Young offense has some growing up to do

A deep pass that eluded Keith Kirkwood’s grasp seemed to epitomize a night of growing pains for the Hawaii offense.

The freshman wideout — who had never attended a college football game prior to Thursday night — came back to score the Rainbow Warriors’ first touchdown of the season on the next ball thrown his way. Collectively, the UH offense was left to hope for a similar bounceback next week after a rough debut in Thursday’s 30-13 loss to USC at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors finished the game with 231 yards in total offense, 60 coming on Kirkwood’s grab on a deep pass from Taylor Graham with 30 seconds left in the game.

Other than that, the unit couldn’t muster much to match an inspired performance by the Warriors defense for most of the game.

"In the beginning of the game there were things we needed to click and you can’t wait until the last minute for things like that to happen," Kirkwood said.

"It’s a lot of new guys. The chemistry is going to come along as the season progresses, and we practice more and watch film and get better as a team. Defense is doing a great job, special teams is doing a great job, and on offense we’re going to pick it up."

The defense did its part to keep the Trojans within sight most of the evening as a safety and a field goal following Chris Gant’s 35-yard return on the ensuing free kick gave UH a 5-3 lead in the second quarter.

But the offense struggled to find a rhythm and couldn’t convert on the opportunities.

Graham threw four interceptions and was sacked seven times for losses of 36 yards.

UH’s ground game was held to 23 net yards, and four running backs — including three freshmen —were held to 40 yards on 23 carries, an average of 1.7 yards per attempt.

"I don’t want to make any excuses," Graham said. "We’re excited about the future we have here with the players and personnel we have, we’re looking forward to working with each other and getting our timing down and improving it."

The Warriors were facing some familiar personnel a year after a season-opening loss to USC in Los Angeles, but different schemes with the Trojans hiring Clancy Pendergast as their defensive coordinator in the offseason.

"We did see some different looks, overloads, but we were prepared for it, we just needed to see it sooner," said tackle Sean Shigematsu, who left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury.

"They started bringing some funky looks at us, showing us one side and bringing the backside. So we just have to be alert in presnap read."

The rise to the college level for the newcomers in the backfield included picking up blocking responsibilities in the protection scheme.

"It was a tough adjustment," said starting tailback Faga Wily, whose last appearance at Aloha Stadium came in the Division I state championship last fall. "Me and the other running backs just have to work on it and pick it up throughout the season.

"There were a lot of freshmen here who hadn’t played (before) but got a lot of playing time today, so it was a good experience and we’ll know what to expect next week."