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UH can’t dwell on win; SJSU next

Refreshed after thumping New Mexico State, the Warriors turn their attention to San Jose State

Winning changes everything.

A week ago, the Hawaii football team had just trudged back to Honolulu following a demoralizing loss on the road and was in search of answers.

A home victory later, and the Warriors (2-4, 2-2 Western Athletic Conference) are suddenly refreshed heading into the second half of the season and yet another trip to the mainland.

"This game was huge for morale. It's hard to play any games when you're 1-4," UH linebacker Tanuvasa Moe said after UH's 49-28 win over New Mexico State on Saturday. "But this brings us back to 2-4, gives us another win under our belt and hopefully we can continue this and take it up to San Jose this weekend."

After picking up their first home win of the season, the Warriors head back on the road for the third time in the last five weeks and face San Jose State on Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

Awaiting them in Northern California is former UH coach Dick Tomey, who is in his first season with the Spartans. SJSU enters the week at 1-5 and 0-3 in the WAC after losing to Boise State 38-21 on Saturday.

Hawaii will try to maintain the momentum generated against New Mexico State, when the Warriors racked up 628 yards -- the highest total in the WAC this season -- and posted a season high in points.

Hawaii and New Mexico State combined to throw 119 passes on Saturday and covered a total of 922 yards through the air. UH quarterback Colt Brennan padded his conference lead in total offense, passing for 515 yards and seven touchdowns and rushing for 46 yards.

"Offensively, we just flew out there and it was pretty fun," Brennan said.

Although the UH quarterback combined with the Warriors receiver corps to put up impressive numbers, UH coach June Jones credited the guys blocking for Brennan for setting up the big performance.

"It's probably the offensive line," Jones said. "We lost our two top running backs (Nate Ilaoa, turf toe; and Bryan Maneafaiga, hamstring) right now, so we're probably kind of in an all-pass situation, but we try to mix it up with screens. ... We're doing what we've got to do to be effective right now."

Both of Hawaii's wins this season have come against first-year WAC members. UH shut out Idaho 24-0 on the road on Sept. 24, and the Warriors face the third of the newcomers when Utah State visits Aloha Stadium on Nov. 12.

New Mexico State fell behind early in its first WAC trip to Hawaii, but stayed within striking distance for much of the first half. But each time the Aggies got within a touchdown, Hawaii answered to maintain a comfortable cushion.

NMSU running back Justine Buries rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, but was held to 6 yards after the break.

"He took a shot on the sidelines and then started cramping up," NMSU coach Hal Mumme said. "The trip is difficult, but I thought we handled the time change OK. We got dehydrated and have to do a better job with that.

"It's a long trip. We enjoyed doing it, because of the uniqueness of it and that we get to match wits with June Jones and (UH defensive coordinator) Jerry Glanville."

After giving up 21 points and 271 yards in the first half, the UH defense kept the Aggies out the end zone for most of the second half, allowing a fourth-quarter score with the game out of reach.

"We made some adjustments at halftime and I think it really showed," Moe said. "There were some things that were leaking through in the first half and Coach Glanville saw it and made the perfect adjustments and we were really able to turn back into ourselves and shut them down a little bit in the second half."

Although the win left the Warriors with renewed optimism, they're looking to put it behind them -- just as they did with the previous week's loss -- and turn their focus ahead to this week's matchup.

"We got a big win, but we're going to have to forget about it," Brennan said. "Coach said right now we've got to be thinking about San Jose State on the road."

UH's Singletary returns home from hospital

UH defensive line coach Vantz Singletary returned home yesterday after spending the night at Kaiser Permanente's Moanalua Medical Center, head coach June Jones said.

Singletary, 39, was taken to the hospital during the first half of Saturday's game after complaining of light-headedness and dizziness.

Jones said he visited Singletary after the game at the hospital, where he was undergoing precautionary tests. He said he didn't know when Singletary would return to coaching, leaving that determination to his doctors.

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