receiver Greg Salas played most of the game with a fractured bone in his hand.

Salas would eventually learn just how bad: there was a fracture of the fourth metacarpal bone — the ring finger.

So he had the hand wrapped and played on, catching a game-high matching four passes, including the Warriors' only touchdown, a 13-yarder from Inoke Funaki in the fourth quarter.

"He showed some toughness," offensive coordinator Ron Lee said. "His hand was hurt but he played through it. He'll probably have to play like that the whole season."

Salas said: "I hurt it blocking in the first quarter, but it is fine, I can play with it for as long as it takes."

As reported yesterday, Daniel Libre and Laupepa Letuli may be out a few weeks with injuries. Also from the article, notes about the UH fans in Florida, The Iceman moving to 2nd on the all-time UH scoring list, Rick Taylor back home in Florida, and Jovonte Taylor having a good game.

Taylor, a JC transfer making his Division I debut, caught two passes for 38 yards in a backup role, including a 26-yarder for UH's longest gain from scrimmage. Taylor also ran back three kickoffs for 57 yards. His 30-yard kickoff return was Hawaii's longest play of the day.

"We made a lot of mistakes," Taylor said, showing more concern for the score than his stats. "It's going to be some intense practices this week. We have to get our minds right and put this behind us."

Jason Kaneshiro writes about the turnovers and errors UH made in the game.

"It was pretty much exactly what we saw on film," Alexander said of the Florida defense. "The coaches had us prepared, we pretty much saw what they'd been doing to every other team. So it just came down to execution. We knew what they were doing, we could see it, but we didn't execute and that starts with me."

Kaneshiro has an article about UH's rough start on offense.

The Warriors tried to play keep-away from Florida's offensive playmakers in the first quarter by feeding running backs Leon Wright-Jackson and Daniel Libre on handoffs and shovel passes.

But the passing game remains the identity of the Warriors' run-and-shoot offense, and downfield gains were few against the Florida defense.

"We have to throw the ball," UH offensive coordinator Ron Lee said. "The running game was great, but we didn't make the big play in the passing game. We have to make some plays through the air, that's us."

Jessica Etter has a special to the Advertiser in which she writes about UH's inexperience on offense.

Ferd Lewis has a good column about it.

So if there were any illusions about a seamless transition of eras, offenses, quarterbacks and receivers, they vanished in a hail of six turnovers. No one should have expected the change over to be easy or swift but, even as 35-point underdogs, the Warriors made this harder than it needed to be with four interceptions and two fumbles.

You understand now how easy Colt Brennan made it look when you saw how arduous it seemed yesterday.

Lewis also has some notes about Tim Tebow, the UH fans at the game and Dan Kelly.

Reardon writes about Florida's speed.

In another special to the Advertiser, Patrick Carney highlights the Florida running game.

"They (Hawai'i's defense) brought a few nice blitzes," Tebow said. "They're coached up pretty well and they did some nice odd blitzes. For the most part it's six men in the box and you should be able to run it every play and we were able to. We pretty much knew the different things they were going to come into the game with."

Check out Garret's Warrior Quotes blog for more excerpted quotes from the local papers as well as the Florida media.

And finally, the Advertiser puts the 56-10 loss to Florida in perspective.