Nevada Reviews, Utah State Previews

Dave Reardon recounts five key plays from UH's victory over Nevada in this week's Warrior Replay.

Jason Kaneshiro writes that UH had their best game of the season converting on third downs.

The Warriors converted a season-high 50 percent of their third-down opportunities against the Wolf Pack, going 7-for-14 in the game and converting on six of nine chances in the second half. The defense, meanwhile, held Nevada to 31 percent.

Included in those six was the game's decisive play, a 24-yard touchdown pass from Greg Alexander to Malcolm Lane with 20 seconds left.

Hawaii entered the game last in the WAC and near the bottom of the national rankings at just under 26 percent on third downs. But they were able to sustain drives in the second half in winning a shootout with the WAC's highest-scoring team.

Kaneshiro also has season stats, notes about special teams and the upcoming road trip, and news that Josh Leonard is questionable for the Utah State game due to a sprained ankle.

Dave Reardon writes about Coach Mack allegedly destroying a computer at halftime.

"You know how rumors can get started," he said yesterday, chuckling.

But we have good reason to believe that at halftime -- in punctuating his speech to his team -- Mack cracked a Mac, or wasn't very PC to a PC. Truly an action all of the techno-enslaved Luddites-at-heart among us can appreciate.

Even if it's just an urban myth -- like the screwdriver flying from the stands in Fresno, past June Jones' ear and then quivering stuck in the grass like a Bowie knife -- I choose to believe it really happened, and McMackin is officially my hero of the week.

After this rebooting, so to speak, the Warriors offense exploded for 24 second-half points. That's 21 more than after the break in the other four conference games combined.

Dave also has a few choice words for those "blowhard bloggers."

A more drastic step was needed to symbolically crush the blowhard bloggers and anonymous armchair coaches and cyber commandos -- you know, the ones who wanted him fired after three games.

Some of these haters even line up after wins to claim responsibility for the successful game plan and adjustments.

I would only claim responsibility if they ever ran the Big Boned Wishbone, which they will.

Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette-Journal has a game review.

Jason Kaneshiro writes that UH will keep the QB platoon system going into the Utah State game.

"We're going to platoon again," McMackin said. "Inoke (Funaki) does things with his legs and we're going to have a run-and-shoot guy ready, so we're going to let the next defensive coordinator get ready for both."

McMackin said the starter will be determined in practice and will also depend on the game plan the Warriors want to open with.

In addition to the news about Liloa Nobriga and Joey Iosefa committing, Stephen Tsai writes about the QB platoon, Leonard's injury (he says it's minor in this article), and the continuation of the Mouton experiment.

The Warriors will stick with the experiment of using defensive back Ryan Mouton as a slotback on offense.

"He's an outstanding athlete," McMackin said.

Mouton made five catches against Nevada, including a crucial reception in the game-winning drive.

"He was close to breaking a couple," Lee said. "He adds so much more (to the offense) because of his quickness."

And Ferd Lewis takes a look at the Warriors' final stretch of games.

If the first two-thirds of the schedule was something akin to Murderer's Row, then the final lap lines up as strictly Misdemeanor Row.

According to the NCAA computer, the Warriors have played the 10th toughest schedule in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-A) to date and close with future foes that are 116th (out of 119). From teams that won 65 percent of their games, the Warriors now play those who have won 23 percent.