Warriors’ victory might have been costly

Hawaii prepares for its trip to Utah State with two more defensive linemen nursing injuries

Jerry Glanville celebrated Hawaii's 68-10 victory over Idaho on Saturday by going to the movies yesterday.

The feature presentation? You guessed it, Aggies II.

"We're up here doing film," the UH defensive coordinator said. "We're trying to do Utah State right now and my mind is spinning."

Glanville didn't sound like a man who's unit had just mashed Idaho, allowing zero points and just 123 yards after halftime. He sounded like a man possessed. Possessed and worried, about the 1-7 Aggies.

Try not to laugh too hard.

Although Hawaii (6-2, 4-1 WAC) has won its last five games and has the nation's most productive offense, there are some reasons for concern, even for Glanville's hard-hitting defense that really came into its own against the Vandals.

It might have been a costly 58-point win for the Warriors on Saturday, as defensive ends Keala Watson (knee) and Renolds Fruean (ankle) went down in the third quarter and might not be available for the season's final road game six days from now at Logan, Utah.

This compounds a problem since healthy defensive ends were already hard to find in the Warriors' camp. Amani Purcell, Karl Noa and Fale Laeli also have assorted bumps and bruises. Noa didn't suit up against Idaho, and Laeli's been out around a month with a knee injury.

Ikaika Alama-Francis, the usual starter at right end, suffered from back spasms last week, did not practice, and was replaced by Watson. Alama-Francis suited up and could've played Saturday, but did not.

Nose tackles Lawrence Wilson and Rocky Savaiigaea finished the game at end with Kahai LaCount at nose tackle.

"Ikaika was down, Mel (Purcell) was dinged. Fale was out. And we had guys playing all new positions," defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold said. "I give those guys a lot of credit because they came out and competed their butts off. I don't know how many yards they rushed for but it wasn't very many (Idaho finished with 141 of its 334 yards on the ground). We hit the quarterback and we did all the things good defensive lines do, and we did it with everybody."

Reinebold refuses to blame chop blocking by Idaho for UH's injuries.

"I don't know if anything can be directly attributed to that," he said. "I have a lot of respect for Dennis (Erickson, the Idaho coach), and that's a philosophical difference, not a rule. It's part of the game and it's a dirty, nasty game."

Reinebold and Glanville said they would know more about the availability of players today and tomorrow.

Watson was on crutches as he left Aloha Stadium on Saturday, and said he was told he might only have cartilage damage rather than a torn ligament.

At any rate, the Warriors' defensive front took a heavy hit Saturday.

Still hungry: UH center Samson Satele walked off the field Saturday with a smile on his face, but the tri-captain isn't about to get complacent.

He even called out some unnamed teammates for lack of effort.

"There were so many plays that not everybody went hard, but that's the way it is. We can't do that the next four or five games," Satele said. "I'm not trying to be anal and stuff, but I'm just trying to make everybody play at their best level. No team's going to just drop down to us. We have to play hard now."

It became a little bit harder Saturday for the Warriors to not look ahead to Dec. 4, when UH hosts Oregon State, after the Beavers knocked off USC.

Satele admitted to a little scoreboard watching, especially in the WAC.

"Oh, we're waiting for Wednesday. Boise State at Fresno State," he said.

Satele said he is happy for his former position coach, Mike Cavanaugh, who is now the offensive line coach at Oregon State.

"I'll be giving Cav a call to congratulate him," Satele said.

A zone of his own: In 40 years of playing and coaching football, Colt Brennan's current run is beyond anything June Jones has been exposed to.

"I haven't ever seen a player play like that, quarterback position for sure," the UH coach said of his quarterback.

It was almost lost in a game that started with Ross Dickerson's 100-yard kickoff return, ended with Ryan Keomaka's 29-yard touchdown on an interception return, and featured a huge hit by safety Jake Patek on Idaho quarterback Steve Wichman. But Brennan was fantastic again, completing 31 of 38 passes for 333 yards and five touchdowns in just three quarters.

He ran his interception-free streak to 158 passes, and leads the nation in most passing categories including touchdown passes with 33 (Tim Chang set the single-season mark of 38 in 2004).

Because he plays in a mid-major conference and his home games are six time zones away from the East Coast, Brennan hasn't received much national recognition. That will change if he continues on his current pace, as early as this week, Jones said.

"This game will probably do it," the coach said.

The Associated Press plans to produce a feature on Brennan this week, and that might provide a little more exposure.

What will help Brennan's profile is if he's still playing at this level when Hawaii hosts Purdue and Oregon State a month from now. Of course that's around the time Ohio State's Troy Smith will be playing against Michigan and Notre Dame's Brady Quinn against USC.

If the Warriors are still winning in December, Brennan will get his due, and, hopefully, so will his teammates.

"Everybody else has to do their job. One of the reasons he's having success is the O-line, the receivers doing their things," Jones said.

More national points: Hawaii picked up a few more voting points in the Harris Interactive College and USA Today/Coaches football polls released yesterday.

The Warriors are sixth among the teams also receiving votes after the Top 25 in the Harris poll, with 17 points. They received three points last week.

UH is seventh among those after the Top 25 in the coaches' poll, with 18 points compared to seven last week.

Hawaii got two points in the Associated Press media poll for the second week in a row, and is 10th among the schools also receiving votes.