Ferd Lewis: Defense and discipline top priorities for Hawaii football coach Todd Graham

University of Hawaii football coach Todd Graham was leaving a meeting on campus recently and was about to head to another one when a couple of long-time fans stopped him mid-stride in a hallway.

One of their first questions was about how the Rainbow Warriors offense would be under his new administration.

Graham’s reply, however, was pointedly more about the defense and discipline.

“Everybody gets excited about the offense — and that’s great,” Graham said. “(UH) has scored 40 points a game. That’s not the problem.”

The more pressing issues — “the ones that are going to determine our fate,” Graham insists — are defense and overall discipline as reflected in a high number of penalties. They are two areas where the Rainbow Warriors have ranked in the bottom 20% in the Football Bowl Subdivision five of the past seven years.

The passion with which Graham has discussed them in an array of forums recently suggests they figure to be two areas of focus when the Warriors are scheduled to open spring practice March 27.

Graham is a former defensive back and defensive coach, and defense clearly remains close to his heart. It is also the area where the Warriors have the most room for improvement for 2020.

“The last time Hawaii was able to do something really spectacular was the 2007 season, when they ran an attacking defense,” Graham said.

UH gave up an average of 25.5 points a game that season in its march to a Western Athletic Conference championship and the Sugar Bowl. In the intervening 12 seasons, no UH defense has allowed fewer points, and several have been touched for as many as 35 points — or more — per game.

Last year UH gave up an average of 31.8 points a game, which frequently meant having to out-score opponents. Except for the better teams on the schedule — notably Washington, Air Force and Boise State — and the Fresno State game, an offense that averaged 33.8 points a game was usually up to the task.

It would have been interesting to have seen what the Warriors might have done in 2020 in what would have been defensive coordinator Corey Batoon’s third season. But that all changed in the wake of the shakeup that followed head coach Nick Rolovich’s departure for Washington State.

In Graham’s avowed quest to pursue championships, that likely means going through Boise State to get there. And history suggests the Warriors are going to need a capable defense as full partner in the effort.

“The problem is being able to travel eight or 10 hours, get off a plane and (then) play some defense,” Graham said.

Enter Victor Santa Cruz, a linebacker on the 1992 defense that helped lift UH to the Holiday Bowl title and UH’s first season-ending top-20 ranking. As the new defensive coordinator, Santa Cruz brings more than a decade of experience with the double eagle defense.

Then, there are the penalties, an area in which UH ranked 115th among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, being assessed nearly seven times a game last season. “(UH) was one of the worst teams in the country in penalties,” Graham said.

“Penalties (require) discipline,” Graham said. “We were (also) one of the worst teams in the country in (forcing) turnovers and that speaks to discipline. So, that will be our No. 1 focus as we spend our time.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.