Warriors’ wideouts burn UC Davis early and often in rout

The impact of Hawaii’s wide receivers often isn’t reflected in the final stats.

On Saturday, the wideouts’ efforts jumped off the sheet.

The Warriors scored on all seven first-half possessions in a 56-14 rout of UC Davis at Aloha Stadium, with UH’s outside receivers accounting for five touchdown receptions.

Junior Darius Bright and sophomore Allen Sampson alternated on the left side (X receiver) and combined for six receptions for 92 yards and caught their first touchdown passes as Warriors before the break.

Of the trio’s 15 first-half receptions, six went for 20 yards or longer.

"It was good to do that type of stuff because we know that we can," Pollard said. "It feels good to complete those. Those are difficult routes for us because teams know we’re going to pass so they’re always looking for the deep ball. But we went out there and were able to execute."

UH wideouts often open holes for the slotbacks by pulling defensive backs downfield with streak routes. They entered Saturday’s game with a total of 25 receptions and no touchdowns through three games. Slotbacks, meanwhile, had accounted for 60 percent of the Warriors’ receptions, similar to last year’s pace when Greg Salas and Kealoha Pilares occupied the inside receiver spots.

On Saturday, 11 of quarterback Bryant Moniz’s 17 first-quarter attempts were targeted toward the outside receivers. Moniz went to Pollard seven times for six completions covering 124 yards and touchdowns of 34 and 20 yards in the first quarter alone.

"(The touchdowns) felt good, but the thing I wanted most was to win the game," Pollard said after the Warriors snapped a two-game skid.

Moniz looked Pollard’s way five more times in the second quarter, completing three for 21 yards and UH’s final touchdown of the half. Moniz’s seventh scoring pass of the half, an 8-yarder to Pollard with 59 seconds left, set a UH record and tied an NCAA mark.

He threw six touchdown passes against Charleston Southern last year, and had shared the record with current offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich (set against BYU in 2001) and Colt Brennan (vs. Northern Colorado in 2007).

"Me and Rolo were tied last year and he wanted to make sure I got it this season," said Moniz, who also set a UH record with 424 first-half yards.

Rolovich said the frequency of the throws to the outside was more a result of UC Davis’ coverages than a game-plan emphasis. But Moniz indicated the Warriors had been looking to get the wideouts more involved in the attack.

"It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, get a vertical threat, and we executed it tonight," Moniz said.

"That’s something we worked on this week, throwing better deep balls. That was something Rolo got on me about."