With Saturday’s game ending near midnight, the Hawaii football team adjusted its itinerary, scrapping the 24-hour period of mourning.
After an early-morning bus ride from Laramie, Wyo., to Denver and a seven-hour flight to Honolulu, the UH coaches were back at work, reviewing videos of the 28-21 overtime loss to Wyoming and concocting a plan for this Saturday’s game against Colorado State.
“There’s going to be a lot of stuff to point to,” head coach Nick Rolovich said, “but we need to stick together because we’ve got a great Colorado State team coming in here.”
The Rainbow Warriors are expected to be whole. Defensive linemen Viane Moala, Samiuela Akoteu and Tevarua Eldridge completed their suspensions for violating team rules and are eligible to practice this week. Left tackle Dejon Allen, who left in the fourth quarter because of an undisclosed ailment, is expected to start against CSU. And the Warriors will address the three “chunk” plays they allowed — a 34-yard scoring run, a 59-yard rush that set up another score, and Tyler Hall’s 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
For three quarters, the Warriors held the Cowboys to 30 plays and 122 yards. Quarterback Josh Allen struggled to find a rhythm, with as many overthrows to wide-open receivers (three) as drops. But the Cowboys amassed 18 plays for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and overtime period. Defensive coordinator Legi Suiaunoa said the Warriors need to prevent chunk plays, stressing the importance “to shut those things down when we have the opportunity.”
It appeared that two coverage players were not in the correct position on Hall’s kickoff return.
“And like anything else, you need all 11 guys to be right,” special teams coordinator Mayur Chaudhari said. “It’s a giant full-field defensive play. If two guys are not in the right spot, then (the return) can easily go long. … (On) offense or defense, you can make a mistake on first down, and have two more downs to fix it. But in the kicking game, if you make a mistake, it’s a momentum-changing play, and you might not get a second chance.”
Chaudhari said the breakdown is fixable.
Chaudhari also praised punt returner John Ursua, who had to adjust to windy conditions that caused punts to flutter or veer. In the first quarter, a Wyoming punt was not fielded and eventually downed at the UH 3. But in the fourth quarter, Ursua ran up to make a fair catch in traffic.
“We explained, ‘this is the situation and you’ve got to go and attack it,’ and he did,” Chaudhari said. “I thought he did a great job.”