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For Hawaii, the afternoon was not a delight.
Boise State, ranked and thirsty, dominated on offense, defense and self control for a 52-16 rout before a matinee crowd of 18,286 at Aloha Stadium.
Jeremy “McWeapon” McNichols dashed for 153 yards and two touchdowns, and Brett Rypien threw four scoring passes to keep alive the Broncos’ chances of playing in the Mountain West title game. Boise State and Wyoming, which lost in triple overtime to UNLV on Saturday, are tied for first in the Mountain Division with 5-1 MWC records.
The Rainbow Warriors, who have been outscored 107-16 the past two games, dropped to 4-7 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain West. With games remaining against Fresno State and Massachusetts, the Rainbow Warriors are assured their sixth consecutive losing regular season. They still have a chance to earn a postseason berth, even at 6-7, if there are not enough eligible teams for bowls.
“If we don’t play better, we don’t deserve to go to a bowl game,” UH coach Nick Rolovich said.
Rolovich was disappointed in the turnovers (a lost fumble and an interception) and 10 penalties, including two personal fouls and a roughing-the-punter violation.
“We’re good at that,” Rolovich said. “We are who we are right now. We’re turnovers and penalties. That’s us. We’re not disciplined enough. That’s on me.”
At the intermission, with the Warriors trailing 35-3, Rolovich cleared the benches. He ordered the metal benches removed from the UH sideline.
“There was a percentage of our team that acted like they were in a cabana down at the Royal Hawaiian,” Rolovich said. “(If) they want to sit down, they can go to the locker room, I told them. That wasn’t the mind-set we needed to beat Boise State. And, obviously, we didn’t have the right one going in.”
Because of the 2 p.m. kickoff to accommodate national television, the Warriors elected to switch from their usual home sideline, forcing the 24th-ranked Broncos to face the afternoon sun. And it was the Broncos who were sizzling early, seizing a 14-0 lead in the first 6 minutes, 8 seconds on Thomas Sperbeck’s finger-tip, 35-yard touchdown catch, and McNichols’ 36-yard scoring run. It was another slow start for the Warriors, who have allowed six touchdowns and two field goals on the opening drive of their 11 games.
Rolovich said he is puzzled with the slow starts.
“I don’t know what the deal is,” Rolovich said. “We deferred a bunch (after winning the coin toss this year), but the defense seems like they need a couple series to get dialed in. The offense struggled, too.”
The Warriors opened with a pick-your-poison strategy. They wanted to contain McNichols, who entered averaging 135.1 rushing yards per game, and placed corner Jalen Rogers on speedy wideout Cedrick Wilson (4.43 seconds over 40 yards). But the Warriors didn’t have enough material to cover Sperbeck, a sure-handed receiver who runs crisp routes. Sperbeck also is a threat on jet sweeps and option passes and as the wildcat.
“They got the matchup they wanted,” UH secondary coach Abraham Elimiman said of Sperbeck aligning against a safety on the opening drive. “The receiver made a great play. He’s all-conference. We know that, and we couldn’t get it done. It’s not all on one (defensive) player. It’s on all of us.”
The Broncos are a mix of boxer and slugger. They can spread their formation, and zig and zag through man and zone coverages. Feeling pressure only once in 23 pass plays, Rypien had time to hit Wilson (seven catches for 144 yards) and Sperbeck (five receptions for 114 yards).
The Broncos also have a power package involving as many as three tight ends, with one often shifting into the backfield as a lead blocker for McNichols. McNichols, who is quick to the perimeter and fearless into the middle, averaged 9.6 yards per carry.
And when the Warriors camped on McNichols and the receivers, Rypien turned to Plan C. He tossed a scoring pass to tight end Alec Dhaenens to make it 21-0. Later, Rypien faked a handoff to McNichols to set up a play-action pass. But with nobody open — and no pass rush — Rypien scooted 4 yards for a touchdown.
And so it went.
“That was a good game,” said Rypien, who was 18-for-22 for 338 yards. “It was just getting the one-on-ones.”
UH quarterback Dru Brown who was 16-for-31 for 125 yards, said: “As a whole, we need to execute better. That’s the issue with starting slow. When you don’t execute you’re going to start slow. We’ve got to figure some things out. Not only X’s-and-O’s-wise, but as a team. There are two directions we can go with this. With the guys I know on this team, we’ll bounce back and get two wins.”
UH did get production from running back Paul Harris, who gained 145 yards, an average of 10.4 yards a carry.
“I have to make the most out of opportunities when they present themselves,” said Harris, who has gotten more carries while Diocemy Saint Juste recovers from a shoulder ailment.
