Upset
By Dave Reardon
What went wrong today at Utah State? Well, for one thing, critical mistakes in the red zone. Your comments welcome.
By Dave Reardon
What went wrong today at Utah State? Well, for one thing, critical mistakes in the red zone. Your comments welcome.
Copyright © 2008 starbulletin.com. All rights reserved.
November 1st, 2008 at 4:04 pm
All I can say is “WTF?” I expected a tough game out of Utah State after how they played Fresno, but I didn’t think it would end up in another loss. Once again, 4th and Goal they opt to go for it rather than take the points from the FG. Did they not learn the last time they tried this?
And enough of the platoon system…pick your QB, and stick with him. Work him in that position and let the offense get comfortable.
Coach Mac making big bucks now, time for him to show he’s worth it.
November 1st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
O-line play (or lack thereof) is killing the season.
Lots more went wrong today: dropped passes; lack of contain on the QB; questionable play-calling (3 deep balls on last series).
But watching TTU bury Texas makes it evident what the value of solid OL play is
November 1st, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Beating Fresno in Fresno was nice. Winning against a quality team like Nevada at home was cool. Those wins have given the fans a hope that the team could be half decent and be competitive. Well, Saturday’s loss to lowly Utah State removes all doubts about the quality of this year’s squad. Warriors are not very good. It was frustrating to see our team scoring only 14 points against one of the nation’s worst defense. But then again, this proves that this year’s squad isn’t very good. A good team does not turn the ball over in the Red Zone and came away empty. That’s the bottom line. Let’s hope for a better year in 2009. Personally, I’m done with this year’s team. Aloha!
November 1st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
4 wins against 5 losses and some folks are “done”?
Aloha is right!
If your kid ever comes home with less than a 2.0 report card will you be “done” then as well?
November 1st, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Our boys played their hearts out and in my opinion were just following the direction given by a very inadequate and inexperenced coaching staff. For one, it seems our offensive plays are called on whim rather then a plan. It appears that we’re also very predictable on offense. To run three plays into the teeth of the Utah defense without one play action play, especiallly when you’re within the five yard line, is very difficult to understand. I love our football team but I’m getting very tired of Coach Mack telling us every week of how proud he is of his coaching staff and not stepping up to the plate to take full responsibility for the problems that we’re having. Are changes in the coaching staff need here????
November 1st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I belive that Mack should hire real coaches with D1 or NFL experience and not former high school coaches. This would help, i hope mack realizes that miano is a (deleted) coach and bruddah ron can’t be an offensive coordinator.
November 1st, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I hate to say, but Ron Lee is in over his head.
He should be demoted to wide receivers coach or something so that he can still recruit the local players, but a real high level division 1 type offensive coordinator who is worthy of working at a team that just went to a BCS game and is the current defending conference champs should be brought in.
And to prepal, if my kid brought home a report card with less than a 2.0, I wouldn’t be “done” with him, but I sure as hell would demand changes in his lifestyle.
November 1st, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Dropped touchdown pass and two blocked field goal attempts. That’s 13 points and a very different game.
November 1st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
All I can say is tough loss. We’ve really hit rock bottom. What is frustrating is that after this game, we all seem at a loss. We want to keep believing. We want to not criticize the coaching staff and players. We will be very supportive of this team. We as fans want to have hope but it doesn’t seem there is much to hope at least for the moment. These are some of the inner tensions we as fans deal with. It’s been a tough day for Warrior fans all over. It seems like the wind has been taken out of us. Although we still have a chance to go to a bowl, chances are getting slim. If we struggled against one of the worst teams in the nation… what does that make us? We made Utah State look like they were 7-1 world beaters. As hard as it is to do this today (not because I am dropping off the bandwagon), let us try even harder as fans to support the team. The season may be going downhill but we can still pull ourselves up and do what we can to support. As hard as it seems, let’s do it. GO WARRIORS!!!!
