GameDay: UH vs Washington State

Here's last night's Chawan-pilation of game previews from KHON, KITV and KGMB.



Stephen Tsai's gameday preview has breakdowns of the offense, defense and specialists of both teams and takes a look at Greg Alexander's progress.

"When he first came in," Rolovich said of Alexander, who transferred from Santa Rosa Junior College in May, "I told him one day he'll be able to look this way" — Rolovich pointed to the right — "and know what's happening on the back side. I think he's getting to the point. It's because of the reps. It triggered in his mind: What would it be like if I were able to do that?"

Alexander said: "I'm definitely grasping it a lot better."

Tsai has more about the offense's development.

McMackin said in rebuilding an offense that needed to replace four receivers and a record-setting quarterback from a year ago, the Warriors had to endure the growing pains.

"We needed to get to a point where everybody understood," McMackin said. "We needed the game reps."

Now, McMackin said, "as you can see, we're peaking."

Jason Kaneshiro has some quotes from the coaches and has a gameday preview with lineups, breakdowns, stats and this key matchup:

Hawaii front four vs. Washington State O-line
After recording eight sacks in their first seven games, the Warriors have 19 in the last four, seven coming from the line in last week's win over Idaho.

UH head coach Greg McMackin called off the blitz early on. The front four's ability to control the line of scrimmage left the linebackers free to flow to the ball and helped limit Idaho to 1.2 rushing yards per carry. The pressure also contributed to three interceptions.

Tackles Keala Watson and Josh Leonard controlled the middle of the line, while David Veikune and John Fonoti are playmakers off the edge.

They'll face a Washington State line that hasn't had much chance to develop continuity in starting seven different combinations this season. The Cougars have surrendered 38 sacks for 311 yards in losses.

Bud Withers of The Seattle Times has a game preview.

This will match teams having starkly different seasons than they did a year ago, each under new coaches. Hawaii stormed to the Sugar Bowl under coach June Jones and quarterback Colt Brennan, but was pounded by Georgia, after which Jones left for SMU and Brennan departed for the NFL.

"We kept things as they were," McMackin says. "We run the run-and-shoot [offense] and the defense I brought here."

The Seattle Times has some game notes.

Ryan Divish of The Olympian talks to Cougars coach Paul Wulff about potential for a letdown.

Think about it. Normally the Cougs would end their regular season with the Apple Cup as the last game. And in the past when they were bowl bound, there was a month of practice to avoid a letdown.

But when you add to the fact that it was an overtime thriller with huge momentum swings, all culminating in the Cougs' first and only Pac-10 win this season, finding the same level of emotion just seven days later could be tough.

"Coming off such a big emotional game like ours, regardless of the outcome, it can be tough to respond," Wulff said.

Hey, no excuses!

And Ferd Lewis notes the resiliency of the UH football team.

With a win over the downtrodden Cougars, UH will be assured its eighth winning regular season in 10 years and sixth bowl appearance.

That the latest one would come after the administrative upheaval, coaching staff changes and wholesale player turnover that followed head coach June Jones' departure to Southern Methodist would be noteworthy.

It would, at the very least, be a statement about the resilience of the program and those who have carried on. Which, given the way things began both in January and in a 1-3 start to the football season, would be a significant message.

UPDATE: Stephen Tsai has some interesting game day notes, including:

Tyler Graunke has resolved his “personal matters” and participated in yesterday’s walk-through.