Hawaii’s football skid reaches 6

Hawaii’s football skid reaches 6

By Fred Guzman
MauiNow.com

Things began on a promising note for Hawaii, which jumped out to a 14-0 lead less than eight minutes into the game as Bryant Moniz hit on scoring passes of 18 yards to Kealoha Pilares and 71 to Jovonte Taylor.

But it was all Nevada after that as two familiar problems – a porous defense and a mistake-prone defense – resulted in yet another loss on Saturday as the hometown Wolf Pack rallied to a 31-21 victory.

Colin Kaepernick – a 6-foot-6 quarterback combining 4.5 speed and a fastball that’s been locked at 94 mph – put his diverse athletic skill son display, sending UH to its sixth straight setback.

Against Hawaii, he was12 of 21 for 184 yards and two TD while adding 114 yards on 12 carries and two more scores, helping his team to its fifth straight win and a 4-0 mark in the WAC.

UH QB Bryant Moniz completed 29 of 49 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns, but suffered a pair of picks – including one in the end zone — to kill off a drive that might have kept UH in the game.

After the game, Moniz put the loss on his shoulders. But he is not deserving of the self-imposed blame.

Hawaii dropped three passes. Two punts traveled 7 and 10 yards. A holding penalty nullified a TD. A 42-yard field goal sailed wide.

Defensively, UH was unable to contain Nevada’s ground game. Not only did Kaepernick run for triple-digits, but its tailback tandem of Vai Taua and Luke Lippincott combined for 211 yards.

In short, Hawaii’s latest loss was truly a team effort.