The time is now for the Rainbow Warriors.
The time is now for the Rainbow Warriors.
After being overpowered by San Diego State 28-14 last weekend, Hawaii (2-4 overall, 0-2 Mountain West) needs to win five of its remaining seven contests to avoid a fifth consecutive losing season.
The quest to escape mediocrity continues against New Mexico (3-3, 1-1) on Saturday.
“We need to get a win. No question about it,” Hawaii defensive coordinator Tom Mason said. “A win would solve a lot of what’s going on.”
Hawaii did not have a good showing against the Aztecs ground attack, allowing 218 yards and three scores. San Diego State had 402 total yards offensively, while Hawaii had just 251.
It won’t get any easier against the Lobo’s triple option look, which is ranked 11th nationally in rushing yards per game.
“That is a very unique offense. They do a good job with it,” Hawaii head coach Norm Chow said. “These guys run everything. It will be a huge challenge for us.”
The defense has been the least of Hawaii’s problem on the road. Against three ranked opponents— Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boise State — the Rainbow Warriors have yet to score a point on the mainland and have been outscored a total of 121-0 away from the Aloha State.
“We have to prove we can play on the road, away from home,” first-year offensive coordinator Don Bailey said. “Whatever travel we have is just our travel. It doesn’t matter. We have to go in there, focus and have production on every play.”
Quarterback Max Wittek exited the game against San Diego State with a right knee injury, but reentered later in the game. He finished 14 of 34 for 179 yards and two interceptions
Wittek wears a brace on his left knee, but Chow verified it’s the other leg causing the problem.
“The braced knee is not a problem. It’s the other knee that’s the problem,” Chow said. “It’s just an on-going thing.”
Wittek is completing his passes at a 44.9 percent clip, going 79-176 with 975 yards and five touchdowns this season. But the USC transfer has thrown eight interceptions, tossing a pair in all but two games.
Backup Ikaika Woolsey — who started 12 of 13 games last season — complete all five of his passes before Wittek reentered. When asked if he had any concerns going forward with Wittek, Chow quickly squashed any whispers of a quarterback controversy.
“No. Nope. No,” Chow said.
What will help Wittek is a contribution from the running game. Hawaii ranks last in the Mountain West in rushing offense at 87.2 yards per game. That is almost 30 yards per game less than Fresno State, the second-worst running squad in the conference.
“We need to run the ball better. We need to block better and block downfield better,” Chow said. “We are going to try to keep running the football. We know we are not doing it how we should and have to be better.”
Another point of emphasis for Hawaii that goes hand in hand with offensive production will be staying on the field.
After six, games UH has had little luck keeping the offense on the gridiron and the Rainbow Warriors are holding steady in ranking last nationally in time of possession.
The past three weeks’ opponents did not improve the margins, with Boise State’s dominant offense following Wisconsin traditional run-based Big Ten offense, and San Diego State placing their emphasis on the talents of RB Donnel Pumphrey.
“We have to stay on the field,” Chow said. “You can’t score points if you are not on the field.”
A bright spot for Hawaii against the Aztecs was Julian Gener, who played the rover in the Warriors’ 3-5-3 scheme. He amassed 19 tackles in the game, 17 of those solo stops.
“I had 19 tackles last game. This Saturday, I could have zero. But if I do my job and we win the game, that’s what counts,” Gener said. “This week we are big on whatever your job is, do it.
“If our offense is going three-and-out, we have to have their offense going three-and-out. If the offense needs the ball 100 times a game, we need to get it to them so they can score.”
That’s the kind of mentality Hawaii will need to avoid another losing campaign.