Execution can often outperform preparation. That’s exactly what happened Saturday as Army dealt Hawaii its first loss of the season, 28-21, at West Point, New York.
The Knights are a straight-ahead, pound-the-ball-into-the-ground team, and they don’t care who knows it. That knowledge is only valuable when a defense can stop it. Hawaii struggled to do that all game and dropped its season record to 3-1 in frustrating fashion.
Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald continued his stellar play with a strong stat line, going 20 of 32 for 321 yards and two touchdowns. But Army had the ball for more than 41 minutes and kept the UH defense on the field, not allowing Hawaii’s potent offense — which had averaged 48 points per game coming into the contest — a chance to run up the score.
Army ran the ball 66 times out of its 76 offensive plays and just continued to grind the UH defensive front into a pile of confusion, using the triple-option that very few others do as well, if at all. The Knights were great on third downs, converting 11 of 17, compared to Hawaii’s struggles at 1 of 7. That was really the difference in the contest. Army managed to maintain its tempo and hold onto possession enough to keep the score where it feels comfortable.
John Ursua continued to show why he’s one of the nation’s top receiving threats, finishing another big game with six catches for 123 yards and two scores, including an 80-yard touchdown that brought UH back within one possession in the fourth quarter. Ursua also added a third touchdown on the ground.
But the lack of a run game of its own was detrimental to Hawaii’s chances at staying unbeaten. McDonald led the squad with just six carries and the ‘Bows managed only 41 yards on the ground. Army moved up and down the gridiron for 303 rush yards and even managed to pile on 162 yards through the air.
This was exactly the script that most envisioned. Hawaii entered as about a touchdown underdog, traveling 5,000 miles to face a team it knew would be running the ball as much as it possibly could. That’s a difficult trip and the ‘Bows still appeared to be prepared and ready to play, they were just simply out-executed. The Knights improve to 2-1, their only loss coming on the road against a Duke team we now know to be very good.
Despite the defeat, Hawaii’s 3-1 start to the year has been much better than anyone could have anticipated. They will make the long journey home and prepare for one more non-conference matchup as Duquesne comes to Aloha Stadium on Saturday. The ‘Bows will be heavily favored in that contest and should enter Mountain West play with a 4-1 mark.
For a team that was picked to finish fifth of six in the West Division, they have already done plenty to make those prognostications seem like they should be recalibrated. Saturday stalled some of the momentum, but unless the triple-option invades the Mountain West, Hawaii still looks like it’s going to easily outplay preseason predictions.
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“My Thoughts Exactly” appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Garden Island. Email David Simon your comments or questions to dsimon@thegardenisland.com. Follow David on Twitter@SimonTGI.
