Monday, October 28, 1996
It was something former San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh made famous, and it's still done today by that team's current main man, George Seifert.
But perhaps Benjamin should reconsider this approach for awhile. Last Saturday afternoon against the Air Force Academy was a perfect example of why not to do it.
Hawaii came out in a one-back, three-wide receiver set. While the plays were similar to the ones that were successful against Nevada-Las Vegas, one key ingredient was missing.
In the UNLV game, the Rainbows ran this package out of a two-back, two-wide receiver set. This allowed tailback Russell Grant to be a key part of the game, as his 144 yards rushing would attest.
But in the opening four series with Air Force, Benjamin primarily used fullback Paul Purdy in the single-back set. Hawaii didn't make a first down in the first quarter, leaving Grant out in the cold.
''We went to three wide receivers and one set back because that was part of the game plan,'' Benjamin said. ''I script the plays. But when you only run nine plays (actually 12) in the first quarter, you don't get to the plays you've scripted after those first set of plays.
''The reason why Russell didn't play the first quarter is because we didn't have a lot of plays to get him into where he should have been. What we don't really want to do a lot of is forcing the ball to people.
''You don't want to tell the quarterback to throw to this guy or run with this guy. It's much more complicated than that. Certainly in your play design you want to try to get the ball in people's hand who can run and catch.
''Sometimes, it's just the roll of the dice whether he touches the ball or not. Purdy touched the ball a lot. We didn't plan on him doing that, but sometimes things are working well against certain defenses.''
That may be, but the burly Purdy isn't going to break that many plays because he's slower than Grant. Purdy gained 13 yards in the first quarter, while the Rainbows rushed for seven yards on seven plays as a team.
Benjamin finally got through the scripted plays early in the second quarter, allowing Grant to make an entrance when the Rainbows returned to their two-back set.
The result was Grant rushed for 21 yards on five carries and Purdy gained 22 on two attempts. Hawaii had 54 yards rushing in the second quarter, and UH quarterback Glenn Freitas also hit 4 of 6 passes for 40 yards and a touchdown.
Maybe Benjamin should have put the script away sooner and utilized the same plays that worked so well in the 38-28 victory over the Rebels. Grant wound up with only 35 yards on eight carries against Air Force, a far cry from his production the week before.
''We have used the three-wide receiver set off-and-on the last couple of weeks, and it has worked well for us,'' Benjamin said. ''Because we have so few plays, we can't give our opponents formation and check tendencies.
''We have to come in and try different things. Those were the exact same plays that we ran last week against UNLV in a two-back set. But we did it with a one-back set this week. I just wish we could throw the football with more consistency because if you can't throw in this offense, then you're in trouble.''
The up-and-coming outside linebacker suffered a strained left knee and will be out at least three weeks. The training staff is shooting for the Brigham Young game, but the season finale with Wisconsin is probably his best shot.
Strong safety Doe Henderson has a bruised quad muscle and would not have been able to play this weekend. He's expected back for the San Jose State game on Nov. 9.
Linebacker Mark Jenkins, who has missed most of his career at Hawaii with a variety of knee injuries, had a strained hamstring. The trainers will try to get him ready for San Jose State, but the BYU game is more likely.