Kicker Rigo Sanchez converted field goals from 24, 32 and 35 yards. On their final drive, the Warriors advanced to the BSU 18. But on fourth-and-8, Rolovich chose to kick the field goal. A week earlier, in a similar situation in which the Warriors trailed heavily, the Warriors went with a pass play on fourth down.
“We had a guy open for a touchdown and the ball gets batted down,” Rolovich said. “We had guys not running off on kickoff team. We got personal foul penalties because we can’t hold our composure. We’ve got bigger issues than if we kick a field goal or try to throw a touchdown down 40 points.”
Rolovich praised Boise State.
“That was a really good team,” Rolovich said. “But I could take losing to a really good team if we play well. It hurts when we lose to a really good team that embarrasses us because we don’t play well. There’s a difference.”
FIRST QUARTER
Boise State
>> Thomas Sperbeck 35 pass from Brett Rypien. Tyler Rausa kick.
>> Drive: 5 plays, 84 yards, 2:30 elapsed time.
>> Time: 12:40. Score: Boise State 7, Hawaii 0
Boise state
>> Jeremy McNichols 36 run. Rausa kick
>> Drive: 4 plays, 55 yards, 1:44 elapsed time.
>> Time: 8:52. Score: Boise State 14, Hawaii 0
SECOND QUARTER
Boise State
>> Alec Dhaenens 6 pass from Rypien. Rausa kick.
>> Drive: 12 plays, 64 yards, 5:19 elapsed time.
>> Time: 13:35. Score: Boise State 21, Hawaii 0
Boise State
>> McNichols 5 run. Rausa kick.
>> Drive: 6 plays, 55 yards, 2:29 elapsed time.
>> Time: 8:33. Score: Boise State 28, Hawaii 0
Hawaii
>> Rigo Sanchez 24 FG.
>> Drive: 11 plays, 68 yards, 5:12 elapsed time.
>> Time: 3:21. Score: Boise State 28, Hawaii 3
Boise State
>> Rypien 4 run. Rausa kick.
>> Drive: 5 plays, 80 yards, 2:09 elapsed time.
>> Time: 1:07. Score: Boise State 35, Hawaii 3
THIRD QUARTER
Boise State
>> Cedric Wilson 35 pass from Rypien. Rausa kick
>> Drive: 3 plays, 41 yards, 1:25 elapsed time.
>> Time: 12:04. Score: Boise State 42, Hawaii 3
Boise State
>> Rausa 38 FG.
>> Drive: 9 plays, 52 yards, 4:32 elapsed time.
>> Time: 6:31. Score: Boise State 45, Hawaii 3
Hawaii
>> Sanchez 32 FG.
>> Drive: 10 plays, 36 yards, 4:58 elapsed time.
>> Time: 1:28. Score: Boise State 45, Hawaii 6
FOURTH QUARTER
Boise State
>> Sperbeck 44 pass from Rypien. Rausa kick
>> Drive: 4 plays, 35 yards, 1:37 elapsed time.
>> Time: 14:51 Score: Boise State 52, Hawaii 6
Hawaii
>> John Ursua 5 pass from Dru Brown. Sanchez kick
>> Drive: 6 plays, 65 yards, 2:46 elapsed time.
>> Time: 12:05 Score: Boise State 52, Hawaii 13
Hawaii
>> Sanchez 35 FG.
>> Drive: 12 plays, 67 yards, 4:13 elapsed time.
>> Time: 3:48. Score: Boise State 52, Hawaii 16
TEAM STATISTICS
|
BSU |
UH |
| First downs |
25 |
16 |
| Rushes-yards |
44-246 |
32-234 |
| Passing |
357 |
125 |
| Comp-Att-Int |
20-24-0 |
16-32-1 |
| Return Yards |
99 |
72 |
| Punts-Avg. |
2-30.0 |
4-43.75 |
| Fumbles-Lost |
0-0 |
1-1 |
| Penalties-Yards |
6-55 |
10-79 |
| Time of Possession |
31:57 |
28:03 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Boise State: McNichols 16-153, Mattison 10-40, Sperbeck 2-17, Young 6-17, Rypien 4-14, Wolpin 5-6, C.Wilson 1-(minus 1). Hawaii: Harris 14-145, Brown 11-61, Lakalaka 6-19, Collie 1-9.
PASSING–Boise State: Rypien 18-22-0-338, Stuart 2-2-0-19. Hawaii: Brown 16-31-0-125, Ewaliko 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING–Boise State: C.Wilson 7-141, Sperbeck 5-114, McNichols 3-29, A.Butler 2-19, Roh 1-36, Mattison 1-12, Dhaenens 1-6. Hawaii: Torres 3-35, Ewaliko 3-15, Timoteo 2-20, Kemp 2-18, Collie 2-16, Ursua 2-11, Camanse-STATSx0AStevens 1-6, Harris 1-4.
MISSED FIELD GOALS–None
78
