Sidelines
Lempa toils to avoid
horror of the unknownIT'S tough being a defensive coordinator. There's a lot to worry about. Sure, June Jones can say that he never worries about what the other team is going to do, that he only cares what his team is going to do. But he can do that. He's setting the pace. That's life on offense.
On defense, the whole point is reacting to what the other team is going to do. They could run. They could pass. You have to be ready. They could do anything.
It's enough to make a guy nervous.
"I'm going to tell you right now," Hawaii defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa says, "this is going to be a tough game. Everyone says I'm crying wolf. I say that all the time."
That's true. He does say that all the time.
"But I believe it," he says.
He does believe it. This will be a tough one. He's seen the film. He made his team watch the film with him. He does this every week, showing them these horror movies. He has to get their attention. They have to get the message. You can't take anyone lightly. These guys are going to be good.
He'll pick out the most scary parts, the best players, the biggest plays. Even during Tulsa week, when the Golden Hurricane were coming in on an 0-16 slide, Lempa found enough highlights to make his defenders sit up and take notice.
He can always see those plays.
Now here comes this week. "The biggest frickin' challenge of them all," Lempa says. San Jose State, playing to remain in the hunt for a backyard bowl bid. San Jose State, the team that beat Illinois at Illinois. San Jose State, the team with a thousand faces.
"They've got one receiver that transferred from Marshall (Kendrick Starling), they were calling him the next Randy Moss," Lempa says. "The next receiver (Jamall Broussard) that transferred from Texas Tech. They've got a running back (Oscar Rigg) that transferred from somewhere else. The quarterback (Scott Rislov) transferred from North Dakota (and a) JC. The tight end (Marcus Helfman) went from Cal to BYU to San Jose. The one tackle (Jeff Gordon) came from Iowa."
That's a lot of frequent flier miles.
"They've got frickin' guys!" Lempa says. "From all over the place. With talent. They've got some talent."
Lempa has seen it, on those films. It jumps out at him. And he's seen the Spartans take advantage of all those new guys, with a lot of different looks and a lot of different plays. Every play, every formation, is something else to practice for, another thing his guys have to be ready for. Six offensive linemen, two tight ends, two backs. Or maybe five wide receivers and no backs. Or some combination in between.
And the defense has to be ready for it all.
How do you prepare for that?
How?
Lempa would like to know. "Our 'ready list' this week," he says, "is a whole sheet of defenses that covers ... everything!"
But that will get narrowed down. The run. Stop the run, and everything follows. It's what happened last week at Fresno State. Eventually, UH slowed that running game, and then came the pass, and then came the blitz.
And the blitz was good.
Then UH was the one dictating the tempo, throwing plays at Fresno that the Bulldogs had never seen. It worked. The run. Then the blitz. And Hawaii's defense had held the Bulldogs to just 14 points.
But San Jose State's tailback, 5-foot-5, 143-pound Lamar Ferguson, is a good one. He breaks long runs. He gets big yards. Last year UH kept him in check. But this time UH needs to be prepared. To play smart.
To be in the right place at the right time, no matter the situation.
Of course last week Hawaii wasn't ready for anything. Fresno State caught the UH defense unprepared, with a totally different game plan than what they had practiced for all week. A totally different look.
"They put a 300-pound guy at fullback," Lempa says. "Two guys couldn't stop that guy." And Fresno State ran all over UH in the early going.
But then UH adjusted. The coaches did. The players did.
And then came the blitz, and the win.
That should ease Lempa's mind a bit, when he's awake thinking about game plans and formations and opposing personnel, and it does.
But. But ...
"They run more trick plays," he says. "They run more tricks than all the teams we've played combined. How do you prepare for that?"
That's life as a defensive coordinator. He's probably working on all this right now. Working and worrying. It's a good combination. It's done pretty well for him so far.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com