November 1st, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Boy. . . Don’t even know what to say. I used to be in favor of a platoon system, but am now against it. I have seen enough out of Alexander to want him as a starter. His numbers today were not great but he threw no picks and recievers dropped a bunch of balls. This guy needs to get confident in the offense. Boy do I miss Colt!
Bad day for the D, but I think they were gassed at the end. That series late in the 4th when they had to hold Utah St. on 3rd down and they had the play busted but let the f-ing QB run for I don’t know how many yards. Ugh. It looks as if the QB had a break out game or they just were not ready for him.
That said, no way do I turn my back on the team. Hello, this is a rebuilt team in a rebuilt season. This is what happens. For those of you who say this is not a rebuilding year, you are out of your mind. Offensively this team is completely new. Basically our entire starting squad left. The only thing I heavily criticize is the QB desicsions. ALexander should have remained the guy after Florida. What an unfair evaluation. Against Florida? Did you see what they did the last two weeks? If we had stuck with him, he would have this offense down by now. Unfortunately, I think Coach Mac was holding out for Graunke, and look how that turned out. Our D has been good but we can’t expect them to score points too.
Have faith. Leave Alexander the starter. No more platoon. Give the coaches a chance. Good luck next week.
November 1st, 2008 at 11:00 pm
the scarier thing is going to be next season… They will be far worse because of the loses they will have on their best side of the game, the defense. Seriously though, I think Hawaii’s worst enemy is its offense because they do pretty much zero things with the ball and turn it over too fast that the defense has hardly any rest.
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:11 am
It wasn’t a pretty game by any means, but I’m not giving up on the Warriors and will keep supporting them and hope they keep playing thier best. The way I look at it, the Warriors are still doing better than the “Von Nightmare” years. The similarities I don’t like are the coaches seeming to be indecisive and more importantly not doing a very good job of game planning. I truly believe Ron Lee is in way over his head when it comes to being an offensive coordinator. I’ve seen Pee Wee football coaches with more creativity and effectiveness at play calling than he has demonstrated.
I still think Coach Mack is a good coach and I will not give on him unless the Warriors are still playing this ineffectively during his third season. To increase his and the Warriors chances of future success, he needs to seriously consider some coaching changes.
The players are making mistakes and are inconsistent, but as the saying goes “practice like how you’re going to play in a game”. Bottom line, if the coaches don’t have their act together, how can we expect the players too.
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:40 am
here’s what went wrong. they out coached, scouted, and played us and i say that loosely.
we pick up and move on to new mexico st. hope we have some film of the boise st vs new mexico st game because thats what we want to do in las cruces.
vote this tuesday. if you didn’t like the legislature voting themselves a pay raise, vot for the concon.
go warriors!
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
first off…I want to say that I’m a die hard UH fan that bleeds green but this loss was devistating to our bowl chances. Before the season started, most realistic fans would look at the schedule and say UH would probably have 4 or 5 wins at this point. That’s where we stand right now. However, they wouldn’t have predicted a loss to Utah state. After last season’s undefeated regular season, expectations were at an all time high but this ain’t last year’s team. If any team in the nation lost a heisman candidate QB, four starting receivers, and longtime head coach, they would probably call this a rebuilding year. I’m a coach McMackin supporter and I believe the team will be great in the future. Rome wasn’t built in a day! Go Warriors!
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Very little discipline = too many penalties. When will the players be held accountable for their actions? Too many dropped passes yesterday killed them. The goal-line play calling was frustrating. If the team is going to continue with the QB platoon system, let’s see plays that cater to each of their strengths. I do believe it is a good thing to keep the opposing defenses guessing which QB will be used, but if you don’t call plays to capitalize on their strengths, then why do it?
