Sports Hawaii

If we still had Muasau (who happens to lead the unbeaten UCLA Bruins in tackles), Laulu, Bethley, Tavai and Lockridge this year, I doubt NMSU runs over us.

This was to be a "payoff year" with the experience we had coming back (the defensive players above with CC, Hunter and Mardner on offense).

But TG was a huge fak up hire by Matlin and THEY set our program back five-years.

Do you guys think it effected recruiting as well?

TG and Matlin eliminated everything that Rolo had resurrected after Chow.

Unfortunately, we need to start anew.

We need to recruit and develop talent.

Winning does not come in the first year after what happened to us.

sarvicdar wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 4:37 am

SundayJam wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:40 am

UnBiasFan wrote: ↑Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:07 am Maybe the worst Hawaii defense in modern era?

It's hard to beat Von Appen's 0/12 record in 1998. He managed to win 5 games over 3 years. Chow did a little better in fostering a 2nd worst team by winning only 10 games over 4 years. I like this defense, but Muasau was a major catalyst that is missing. I brushed off his departure in earlier posts, but he made this defense work. Something is definitely wrong this year, but I would not call this the worst offense of 'modern times'.

I disagree about applauding Muasau's play. Last season he lead a defense that ranked last in the MWC and had 25 mistackles. He graded in the mid 70's which is good, and I agree he had a lot of homerun tackles. But simple routine plays, and go line defense the opposing RBs ran right past him-I've seen it up close, even listened to the announcers pointing this out. Currently Muasau defensive play is grading in the mid sixties at UCLA w/zero sacks/and was credited with half tackle for loss. He's not an elite LB.

Named to the All-Mountain West first team ... eclipsed 100 tackles for the second straight year with a team-high 109 (64 solo) ... led UH in tackles for loss (14.0) and sacks (7.0) ... tied for second nationally with five forced fumbles ... had seven games with 10 or more tackles ... has made 25 career starts for UH.

UCLA beat the crap out of us last year and THEY picked him to be a starter the very next year. The defense was good last year. It was our offense that sucked.

There are 21 d-linemen on the roster, 12 seniors, 6 freshman, 2 sophs and 1 junior. Anthony and Ezra are the only underclassmen that get any meaningful playing time. As bad as Tufaga and Pavihi have been, they make a large majority of the tackles for linebackers. Other tackles are made by the DBs.

What will happen to the d-line when all those seniors graduate?

I hope we get more underclassmen involved in the front seven. Wynden has potential.

Defensive positioning and reading the opposing offense's cues, then the plethora of missed tackles due to poor tackling technique. Not a good recipe for success at any level. Except for being able to beat an FCS team.

Basic physics. Football is a game of collisions. If you have a so-so big guy versus a great small guy, I just might take the small guy. If you have a great big guy and a great small guy, all things even except size....I will take the big guy. The only way for the small guy to win is to be skilled, deceptive and unpredictable. In our case, we are facing good big guys and making them look great because these "good, not great" big guys are better than our small average guys. I will continue to cheer for the small average guys because these small average guys are on our team.

My3Cats wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:21 am Defensive positioning and reading the opposing offense's cues, then the plethora of missed tackles due to poor tackling technique. Not a good recipe for success at any level. Except for being able to beat an FCS team.

Reading play, flowing, timing, spacing and angles are important, but are lacking hence a porous defense.

It really looks like Penei Pavihi had a shoulder stinger in the second game and was rested in the second half but is still playing. I don't know the true diagnosis, just looks like it. Without him the defense is worse but his play is important and they can't afford to let him rest.

shrek2 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 1:22 pm It really looks like Penei Pavihi had a shoulder stinger in the second game and was rested in the second half but is still playing. I don't know the true diagnosis, just looks like it. Without him the defense is worse but his play is important and they can't afford to let him rest.

Pavihi played ok last year but he has not been performing too well this year aside from the Duquesne game. I would rather see a underclassman get reps if a starter is injured. None of the starters in the front 7 seem to be playing that well at all so I am for giving underclassman more playing time since we are in a rebuilding year. I hope there are a few underclassmen with good potential.

ton15t4k wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:31 pm

shrek2 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 28, 2022 1:22 pm It really looks like Penei Pavihi had a shoulder stinger in the second game and was rested in the second half but is still playing. I don't know the true diagnosis, just looks like it. Without him the defense is worse but his play is important and they can't afford to let him rest.

Pavihi played ok last year but he has not been performing too well this year aside from the Duquesne game. I would rather see a underclassman get reps if a starter is injured. None of the starters in the front 7 seem to be playing that well at all so I am for giving underclassman more playing time since we are in a rebuilding year. I hope there are a few underclassmen with good potential.

When Penei pursues he looks like Muasau. But, if he does have a shoulder stinger, he probably should not be playing because he cannot wrap. He needs to rest if its a true shoulder stinger. He might not be complaining to anybody and just playing.

No gap discipline, poor tackling, late read and reaction.

What does it mean to you if 9 of your top 11 tacklers are DBs? To me it means poor linebacker play. Too slow and missed tackles.

1st and 10 from the 2 and the guy almost goes 98 yards for a TD. Good thing Jojo Forrest got some wheels

After three really good run defensive games, Warriors get gashed bigly. That DQ guy almost got to Hawaii but UH admissions screwed up? Wonder what's the story.

We can look at it the other way. The (other team's) offense did what they had to do. Make some big plays. Their offense did what offenses supposed to do, score points. The defense can only hold back the water for so long before the dam bust.

Aside from the "obvious" plays by a few key players, Andrew Choi looked pretty good, and all over the place at times. His name was called more often than his brother.

This is an old thread, but yesterday's game's issue was the UH's offense.

Muasau is the missing key to the defense this year. Without him, we have been rudderless. He has been a game changer at UCLA --as he was here. You can crunch all the performance stats, but they can't account for leadership. Our defense was great under TG with Muasau's leadership. Our defense is still pretty good, but our offense is still in transition...thanks to Chevan.

The greatest defensive mind to be dismissed by Hawaii was neither McMackin nor Graham, but Aranda. The Bears netted an ungodly amount of interceptions against all of Texas Tech's qb's this past week.