LIHU‘E — Those listening to the postgame press conferences may have been surprised to learn that USC was the winner and Hawai‘i the loser in Thursday night’s season opener at Aloha Stadium. Following the Trojans’ 49-36 victory, Lane Kiffin, who
LIHU‘E — Those listening to the postgame press conferences may have been surprised to learn that USC was the winner and Hawai‘i the loser in Thursday night’s season opener at Aloha Stadium.
Following the Trojans’ 49-36 victory, Lane Kiffin, who was making his debut as the head ballcoach for USC, gave a less than stellar review of his team’s performance.
“Very disappointed today with our discipline,” he said. “Something that we emphasized and something that obviously we didn’t get done. I believe there were 10 penalties, a number of offsides and a late hit. So that’s something that we will continue to work on.”
Warriors head coach Greg McMackin also voiced his unhappiness, but indicated his team showed him more than enough to set a positive tone moving forward.
“I’m very disappointed, it’s a game we could have easily won,” he said. “I thought our offense played outstanding. I don’t believe we had any turnovers. (We) gained 588 yards against a good football team… There were enough pluses that we can be a very good football team.”
Those 588 yards of offense showed both explosiveness among the Warriors’ playmakers and some soft spots within the Trojans’ defense.
But the Warriors gave up 525 yards of offense themselves, unable to stop the run early in the game and watching USC ball carriers go untouched across the turf on too many occasions to stay in the game.
“Defensively, we got a lot of work to do,” McMackin said. “I think we’ve got to take a look at everything. I know this, I know we have enough players and I know we’re going to be a good football team because we played a good football team and there were a lot of positives that we can bring from that game.”
Quarterback Bryant Moniz was improving as the game went on, finding open targets and threading passes into the secondary, before being knocked out of the game late in the third quarter.
Moniz is to be re-evaluated over the next few days as to his status for the Warriors’ next contest. A sideline report on Thursday stated Moniz suffered a “slight concussion.”
The unquestioned starter this season after beginning 2009 at third string, Moniz was making the USC defense appear slow and confused as Hawai‘i put together sustained drives throughout the second and third quarters. The Warriors were in the midst of their longest drive of the night, a 12-play, 84-yard touchdown drive, when Moniz was knocked out of the contest.
It was the third Warriors drive of at least 10 plays in the game, as opposed to just one for the Trojans. Yet USC was striking quickly, its three second-half touchdowns coming on an 89-yard punt return, a four-play drive and a one-play drive.
The punt return may have been the most crucial miscue of the night. Hawai‘i trailed 27-16 and the defense had begun to limit USC offensively. The Warriors punt appeared to be covered well and push the Trojans back deep in their own territory, when returner Ronald Johnson turned the game on its head with an 89-yard TD scamper.
“Special teams played really well except for one play,” McMackin said. “We were trying to sky kick it and get it down inside the five and we lost containment on the opposite side and they got a big play on that.”
UH remained winless against USC (0-7) and is now 15-35 all-time against current members of the Pac-10.
Wide receiver Kealoha Pilares exploded in the second half with Shane Austin at quarterback, hauling in touchdown passes of 56 and 65 yards.
“Give Hawai‘i some credit,” Kiffin said. “They did play lights out on offense today. I believe we knocked the first two quarterbacks out and the third guy came in and threw as well as the others.”
Austin, who started in Moniz’s absence in 2009, threw for 141 yards and the two scores in barely more than half a quarter of action.
Record-setting wide receiver Greg Salas went over the 100-yard mark for the 10th time in his career. He has now caught a pass in 28 straight games dating back to his sophomore season, the fourth-longest active streak in the country.
For as many plays as UH ran offensively, it did not commit a single turnover for the first time in almost three years. The last time the Warriors were turnover-free was a road win at UNLV on Sept. 15, 2007.
Hawai‘i won many of the battles on Thursday — time of possession, total yards, first downs, penalties, turnovers — but was ultimately unable to dig out of the early hole.
The Warriors will remain on island for a bit before heading to the Mainland, all the way towards the Atlantic Ocean to take on Army in West Point, New York.
The Black Knights are coming off of a 5-7 season in 2009 and open up their 2010 slate today on the road against Eastern Michigan.
The UH-Army game will kick off at 6 a.m. Hawaiian (12 p.m. local) on Sept. 11.
The Warriors will remain on the Mainland to face the Colorado Buffaloes at 9:30 a.m. Hawaiian on Sept. 18, before returning to O‘ahu for the season’s second home game against Charleston Southern at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 25.
