#BRADDAHHOOD #HawaiiFB
***
Forget for a moment the PlayStation passing numbers and bone-crunching defense, the hair and the tattoos, the haka and the shaka.
Hawaii football is gaining a new trademark.
"If it isn't already, it's becoming consistency," said Warriors receiver Jason Rivers, who caught four passes for 113 yards in UH's 61-17 rout of Louisiana Tech last night.
A turnstile crowd of 27,529 at Aloha Stadium saw UH win its seventh straight game, and improve to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the WAC. For the third game in a row and fourth in five, Hawaii exceeded 60 points.
The defense also dominated again, yielding just 10 points while the outcome was in question and generating two turnovers that were recycled into Hawaii touchdowns.
"We're getting to the point where we can play the same way each down," said linebacker Adam Leonard, who led UH with six tackles. "They came out fired up, they wanted to pull off a big upset. We know every team that comes in the next few weeks is going to play like that."
LaTech (3-7, 1-4) showed early it was intent on making a game of it, but the Warriors scored 52 unanswered points after the Bulldogs took an early lead.
The question now is if the Warriors are worthy of a national ranking. They may have to wait at least another week, and that's fine with quarterback Colt Brennan, who had another stellar outing and did nothing to disassociate himself from the top half-dozen or so Heisman Trophy candidates.
"We understand we're at a disadvantage," Brennan said. "The last thing we want is a bunch of credit and then not back it up. If we do what we plan to do, the notoriety will be there for us at the end."
Brennan threw four TD passes to four different receivers and rolled up 406 yards passing on 27 completions in 40 attempts. He was intercepted once. He also rushed six times for 60 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown.
Brennan entered the game leading the nation in touchdown passes, passing efficiency, completion percentage and touchdowns responsible for. He now has 43 TD passes for the season. He has four games to match the national record of 54 by Houston's David Klingler.
"Colt had another great game," UH coach June Jones said, after the Warriors added 618 yards to their nation-leading total. "(LaTech) did a whole lot of things that we didn't practice against."
But the Warriors adjusted, to say the least, with eight scores in a row while the Hawaii defense muzzled the Bulldogs.
UH led 54-10 at 3:02 of the third when Reagan Mauia -- playing for starting running back Nate Ilaoa, who was out with a tender ankle -- bulled in from 3 yards out for his second touchdown. And once again, Brennan and some of the other starters on the nation's highest-scoring offensive unit called it a night after just three quarters.
The Bulldogs went ahead at the outset of the second quarter when Zac Champion found tight end Dennis Morris open across the middle for a 43-yard touchdown. Danny Horwedel hit the extra point for a 10-9 lead.
But Hawaii limited Tech to 37 yards and two first downs the rest of the half, and Brennan threw touchdown passes of 18 yards to Chad Mock and 13 to Ross Dickerson.
It was just the second touchdown of the season for Mock, the most unsung of the Warriors' regular receivers. He said despite going most of the first half without a touchdown pass, the offense knew it would just be a matter of time before it got on track.
"There wasn't any panic in the huddle," Mock said. "One snap and clear, we gotta get there. We know what we can do, we just gotta go out there and do it."
Dan Kelly added his second field goal, a 24-yarder, as time expired to end the half. UH led 26-10 at the break.
The spree continued after halftime.
Brennan kept on an option play for a 2-yard TD. He had thrown a 40-yard pass to a diving Ryan Grice-Mullins to put the ball at the 5.
UH got the ball back quickly on Gerard Lewis' third interception of the season, putting the ball at the LaTech 19. On the first play, Brennan eluded a blitz and dumped off to Davone Bess, who went cross-field 40 yards for a 19-yard touchdown.
Myron Newberry's 25-yard punt return set up the next score, a 3-yard pass to Ian Sample.
Bess scored again -- giving him 11 touchdown catches for the season -- on a 32-yard pass from Tyler Graunke.
UH had five sacks by five different defenders.
"We knew we had to be ready for this game because they have terrific athletes," said defensive end Ikaika Alama-Francis, who had two tackles for loss, including an 11-yard sack.
9 июл 2024
