Hawaii Warriors vs Fresno State Bulldogs

October 5th, 2008 kNuke

The Hawaii Warriors defeated the 22nd ranked Fresno State Bulldogs on a Dan Kelly 33-yard field goal in Overtime.  This was the first ever Hawaii victory over a ranked opponent on the road.  Fresno State turned the ball over 6 times and missed 2 FGs.

This win puts Hawaii back in the bowl hunt.

Offense: Last week I used the word UGLY to describe the offense, this week I’ll use another word, PATHETIC.  The defense forced 6 turnovers and the offense was only able to muster 2 TDs.

Inoke Funaki was 17-25 for 170 yards with 2 TDs and led the team in rushing with 79 yards on 14 carries, but he is not the answer.  He made one good throw all game, the 28-yard TD pass to Malcolm Lane, but that was it.  I’ll give him credit for making plays with his feet, but he can’t move the offense.  If Tyler Graunke can’t play, it’s time for Brent Rausch or Greg Alexander.

It looked like Ron Lee tailored the offense a little bit more to Funaki’s strengths with rollouts and QB draws.  That’s a step in the right direction, but the guy seems incapable of making good in-game or halftime adjustments.  How long do you give an Offensive Coordinator before you decide he just doesn’t have what it takes?

Defense: The defense played solid again.  They were getting gashed with the runs, but forcing 6 turnovers more than makes up for that.  The front four still can’t get any pressure on the QB, but I doubt it’ll change at this point in the season.  Hawaii will just have to time their blitzes and hope for tipped passes and errant throws.  I am not a big fan of delayed blitzes and only outside blitzes, so I was glad to see some pressure brought up the middle.

Special Teams: Helmet Sticker to the Special Teams.  Punt coverage was solid, Kick coverage was solid, and only one penalty that I can recall.  Not to mention Dan Kelly’s 4 FGs, Antwan Mahaley’s FG block, and Ryan Mouton’s 90-yard kickoff return, which was #3 on ESPN’s Top Plays segment.  The only blemish was Kelly’s missed extra point, what was up with that?

Coaching: Hawaii won the game, but I feel that it’s in spite of the coaching, minus whoever coaches Special Teams.  The staff needs to get better at in-game and halftime adjustments.

Final Word: Hawaii’s bowl hopes are back alive.  The Offense sucked, but the Defense, Special Teams, and Lady Luck came up HUGE to propel Hawaii to an OT victory.

I had a feeling Hawaii was going to beat either Fresno State or Boise State this year.  Maybe they can beat both of them?

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San Jose State Spartans vs Hawaii Warriors

September 27th, 2008 kNuke

The San Jose State Spartans defeated the Hawaii Warriors on a Jared Strubeck 47-yard kick with 1:49 left in the game. The Spartans forced six turnovers, five of which came in the second half, to come from behind and win 20-17.

This loss may leave Hawaii out of a bowl game for only the second time since 2001.

Offense: One word sums it up, UGLY. Inoke Funaki is not the answer at QB with the current system. Funaki turned the ball over 4 times with 3 INTs and one fumble. The WRs share some of the blame as they are still having a hard time creating separation. The OL played decent minus the stupid personal foul penalties. Tyler Graunke looked fine to me so why didn’t he start the game?

Once again, Ron Lee should receive most of the blame for the offensive woes. At this point, the guy doesn’t deserve to be a Division I Offensive Coordinator. Once San Jose State made the necessary adjustments, the Hawaii offense was anemic. It seems like Lee struggles at making any kind of adjustments. Maybe since all of our RBs are injured, we’ll see more passes?

Defense: The defense played extremely well. The only real blemish was the 77-yard trickeration TD on the first drive. I’ve heard many people complaining about the lack of takeaways, but there is nothing wrong with simply solid play.

Special Teams: Special Teams did their job. The coverage on punts and kicks looked improved, but I’d still like to see them go after some punts and kicks. I thought it was a mistake to lay back on Strubeck’s 47-yard kick game winning field goal.

Coaching: I’m going to make an amendment to last week’s statement. McMackin should be given a two year evaluation period not three; three years is just too long in this situation. Hawaii is not implementing totally new systems so two years should be ample time for evaluation. I don’t know if it’s just me, but every time I see McMackin on TV or listen to him on the radio, I get that deer in the headlights feeling about the guy. Hey Bambi, what happened to opening up the offense this week?

