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Hawaii coach June Jones called a first quarter Mat McBriar punt that was blocked and recovered for a touchdown by Western Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Week Chris Carr a "huge play" in Hawaii's 58-31 loss at Boise State. A play that Jones said should never have happened. Jones says special teams
got outhustled
"We block that look all the time," Jones said of Boise State's punt rush. "In fact, all through camp we put 22 guys on defense (against Hawaii's punt formation), and blocked them. When you don't do what you're supposed to do -- they made one shift. And even if we don't get the change on the call on the shift, three guys have to do the wrong thing for it to be blocked.
"And we did all three things wrong."
Jones said it was the first time in his tenure as UH coach that Hawaii special teams were outhustled.
Hawaii was outplayed defensively as well, where Jones said his team did a poor job in holding gap responsibility, allowing Boise State's Brock Forsey and David Mikell to find seams to run through. Hawaii was beaten physically, but it was a triumph of execution as well, Jones said.
"Yeah, they're coaching over there, too," Jones said. "And their running backs did a great job of vision. They have great vision. They make you look like they're going one way and they cut back the other way."
Jones said there was better news on offense, but not enough of it.
"We dropped some balls and kind of screwed it up ourselves," he said. "I thought the offensive line played good but that was about the only phase of the game that we played decently."
Sore shoulders: Jones said that slotback Nate Ilaoa, who suffered a subluxation of his right shoulder at Boise, "will probably miss this week for sure." But the injury is going around. Running back Thero Mitchell apparently popped out a shoulder in the game, and defensive tackle Lance Samuseva also "got a shoulder," Jones said. Mitchell is officially "questionable," but Jones expects he and Samuseva to play. Mitchell and Ilaoa were to undergo MRIs yesterday.
Cornerback Abraham Elimimian (hamstring) may also return for the Nevada game. Running back Mike Bass is still listed as "questionable."
Nevada throws, too: Jones compared this week's game against Nevada to last year's game against BYU: a lot of passing, but the team with the most defensive plays will win.
"Nevada is like us, really," Jones said. "They throw the ball. They play really hard on defense, their front four is really a good group of guys. They throw it a ton. Last year they beat us both running and passing, I thought. And this year, the quarterback's better."
WAC notes: Boise State's Carr, Rice quarterback Kyle Herm and San Jose State defensive lineman Philip Perry were the Western Athletic Conference players of the week.
San Jose State heads up the conference standings, with a half game lead over Boise State, Fresno State and Nevada.
Boise State is 32-10 (.762) over the last four years, the best record of any WAC team.
End quotes: Jones: "We just got our asses beat."
Jones: "I think Boise's a really good football team. But we made them look a lot better. But they're going to do that to a lot of teams, trust me."
Boise State coach Dan Hawkins: "I don't think I've ever been more proud of a team or a coaching staff."
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