Hawaii Warriors vs Utah State Aggies

November 1st, 2008 kNuke Posted in NCAA Football | No Comments »

The Utah State Aggies defeated the Hawaii Warriors 30-14 behind the impressive quarterback play of sophomore Diondre Borel.  Borel was 14 of 19 for 223 yards with 2 TDs and added 87 yards on the ground.  The Aggies never trailed in the game.

Offense:  The unit moved the ball well in between the 20s, but stalled in the red zone.  I attribute that mostly to the terrible play calling.  I’m tired of talking about Ron Lee already.

On the quarterback front, Greg Alexander looked pretty sharp for most of the game, accounting for both Hawaii TDs.  I think inserting Inoke Funaki into the game interrupted the rhythm, but Funaki played okay.

The offensive line played pretty well, but the wide receivers dropped way too many passes (about 7) and couldn’t create any separation.  It’s time for the coaching staff to rotate more wide receivers into the game for Michael Washington and the other slot position.  A big part of the poor offense had to do with the wide receivers.

Defense: It seems like the defense is getting worse as the season progresses.  I’m wondering how much that has to do with Ryan Mouton playing less?  David Veikune can only do so much.

Special Teams: I couldn’t really tell if Dan Kelly’s kicks were too low or if somebody forgot to block.  Either way, the kicking game sucked.  I love Malcolm Lane returning kicks, but there is no excuse for that fumble.

Coaching: I think Greg McMackin deserves two-three years to be evaluated like any other coach, but he hasn’t made many good decisions so far in his tenure.  I want to be optimistic, but it’s hard when the team doesn’t show consistent improvement from game to game.  And the penalties are still there!

The entire team took about a bzillion steps backwards today; they just weren’t ready to play.

Final Word: Hawaii still has a chance to be bowl eligible.  If the coaching staff lets Alexander run the show, Hawaii has a good chance to win the next 3 games and get a berth in the Hawaii Bowl.