I’m not giving up on the team, but these items need to be fixed.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
It seems that our defense gave a lot of big plays, our defense , with all the talk in the beginning of the season was going to be the diffrence maker, they need to “Walk to Walk ” not just “Talk the Talk” this was suppose to be our heart and sold of the team ,obviously our offense has a lot new faces with no game experience, but with constant reps at pratice they should get better, if not there not the Studs we thought they were!!! We need to evaluate the people we bring in to the program. It seems that the coaches always come up with all the excuses that why we lose they should stop whinning and coach. The people in Hawaii take pride in our football, look at all the good things that happen with a winining team from last year !! Also our offense line really sucks we can’t even block the worst team in the WAC!!!! The same guys gets constantly getting blown by the Defensive ends !! It seems there is no one on the teams willing to step up like how Colt did !!!!
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
For the good, I like the double meaning of the title of your article. Yes we were and fans are… Upset! For the bad, special team was not very special including missed/blocked field goals, critical penalties at crucial times, too many dropped passes, etc. It also seemed that Utah State was more energized and appeared to want it more than we did. With 4 games left getting 3 more is getting tougher. I am disappointed but still have faith that we’ll be good at New Mexico State. We’ll be acclimated to the time difference and less travel weary, which I believe had much to do with us being out of sync. Go Warriors!
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I know many think of Utah State as the cellar dweller which should have been a easy win but the fact of the matter is they’ve had talent but were constantly shooting themselves in the foot in their first seven games. This became apparent in their game against BYU. They coughed up the ball three times giving BYU 21 easy points. They finally got on track in the 4th quarter and had the first team defense on their heels scoring 14 points and could have scored again if they didn’t fumble away an opportunity. The final score was 34-14 but take away the 21 easy points and it was a much closer game without those turnovers.
They then ran into O-line problems in their two conference games preceding the Fresno game. Brent Guy then made changes to the O-line and the result was much improved blocking which allowed Borel to really do his thing; it kept Fresno on their heels until the end of the game. UH made more mistakes and failed to execute resulting in a loss to a hungry team which made less mistakes and executed their game plan. When you have trouble not being able to contain a basic rush and have problems moving the ball against one of the worst defenses (let alone being stopped three times on consecutive running plays in the red zone), that shows how awful the Hawaii offensive unit is. And the so called strength of this Hawaii team, the defense, also gave up big plays.
With that said, they should be able to win the NMSU game because their offense is even worse off than Hawaii due to injuries suffered against Nevada and SanHo including the loss of their starting center. Mumme had to yank Holbrook from the Boise game in the 3rd quarter since he was getting pummeled. His backup J.J. McDermott spent the remainder of the game running for his life. If Hawaii struggles, then something is really wrong. The game which will really be a trap is the Idaho game. They are finding their mojo just like Utah State.
The way our offense line plays at time is embarassing. Alexander looked frustrated after two consecutive runs by him were negated because of penalties by the line. I’m taking the reason other guys are not played is there really aren’t any others capable of starting as this is the best available. No offense to Brian Smith but UH needs an experienced o-line coach who isn’t afraid to crack the whip since that is where it starts, in the trenches. The o-line players are like a caricature with all that long hair as they aren’t playing up to the Warrior image.
If I had my own team and my offense line was playing the way Hawaii’s is, I would institute a rule where for every false start or holding penalty incurred, 1″ of the offending linemans hair will be lopped off after the game. Penalties which negate a huge play would lop off 2″. Repeat offenders will have 4″ lopped off. And if the same mistakes continue to be made where they don’t have enough hair length left, they will be forced to remain bald and not allowed to grow back any hair until they go at least one game without a penalty. Sounds harsh but if the hair means that much to them, it would serve as motivation.
