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POSTED: Saturday, November 14, 2009

There certainly were some painful lessons to absorb.

Early in the season, defending the run emerged as an issue for the Hawaii defense as opposing running backs churned out one demoralizing first down after another.

With the Warriors entering the season's final stages, applying those lessons becomes the focus.

“;You get better in games because that's where you really see the run,”; UH head coach Greg McMackin said. “;Where you see it is against the Fresno States, the Boise States and the Louisiana Techs and you get better at playing it because it's a different tempo.”;

Three of the Warriors' next four opponents tend to gravitate to the running game, starting with today's Western Athletic Conference matchup with New Mexico State at Aloha Stadium.

The weight of a six-game losing streak is gone thanks to last week's win over Utah State. Yet the urgency remains for the Warriors as they try to keep their faint bowl hopes flickering.

               

     

 

WAC FOOTBALL Who: New Mexico State (3-6, 1-3) at Hawaii (3-6, 1-5)         When: Tomorrow, 5:05 p.m.         Where: Aloha Stadium         TV: PPV, Dig. Ch. 255         Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM

“;Every game is more important than the last,”; McMackin said. “;We just have to do what we do and take care of our own business.”;

In years past, New Mexico State's Air Raid offense kept the Aggies in the upper reaches of the statistical rankings with quarterback Chase Holbrook and receiver Chris Williams—who torched Hawaii for 221 yards and three touchdowns last year—as their weapons of choice.

This time, the Warriors (3-6, 1-5 WAC) face a New Mexico State team scraping the bottom of the national rankings in offensive production while putting more emphasis on ball control and defense under first-year head coach DeWayne Walker.

The Aggies (3-6, 1-3) enter Aloha Stadium last the country in scoring (11.8 points per game) and total offense (232.9 yards per game). They're averaging less than 100 yards passing yards per game and have managed four touchdowns through the air.

The Aggies' lone touchdown in their current three-game losing streak came on a fumble return near the end of a blowout loss at Louisiana Tech. You have to go back to an Oct. 10 win over Utah State to find the last time the New Mexico State offense reached the end zone.

The Aggies run the ball better than 64 percent of the time, with junior Seth Smith getting the bulk of those carries. Smith enters the game with 714 yards, averaging 4.2 per carry, running behind fullback Ronald Opetaia.

“;I think were getting better at it,”; UH linebacker Corey Paredes said of containing the running game. “;(The defensive line is) getting off the ball and they're clogging up holes so the linebackers can scrape and make the tackle. ... We're doing our assignments better, we're more gap sound.”;

The Aggies have shuffled between sophomore Jeff Fleming and freshman Trevor Walls at quarterback. But Walker indicated Fleming will hold the job the rest of the way.

“;I thought he does a better job of getting rid of the ball. That's kind of been our issue, getting rid of the ball, getting back to our quick game and some of the things we were doing pretty good earlier in the year,”; Walker said this week.

“;I think we've been more than fair with both quarterbacks in our first nine games and these last four we want to finish up on a good note, so we're going to go with Jeff and hopefully that will bring some more continuity to the offense.”;

Hawaii is developing continuity as well with sophomore quarterback Bryant Moniz entering his sixth game as the starter. Moniz led an attack that generated close to 700 yards, just about equally distributed between ground and air, in last week's win.

“;Everybody is getting more comfortable with what they're doing, Mo is getting more reps and we're playing a lot faster,”; UH offensive coordinator Ron Lee said.

“;The timing, the speed, they're getting better every day. He knows the routes, he knows the speed of the receivers. It's starting to come together.”;

Duplicating last week's 360-yard outburst from the running game might be a lot to ask, but the threat demonstrated by running backs Leon Wright-Jackson and Alex Green might give the New Mexico State defense—led by linebackers Jason Scott and Ross Conner—another aspect to deal with tonight.

“;This is going to be an I.Q. game for our defensive staff for sure to try to keep up with these guys,”; Walker said.

 

PROBABLE STARTERS

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

HAWAII
Offense
Z	7	Jovonte Taylor	5-9	170
or	84	Joe Avery	6-5	180
Y	2	Jon Medeiros	5-9	185
LT	77	Aaron Kia	6-5	290
LG	64	Ray Hisatake	6-3	315
C	55	John Estes	6-3	300
RG	74	Raphael Ieru	6-2	315
RT	51	Austin Hansen	6-4	285
H	1	Greg Salas	6-2	200
X	21	Kealoha Pilares	5-11	200
QB	17	Bryant Moniz	6-0	190
RB	23	Leon Wright-Jackson	6-1	215
Defense
DE	90	Elliott Purcell	6-3	255
or	98	Liko Satele	6-2	260
DT	49	Tuika Tufaga	6-2	285
DT	95	Vaughn Meatoga	6-2	290
DE	58	Fetaiagogo Fonoti	6-2	255
SLB	59	R.J. Kiesel-Kauhane	5-11	225
MLB	50	Mana Lolotai	6-0	230
BLB	53	Blaze Soares	6-1	245
CB	2	Lametrius Davis	6-0	190
SAM	9	Spencer Smith	5-11	205
FS	19	Richard Torres	5-8	175
CB	10	Kawika Ornellas	5-9	170
Specialists
PK	20	Scott Enos	5-9	180
P	31	Alex Dunnachie	6-3	235
Snap	45	Luke Ingram	6-5	210
Hold	11	Inoke Funaki	5-11	205
KR	7	Jovonte Taylor	5-9	170
or	21	Kealoha Pilares	5-11	200
PR	88	Ryan Henry	5-9	170
NEW MEXICO STATE
Offense
X	7	Todd Lee	5-9	155
F	10	Marcus Anderson	5-8	166
LT	75	Dwayne Barton	6-4	270
LG	67	Joe Palmer	6-3	308
C	62	Mike Grady	6-3	302
RG	72	Seioli Fakalata	6-3	313
RT	59	David Norman	6-4	300
QB	9	Jeff Fleming	6-4	195
FB	21	Ron Opetaia	5-9	221
RB	20	Seth Smith	5-8	198
Y	17	Kyle Nelson	6-4	232
Defense
LE	48	Pierre Fils	6-3	230
LT	54	John Finau	6-1	295
RT	44	Chris Romero	6-4	273
RE	52	Donte Savage	6-1	229
SAM	51	Ross Conner	5-10	212
MIKE	9	Jason Scott	5-10	207
WILL	11	Jamar Cotton	6-0	218
CB	4	Davon House	6-0	172
SS	2	Alphonso Powell	5-9	182
FS	19	Stephon Hatchett	5-8	170
CB	1	Jonte Green	6-0	175
Specialists
PK	96	Kyle Hughes	6-0	184
Punt	96	Kyle Hughes	6-0	184
LS	17	Kyle Nelson	6-4	232
Hold	11	Trevor Walls	6-5	220
PR	10	Marcus Anderson	5-8	166
KR	23	Tonny Glynn	5-8	192