A day after upsetting Air Force in two extra periods, the University of Hawaii football team went into overtime for another touchdown Sunday.
Because the direct flight from Denver was delayed 3 1⁄2 hours, the Rainbow Warriors did not touch down in Honolulu until 5:45 p.m. The coaches then went straight to the football offices to begin preparation for Saturday’s game against New Mexico.
The past Saturday, the Warriors were relatively efficient against the Falcons, whose triple-option concepts can be found, in part, in New Mexico’s offensive menu.
The Warriors constructed a defensive scheme that struggled early against Air Force, played well the next two quarters, had difficulty against the fullback dive in the fourth quarter, and then made a key stand in the second overtime. The Warriors rebounded from the previous week’s loss to UNLV.
“They knew we didn’t play as well as we could have the week before,” defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa said. “We came back, and we had a good plan. And they executed it for the most part. It wasn’t perfect. (Air Force) had a lot of yards rushing. But we kept them out of the end zone (late in regulation and in the second overtime), which was critical.”
The Falcons averaged 6.59 yards on 12 carries on their opening drive. The rest of the half, they averaged 3.89 yards. They finished averaging 4.5 yards.
In the fourth quarter, the Falcons were successful on the fullback dive into the gut of the defense. They rotated three fullbacks and, sometimes, aligned A-backs Jacobi Owens and Tim McVey into that position. The Falcons relied on cut blocks to create seams. “With little seams, they were able to get 4, 5, 6 yards,” Lempa said. “They kept the drive going. … We’d make a tackle, but it was just too far down the field.”
After taking a 34-27 lead in the second overtime, the Warriors denied the Falcons’ final drive with two run stops, an incompletion and then an interception.
The Warriors had used a three-safety alignment, which offered run support and helped hold the Falcons to one-of-10 passing. Safeties Damien Packer and Trayvon Henderson played all 97 defensive snaps. Safety Dejaun Butler played 94 snaps. Lempa said Packer, who made a career-high 14 tackles, is “a hard-working guy who really studies the game.”
Linebacker Malachi Mageo, who tracked Air Force quarterback Nate Romine, was key in giving teammates time to set up on the perimeter.
“They have been believing,” Lempa said of the defensive players. “We have to play hard every week. We have to give our best shot every week. They did this week.”