The predictable playcalling also remains a mystery. It isn’t even worth figuring out from a fan point of view but opposing DC’s must love it since it makes their job that much easier. The platoon system is also meaningless because the Boise game provided the template for opposing DC’s on how to minimize any scrambling threat Funaki provides. They know UH is having problems throwing the ball and will just dare Funaki to throw by taking away the run. This offense needs to develop a sense of timing and chemistry and needs to settle on one starting QB. While Alexander has much to learn, I like how he plays. You sense a higher level of confidence with him throwing the ball and running the offense. Ditch the platoon system between a passer and runner and give game time reps to Alexander and Rausch. If you are going to platoon, do it with Alexander and Rausch. Utilize Funaki elsewhere in the system like a slotback who also has the option to run or throw and can also take a direct snap. The key is the main QBs needs to be one of the pocket passers.
The bandage fixes applied so far only last a game before the opponent has game film to counter. Hawaii can’t even run their base offense effectively which is what they ought to have been practicing and playing. Instead, Lee spent an enormous amount of time having the QBs under center which now amounts to wasted time (yes, I know Rolo said it did help the footwork) but it still amounts to a failure in the game plan when you’ve had to discard a bulk of what was practiced in the offseason. It’s akin to trying to build a house on a weak foundation where the house above could collapse if the basic foundation fails because it was not prepared properly. Yes, the team would have taken their lumps on the way like what is happening at SMU but that game time experience would have also brought players like Alexander up to speed much faster. There is no quick cure and this team is going to be in the same predicament next season if the right decisions are not made going forward this season. 3/4 of the way into the season and this team still has no offensive identity.
If Coach Mack is truely proud of his coaching staff and the embarassing product they are putting out on the field, does that not violate his number one rule of not embarassing the program? Because that is how UH is being perceived. Seems like the coaching staff needs to do bear rolls with some of the players.
Coach Mack says he does not care about statistics except 3rd down conversions (last weeks Coach Mack show) which to me, is a bit of a naive view since the information offers a gauge that matches up with the reality. Until this game, I’ve taken a wait and see approach before saying anything publicly but now that the media is asking for comments, I’m stating the way this team regressed now leaves doubts about the quality of this coaching staff and whether McMackin really has what it takes to be a division 1A head coach.
HC responsibilities such as clock management issues and a lack of urgency still abound. Even the ESPN announcers were alluding to the lack of urgency displayed going into the 4th quarter. They brought up the penalty issues and how those false starts were killing this team. They said this team is asleep and needs to wake up. They said this is “5″ steps backwards for Hawaii. This is all pretty condeming coming from impartial people. How a team can come out looking so flat and lifeless falls on the coaching staff whether it be lack of preparation or lack of motivation. And I don’t mean the “lets all jump up and down and cheer” during practice to get people fired up. There seems to be a real lack of an articulate motivational speaker style coach like Reinebold who could inspire people. When McMackin speaks, it sometimes seems like he has a midstream brainfart where he ends up repeating what he just said a few sentences earlier. I’m sure for defensive related stuff, he can rattle things off but I’m sure for the offensive stuff, it’s a bit out of his element.
Mack told Liz Chun he’s a slow learner but come on now. If he was getting paid the same $250K Brent Guy is making, I would not even be wasting my time writing this. For $1million, you’d expect something which seems competent and looks respectable on the field. Remember, McMackin’s name entered into the mix when assistants like Miano began pushing him to maintain continuity so that they could continue what Jones had done. My first choice for head coach was actually Kevin Gilbride but since the Giants were in the playoff and the timing was critical due to recruiting, I was all for McMackin and joined the chorus. He said we were going to continue being an attacking football team on offense, defense, and special teams. The expectation was that UH football was going to reload and not rebuild because there was enough personnel in the system to keep the dropoff to a minimum. Yes, we all know about the QB situation but what about everyone else?
