UH vs Louisiana Tech Wrap-Ups

Here are the game summaries, interviews and analysis of Hawaii's 41-21 victory over Louisiana Tech.

Stephen Tsai's wrap-up has this about UH's five-wide empty-backfield formation.

Hawaii Five-O?

"We call it 'empty,' but I like Hawaii Five-O," said UH offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich, who implemented the scheme last week.

Rolovich said reserve slotback Dustin Blount deserved an opportunity to play. With the four receiver positions filled, Rolovich decided to replace the lone back with a third slotback.

"It works well within our package," Rolovich said. "We don't have to change any routes. We don't have to change any reads. It's just what it is. I like it."

Jason Kaneshiro writes about the monster known as The Pilaresalas!

The slotbacks accounted for 67 percent of Moniz's career-best 42 completions and 78 percent of his 532 yards.

"They were huge," Moniz said. "I would throw them 5-yard routes and they would turn it into 60-yard touchdowns."

"This guy just makes people miss," Salas said. "I know every time he touches the ball someone's going to miss, someone's going to be on his highlight reel."

Dave Reardon pays homage to this two-headed beast.

There were games in past years where slotbacks went nuts, catching everything in sight, rolling up huge numbers in the run-and-shoot. We watched Craig Stutzmann, Chad Owens, Davone Bess and Ryan Grice-Mullen make plenty of defenses look silly, with Nick Rolovich, Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan going to the well time after time after time because it would not run dry.

But never before anything quite like this — Kealoha Pilares and Greg Salas combining for 28 catches, 414 yards and four touchdowns. All this production coming from a position — slotback — that was considered nothing more than a gimmick or just a change-of-pace by most football coaches just a few years ago.

Some say that this is the sound the abominable Pilaresalas makes when it's angry:



It eats cities!

Okay enough of that. Another great thing about the win is that UH avenged Greg Alexander.

"He (Alexander) called a couple of the guys this week and (linebacker) Jake Heun said he asked us to get this one for him," Moniz said.

Consider it "gotten" in a game that was also testament to just how far Moniz has come in the past year.

For it was almost a year to the day that Moniz, the walk-on who paid his way delivering pizzas, trotted tentatively onto Joe Aillet Stadium in the third quarter after Alexander had been carried off in a 27-6 loss.

You suspect Moniz didn't mind sharing in last night's payback after getting popped pretty good in two of the seven sacks sustained by the Warriors last year.

"That's where my career started and, unfortunately for Greg, his ended," Moniz said. "So we wanted to get this one for him ... definitely."

Here's the AP wrap-up.

McMackin said he was glad to get some revenge after Louisiana Tech beat Hawaii 27-6 last year.

"This was a team we wanted to get because we thought we owed them a little payback," he said. "We were really beat up after that game last year. Payback is always fun."

Brian McInnis writes about the performance of the UH defense.

Paredes posted his usual game-high tackle count, this time with nine. A relieved Dave Aranda commended the 5-foot-11, 235-pound junior for his actions on the sidelines as much as his play on the field.

"I talked about our leaders need to step up. It's been an issue in our previous games. And when things were going down, when the momentum swung the other way, we need our leaders to stand up," said Aranda, the UH defensive coordinator. "And (Paredes) is one of the guys who spoke up there on the sideline, and he spoke up on the field, too."

The Star-Advertiser's Warrior Scorebook has stats along with some news and notes, including this about John Hardy-Tuliau:

True freshman John Hardy-Tuliau turned in another impressive effort for the UH defense as his role continues to expand.

Hardy-Tuliau, listed as a starter at nickel back and No. 2 strong safety behind Richard Torres, contributed eight tackles, including one for a loss. He was one behind linebacker Corey Paredes for team-high in stops last night and has 21 for the season.

And Billy Hull writes about Louisiana Tech QB Ross Jenkins.