My game review (I'm going to be brief, long day):
1) The defense had ZERO hangover. That was about as impressive as it gets. In particular from reviewing the game, Raekwon McMillan played a HELL of a game...both against the run and in pass coverage. He is really coming into his own. Bell still gets the game ball (and I mean overall, best game I have seen for him and that is saying something), but McMillan is not far behind.
2) Gareon Conley is turning into a strength over on the boundary...the recruiting of rangy, athletic DBs is paying off tenfold.
3) Hawaii's defense came to play. Sure, we shot ourselves in the foot a ton and executed poorly. But they dialed up some nice blitzes, set the edge well, tackled well in space, and had some good coverage. And give them a lot of credit for not giving up...they did not wear down and give up any big plays.
4) Biggest deficiency on the OL was the interior...all around poor performance inside and particularly Price...not to pick on him because he was great down the stretch last year but those are two very bad performances in a row and if it is not rectified soon, he might get pushed for playing time from a younger pup like Knox or Jones. Boren had a pretty bad game as well. Tackles seemed to play alright though.
5) There were some serious breakdowns on perimeter blocking...guys like Marshall, Smith, Vannett, etc. were not getting the job done.
6) Receivers also appeared to be struggling to get open. Really struggling...Jones will roll the dice quite often and even he was not comfortable letting the ball rip on most plays.
7) Dante Booker also got in and looked really good. Excited about him. Same goes for Damon Webb, he looked great out there. Erick Smith flashed as well. Wish we would have got to see guys like this more on Saturday.
8) Definitely felt the effects of a short week after a primetime game...the lack of focus, mental mistakes, and lack of preparation were apparent. But hopefully we kill two birds with one stone in getting a firm win and a wakeup call. I am not really all that worried about the performance yet, just need to improve moving forward.