My own realistic expectation was that we still would have lost to Florida, Oregon State, and Boise. I also had Fresno pegged as a loss. I didn’t expect to see the efficiency and near automatic accuracy of the last two seasons. What I did not expect though is the sheer dropoff in offensive productivity where they look inept and produce numbers almost near the bottom of the NCAA. Knowing what I know now, it would have been better to clean house completely and hire someone with proven head coaching experience. If you are going to have this level of dropoff, might as well start from scratch. This is what we’re dealt with though for the next 5 years so McMackin has plenty of time to prove to the supporters like myself who are now skeptical that he was the right choice. I just hope Miano is not using this as a stepping stone to become the next UH coach after McMackin because then we’d really be in trouble. The last thing Hawaii needs is a head coach who plays favorites and has the mentality that every walk-on player can become a starter.
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
To all above fans, you make me proud to be a Warrior fan. I feel your anx, frustration, pain and humility (UH has really humbled me down this year) and I share your insightful remarks about the team in general and in its glaring weaknesses–OL, bad coaching all around as evidenced each week in poor play-calling, clock management, poor decisions-let’s see, former high schoold coaches way in over their heads, coach Mac whose only head coaching job was at Aloha High School in Oregon? Jeeze!! Our coaches are good guys, really, but they’re just out of their league; I know because I’ve been following college footbal very closely for 45 years; I played for a great college football coach followed by an obvious mediocre one. Everyone on the team could see it right away. You want to see great coaching? Go no further then the SEC. Now that’s where you find quality coaching. They cost a lot and UH can’t afford the likes of them but it (UH), or any school for that matter, can find good young, hungry yet talented coaches out there and it can start looking at anytime now because they are out there, trust me. Having gotten that of my chest, I’m looking forward to next weeks game and I betcha braddah Michael in Kona will be watching too, even though he said “Aloha” to the rest of the season. Eh Michael, I know you mad braddah, but you’ll cool down in the next few days and wish you never said that; that is, if you’re really a fan. Yeah, we beat a quality Nevada team and what we thought was a good Fresno State team but we now know that FS is just an average team (5-2 but their opponents are 19-38). But as a rabid UH fan, I’m going to finish the remainder of the season not with despair and “see-you-later-itis” but with a supporting attitude for the players who, I think, have been handed a raw deal with the coaching staff. I have deep admiration and respect for our players and I, for one, will not give up on them. Where they lack discipline I find fault with the coaches—either the leaders lead or get out of the way. Geeve ‘em Warriors!!
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
What do people expect!!! I know where the fault is. Colt Brennan. People’s expectations are way too high because of last year and even the year before. Colt Brennan is the all-time best UH football player, period. Hawaii people are very spoiled because we think we went to the Sugar Bowl and that we think we can get to the promised land again. Maybe we will, but not this year. The offense has simply not done the job. The offensive line is not protecting well enough. We have too many penalties. To replace 4 starting receivers is tough. The new receivers have been dropping too many passes. The quarterbacking is very inconsistent and cannot make the big plays.
With all that, UH can still make it to the Hawaii Bowl by beating New Mexico St. this week and Idaho and Washington State at home. We will not beat Cincinnati. But a 7-6 overall record is about right for this team which is frankly not very good. Part of the blame is the coaches. The play calling is not good. The field goal kicking sucks. And the defense has problems containing scrambling quarterbacks, i..e. Utah State, and Nevada.
The other thing is turnovers, too many. That’s a sign of a bad team.
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I’m convinced the whole problem is that we pay football coaches way too much f……g money. Take that out of the equation and the game will get fun and interesting again and the coaches, instead of shaking in their boots for fear of getting sacked everytime the team gets beat, will be free to call the games in a more wide open fashion, instead of the creatively innert and unimaginative way we now have to endure.
Im sure our players are fine, the QB’s are ok ect…but I think the coaches in this game are under far too much heat to win. After all, its not exactaly top shelf on the worlds list of priorities. Its a game, and meaningless at that no matter how bad some people want to invest it with significance. It simply does’nt have any in the short or long term. The world economy is on the ropes, not the football team; we’re fighting wars, trying to navigate our resources so to ensure our survival…and now we have to worry about a damn football game? I dont think so.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:44 am
Just finished watching the Coach Mack show and geez I don’t know where to start. I should have waited before submitting my previous comments.
