Answers hard to come by for Mids after rout
Hawaii’s offensive onslaught leaves Navy coach grasping
Early Saturday morning, Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo posted the following message to Twitter: “It’s GAMEDAY in Paradise!”
That tweet accompanied a picture of the Pacific Ocean taken from the balcony of Niumatalolo’s hotel room overlooking Waikiki Beach.
By the end of Saturday, as he headed for the visiting locker room at Aloha Stadium, Niumatalolo was probably feeling like he was in the exact opposite of paradise.
Starting quarterback Cole McDonald led the way as the Hawaii offense went up and down the field at will all night during a 59-41 rout of Navy. McDonald threw for 428 yards and six touchdowns as the Rainbow Warriors raced to a 28-0 lead, withstood a brief comeback by the Midshipmen then finished strong to improve their record to 2-0. Saturday, 3:30 p.m. TV: CBS Sports Network Radio: 1090 AM Line: Memphis by 41⁄
“Hawaii was as advertised offensively. I was trying to remember the last time we faced a juggernaut like that, an offense we couldn’t at least hold for a little bit,” Niumatalolo said. “There was no stopping those guys last night. I know it was frustrating for all of us. We have played a lot of good offenses in the past, but Hawaii was as good as I’ve seen in a long time.”
McDonald connected with slot receiver John Ursua on a 50-yard scoring strike to cap a remarkable first half in which Hawaii scored touchdowns on five straight possessions to start the game. Add in a blocked punt that was returned for a
touchdown and the Midshipmen found themselves down 35-7 with 4:17 remaining until intermission.
Niumatalolo noted that Navy faced a prolific run-and-shoot offense for four years when June Jones was head coach at SMU. It was Jones who brought the system to Hawaii, which enjoyed tremendous success during his nine-year tenure.
Current Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich, one of many record-setting quarterbacks tutored by Jones, has brought back the run-and-shoot in resounding fashion this season. Through two games, the Rainbow Warriors are averaging 51 points and 570 total yards of offense.
Navy defensive coordinator Dale Pehrson said Rolovich has “fancied up” the run-and-shoot and Niumatalolo seconded that assessment when speaking on Sunday. Niumatalolo noted that Hawaii is taking great advantage of McDonald’s mobility by employing run-pass-option plays along with rollouts and designed keepers.
McDonald also has plenty of dangerous weapons at his disposal. Ursua finished with 10 receptions for 167 yards and two touchdowns while fellow slot receiver Cedric Byrd added 11 catches for 90 yards and two scores. Outside wide receiver JoJo Byrd wasn’t bad either, amassing 161 yards and two touchdowns on six targets.
“They have so many different components to that offense with the RPO stuff complementing the run-and-shoot package. The quarterback is such a dynamic runner that it’s hard to get to him because he can move and buy time with legs or scramble for first downs,” Niumatalolo said. “I thought the two slots were as good of inside receivers as we’ve seen in a long time. They are super smart and know the offense really well. Offensively, that was as good a team as we’ve seen in a long time.”
Niumatalolo said Navy made mistakes on defense with blown assignments and missed tackles. More notable was the Midshipmen’s inability to aggressively stop what the Rainbow Warriors were doing, basically a case of being reactive as opposed to proactive.
“We had some busted coverages and those were disappointing. It wasn’t just that. There were times when we were in position and just didn’t make the play. You have to find a way to make a play,” Niumatalolo said.
Hawaii drove the field methodically on the game’s opening possession, taking almost six minutes off the clock while moving 75 yards in 12 plays. Navy came out in zone pass defense and was picked apart. Pehrson switched to man-to-man coverage later in the game and that is when McDonald hit some long pass plays, such as the 50-yarder to Ursua and a 75-yard touchdown toss to Byrd.
Navy’s offense didn’t help the defense early on, picking up just one first down on three possessions to start the contest. Down 28-0 at the 11:08 mark of the second quarter, the Midshipmen finally got something going when sophomore Nelson Smith came into the game at fullback. Smith broke a 40-yard run on first down and gained 15 yards a few plays later to set up a 3-yard touchdown trot by goal-line quarterback Zach Abey.
While not happy with how the offense performed early, Niumatalolo pointed out the end result was 41 points and 411 total yards.
“We kind of got hit in the mouth early on and it sort of discombobulated us. We sputtered on offense for a while to start, but I thought we played OKoffensively once we got going,” he said.
Niumatalolo said Navy’s failure to move the ball and keep the Hawaii offense off the field for most of the first half was no excuse for falling behind 35-7.
“If we’re going to have to score 60 points we’re not going to win many games. You still have to play defense. Just because you don’t score doesn’t mean the other team should score,” he said. “You have to play defense. We have to keep the standard the same. We expect the offense to score every time, but we don’t hold the defense to the same standard. We have to find a way to stop people.”
Starting quarterback Malcolm Perry led Navy in rushing with 108 yards on17 carries, most of which came on one long run. Perry broke an option keeper 75 yards for a touchdown, quickly darting in and out of one hole that closed then finding another, turning the corner and racing untouched down the middle of the field. Perry managed just 2.2 yards on 16 other carries.
“My focus is not the offense right now. That’s the least of my concerns right now,” Niumatalolo said. “We need to get our defense right because we play a ton of potent offenses in our conference. We’re not going to win another game if we give up that amount of points.”