I still don’t get why Greg Alexander or Brent Rausch didn’t get any reps. I hear that they don’t fully grasp the system, which is understandable, but if true, how were both of them higher on the Depth Chart at the beginning of the season than Funaki? It just doesn’t make any sense.

Final Word: Hawaii let this one slip away along with their bowl hopes. At what point does the team start playing their younger talent, if there is any?

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Hawaii Warriors vs Oregon State Beavers

September 13th, 2008 kNuke

Hawaii came out strong, scoring on their first possession, but the party ended there as Oregon State rattled off 45 unanswered points; Hawaii never really threatened to score again.  Oregon State’s Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 110 yards and two TDs while Lyle Moevao completed 20 of 34 passes for 268 yards and three TDs.  Even with 3 missed FGs, Oregon State pounded Hawaii 45-7.

To me, this loss hurts worse than the Florida loss.  Oregon State doesn’t have that good of a team and they’re notoriously slow starters; I felt Hawaii had a great opportunity to go to Corvallis and get the first real win in the McMackin era, but that was miles away from the truth.

Offense: The offensive unit played so poorly that everyone, top to bottom share the blame.  Tyler Graunke made some poor decisions as he threw two INTs.  The WRs dropped too many passes and looked slow, not making plays or being able to get enough separation.  The OL didn’t give Graunke enough time to stand in the pocket and make throws.

While all the players should share in the blame, the most blame should be levied against Ron Lee, the Offensive coordinator. Hawaii is not a running team and they shouldn’t try to be one.  I can understand managing the game, but Hawaii needs to throw the ball…  and throw it deep.  The shovel/screen passes are useful to curb the pass rush, but deep passes need to be thrown to loosen up the passing lanes in the secondary.  Ron Lee looked confused and over-matched up in Corvallis today.

Defense: It’s really difficult to evaluate the defense.  A knee-jerk reaction is to say that they played poorly, giving up 45 points; but when Oregon State starts at the 50-yard line or better during every possession, even the best defense in the NFL is going to give up points.

I’m giving the defensive unit an NA today, but they need to work on tackling before entering WAC play.  One thing of note is that the defensive line is still not playing well; they can’t get pressure on the QB and got mauled at the line of scrimmage on running plays.  While we’re talking defense, I’d like to put an APB out for Adam Leonard…

Special Teams: SUCKS…  AGAIN!  Tim Grasso played fine, but everyone else makes me want to hit my nuts with a hammer.

Coaching: All Hawaii fans need to take a step back from the ledge; McMackin should be allowed a two-three year evaluation period before he’s kicked off the island.  That being said, he’s looking terrible right now; it didn’t look like Hawaii made any adjustments on either side of the ball.

I’d also like to know why Greg Alexander or Brent Rausch didn’t get any reps during mop-up time?  The only two reasons I’d accept are inury or redshirt.  And don’t we have other WRs we could put in the game?

Final Word: Ugly game for Hawaii with no real bright spots; WAC play can’t come quickly enough.

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Weber State Wildcats vs Hawaii Warriors

September 7th, 2008 kNuke

This game was a tale of 2 halves with Weber State owning the first half.  Inoke Funaki proved why he was the #3 Quarterback out of camp as he looked more like a chicken with its head cut off than a Quarterback.  It’s hard to go through your reads if you’re not looking downfield.  If it wasn’t for the pouring rain, Weber State may have gone into halftime up by more than 10 points.

This worked out perfectly for Hawaii.  With the offense in shambles and lowly Weber State winning, enter Tyler Graunke; the Savior.  I know a lot of Hawaii fans are against Tyler Graunke due to his academic missteps, but he’s the best Quarterback on the roster, proving it tonight.  Graunke was 13-20 for 218 yards with 3 TDs; leading Hawaii to the 36-17 victory.

The atmosphere was okay, nothing special like last year’s Sugar Bowl run, but that’s to be expected.  Hawaii fans are still the worst when it comes to football saavy.  Screaming and starting the wave while on offense is just ridiculous.  It was also quite interesting to see how many Hawaii fans were quickly jumping off the bandwagon after the bad first half.  Hawaii fans are just fair-weather with a low football IQ; doubt that’ll change much.  In the end, a win is a win and everyone will take it, but Hawaii needs to be better to compete with Oregon State next weekend. Below are my observations from the game.