Coach makes the following comment. “I don’t know if it was Halloween or I don’t know what. I’ve never been involved in a game like this. I’m very disappointed.” He said it with a straightface and not in a joking way either. What the heck does Halloween have to do with this? The boogyman caused the players to drop balls, slip on the turf, forget what the snap count was, etc? Can anyone take a head coach seriously who says stuff like that?
When Liz asked about the fumble that could have been challenged as an incomplete forward pass, Mack finally gave the first indication that not everyone is on the same page….. he eventually said “we need to communicate better.” If that isn’t proof enough that the elevator does not go all the way to the top floor with this coaching staff, I don’t know what else more proof is needed. Isn’t that what the coaching staff is supposed to be doing in the first place? Is it any wonder now why the team has not always looked and played like a unified unit? McMackin, you are the headcoach now and this is one of your responsibilities which you must prepare for prior to and then manage during a game.
I know that in some television news report, Mack does his usual “give credit to the opponent” routine which I don’t have a problem with when it is simply left at that. What I didn’t realize was just how far he went by calling out Aggie fans that were all over Brent Guy and stating “anybody that is trying to get rid of him doesn’t know what football is all about, they need to get off his case.” What takes the cake even more is Mack saying “give him credit, he needed the win.” Wow, so Hawaii did not need this win even more? Might as well wrap up each game into a nice box and send it as a present to the opponent. McMackin should be worried about his own problems first and not the other teams coach.
Finally, during the segment about the next opponent NMSU, coach says he was surprised at the way NMSU was blown out by Boise. He said something must have happened like the QB got hurt and that he was not sure and surprised. Question. Who is responsible for scouting the opponents and keeping the coaching staff updated? I myself knew from last week after listening to the WAC coaches teleconference that NMSU had a bunch of injuries. Mumme in his usual aloof way flat out stated how that affected their offense in the Idaho game. Because of QB protection issues due to injured personnel, they have had to run the ball a lot more. Holbrook had less than 70 yards passing in the Boise game, the lowest in his career at NMSU. Now I know the coaches primary duty is to concentrate on the task at hand but is it that hard to get a little summary of your other upcoming opponents status the next day? This to me is something simple and basic; not rocket science here.
Like I mentioned in my prior comment, I previously took a wait and see approach and had been giving this coaching staff the benefit of the doubt. The above however does not instill any confidence whatsoever plus my opinion has changed drastically over the past day and a half where I’m beginning to feel like those who have been saying he is in way over his head. This growing list of quotes just makes you wonder and go hmmmmm. Come on Mack, please try not to embarrass the program any further with soundbites like this.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:04 am
When you try your best yet just can’t seem to prevail tho success is at your fingertips (i.e. 2 redzone fumbles, 2 blocked FG’s, etc), there is only one explanation … bad juu juus, hex, jinx, whammy, superstition or whatever one’s name is for it. Combine that with an opponent that clearly wanted the win and you get a game that was already lost on 10/27/08 when those fateful words (though funny at the time) were spoken: “People asking about that can decide how to use timeouts when they have a football team.”
Say it once, its funny, say it twice and in Hawaii and its bad juu juus despite a next day apology. Fully understand the defensive response to annoying questions/criticism, but its best to just avoid having to give a live resposne altogether. The players and coaches gave their best (the stats clearly show it) yet 2 blocked FG’s and 2 redzone fumbles for a team that converts 19/22 redzones to scorage and there is only one explanation … someone(s) put a whammy on us … time to bust out the Ti leaves.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 am
OK, UH had a winning system, there should not have been a lot of changes. BUT there was. You don’t need to fix it if it isn’t broke. I understand its a new coach and he wants “his team”, he tried it and it doesn’t seem to work, go back to the pass. and please pick a QB.