Offense: Played well once Graunke was inserted, but the WRs are still dropping too many balls.  Graunke played well, but had about 2-3 bad decisions that could easily end up being INTs.  Our RBs are nothing spectacular with Leon Wright-Jackson having the biggest upside, but he needs to run more downhill with one cut max.

Defense: They took a step back; not being able to stop a slant route to save their collective lives.  The defensive line can’t get any pressure on the QB, which will be a problem against better competition.  The timing of blitzes will be crucial.

Special Teams: SUCKS!  Tim Grasso had a good game, but everyone else was subpar.  Dan Kelly was inconsistent as usual.  What I’d like to know is when’s the last time we’ve done anything “special” on Special Teams?  I’d like to see Hawaii at least try for a punt block one time!

Coaching: What took McMackin so long to go to Graunke?  I’m sure he could see that Funaki was struggling.  Was he trying to build the suspense?  And what was McMackin thinking leaving Graunke in at the end of the game to run the option?  That’s just plain ole stupid.  You could say the same thing about some defensive starters during this game and the Florida game.

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Hawaii Warriors vs Florida Gators

August 30th, 2008 kNuke

I think most Hawaii fans that got up early to watch the 56-10 beatdown from Florida came to the same post-game conclusions.

The defense looked good, Alexander sucked and will be the #4 QB, the WRs dropped too many passes, the running game had its moments, and the special teams sucked.As far as the QB situation goes, Funaki will probably get the start next week, but Rausch should still be in the mix along with Graunke.  Alexander should be redshirted after his performance.  If I had a vote, it’d be for Graunke with Funaki being the short yardage guy.

I know there will be a lot of Hawaii fans quickly dropping off the bandwagon come Tuesday morning, but I saw a lot of positives.  Enough so, that I’m upping my expectations for the season.  Originally, I thought a 9-win season would be a successful campaign, but now I’m thinking an 10-win season is not out of reach.  I know JJ isn’t in town anymore, but I have to believe that our offense will get going enough to score around 30 points a game.

What do you Hawaii fans think?

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Tim Tebow’s Mission

May 5th, 2008 kNuke

ESPN ran a story on Tim Tebow explaining how he’s using his success to help spread his message of faith.  Spreading positivity and hope is great, but pushing your views on to others is another thing.  If I’m a Muslim, why would I want to hear this guy preach? 

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see the big deal…  I guess ESPN needs things to write about?

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Perrilloux Dismissed from LSU

May 2nd, 2008 kNuke

Ryan Perrilloux was kicked off the LSU football team after testing positive on a drug test.  The guy had a bunch of chances before he was finally kicked off the team.  How can a dude with so much talent just throw it all away? 

Who wants to bet he resurfaces at a Division I-AA school, plays well, and gets drafted once he’s ready for the NFL Draft?  This bump in the road will all be part of his “character building” experience. 

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CFB All-Star Games

January 20th, 2008 kNuke

One of the worst things I hate to see is a player get injured in an All-Star game.

Regardless of injury, what is the point of having these guys play in these games?  Shouldn’t the tapes and workouts be enough?  How can a player be judged on ONE game, especially when they’re not familiar with the coaches or other players?  Football is such a team game, I think it is an injustice to these players to be judged on All-Star game performance.

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Tebow

December 8th, 2007 kNuke

Congrats to Tim Tebow for winning the Heisman.  First Sophomore to do it.

People are talking about him winning it again next year.  No way.  He’ll be lucky to make it through another season without getting injured.

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BCS Undefeated Clause

December 3rd, 2007 kNuke

Since the university presidents are too retarded to have a playoff system, why not have a play-in game if a team goes undefeated?  The undefeated team would play the #2 team in the BCS Standings a week before the national championship game.  All I hear is how mid-majors can’t play with the big boys, so why not have an extra game?  All it would mean is more money for the BCS and a warm up game for the #2 team in the BCS.  Everyone wins.  So come on BCS, you’re not afraid of the mid-majors now are you?

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