EP 5: Hawai'i Football Now

[Music] all right how's it going everybody we welcome you to episode five already we're a handful of episodes in the hawaii football now jordan and hunter back to recap the bose trip to las cruces this past weekend it was a victory hawaii improving to two and three on the season they end up winning by 20 41 to 21 over the aggies on the road let's dive right into our opening drive here hunter uh just kind of general thoughts what kind of grade would you give let's let's break out the uh the report card here uh what kind of grade would you give hawaii in their second victory of the season i think jordan i would give it a b um i think that's probably a fair grade we needed a solid bounce back um after what happened last week um just that devastating first conference game when we should have handled san jose at home i really felt like that um we needed to bounce back we were able to we were able to get a victory but it was a sloppy game of football if you know again whoever was able to get a hold of footage to watch this game tip of the cap to you because it was not easy to watch it this last week um if you're able to go over to youtube you can find highlights over there but start to finish jordan it was kind of a sloppy grade of football on both sides of the ball i mean they took it right down our throats right off the get and kicked a field goal but they uh they came ready to play and uh it looked like it took us a little while to kind of get our feet under us yeah i i think that's a i think that's a fair grade uh i i would i would give it somewhere in there like a a b b minus or something like that like it wasn't all bad no doubt about it but there's surely room for improvement i i think the the team will let you know that as well if if you were to ask them and the other fact about that i mean you know you know as well as anybody hunter winning games on the mainland is it's not easy no matter who you are playing right whether it's a trip to ucla or it's a long plane ride to el paso texas and a bus over to las cruces new mexico and you got to go play um you know a team on homecoming a team that is hungry for a win a team that is you know going to play you again in a month's time and and so there everything's everything strange everything is that that you gotta factor in and so yeah i think there are there are things you can point to very specifically um that need to get cleaned up that need to be improved um but if you're gonna go on the road you're as a 17 point favorite and then you win right and you win by 20 and they they end up scoring 17 fourth quarter points to kind of put this one away uh but i think all in all a better start right they started better on the road after atrocious starts at ucla and then the game in corvallis as well against oregon state they're up 10-3 after the first quarter they lead 17 to 10 at halftime 24-10 after three so kind of to your point right we talk about the final margin of victory but it was it was a ball game up until you know midway through that fourth quarter oh absolutely and again i i think it's no um it's no secret that the weak point of our team is our defensive line and that quarterback that uh for those that weren't able to watch they had a monster playing quarterback for them i think he was like six five 250 or something like that just a straight horse back there um we did not pressure him at all uh he was able to get little short passes they were able to run the ball on us not as well as we were on them but um that was one of the main things that i noticed jordan again was our inability to put pressure um on the opposing offense and i mean at least in the first half that score was pretty telling of that characteristic for us so you know that was definitely something i noticed i thought shevin played really well actually um box score would show that you know he's got that interception but what it doesn't show was that was actually a really well thrown ball to calvin turner hit him right in the hands and then it ricocheted about 15 yards up field into a defender's lap so it from a quarterback's perspective not all interceptions should be labeled interceptions it should be labeled offensive turnover that would be an offensive turnover in my opinion because that had nothing to do with chevin that was a hundred percent on the receiver in that regard um 16 for 25 for 277 is a great game for a quarterback um i think that qbr of 33.4 is pretty low um especially with a couple of those throws that that throw to nick martiner in the the first quarter was an absolute toss on the sideline i counted it at um 53 yards in the air on the sideline um which you can only do if you have a strong arm so i was i was very impressed with that one and um yeah other than that it was uh kind of a back and forth battle uh for the whole thing yeah i kind of wanted to to expand on that point a little bit hunter when you talk about that deep ball to nick martiner and yeah and for whatever reason and maybe it's just um maybe it's a little harsh maybe it's selective memory on my part but throughout the last two seasons in particular with shevin and i'm with you i thought i thought he played pretty well and spoken like a true quarterback right that that interception shouldn't be on his tally no not about it um but the deep ball those those goal routes those fade routes on the outside in particular inconsistent i would say like there hasn't been a really reliable connection when guys get behind the defense it's either overthrown or a guy drops a pass it just there just been something missing on the deep ball um with shevin at quarterback the last couple of years and not necessarily saying anybody's to blame in that um but to see that connection right out the gate to and i know martin is wide open in that sense but he beats his guy right about five yards downfield and it's gone um but but seeing that has that been something that that you have noticed am i off base on that um and and just the the positive sign of seeing something like that on the first play of the game for them offensively yeah no a couple things come to mind immediately you know our our shift as a team from the nick rolovich era into uh the todd graham era obviously comes with the shift from run and shoot to this run and gun offense that coach graham has kind of coined um and then along with that is two different styles of quarterback play and so seven being born and raised out here playing in that st louis run and shoot offensive skiing from the time he was a a little kid going and uh being coached by coach vinnie pappas on sundays over there being you know kind of a st louis run and shoot disciple if you will i mean from a young age you are ingrained to play quarterback a certain way under the run and shoot i remember experiencing that from the other perspective of not coming from the run and shoot and then learning what that drop back is like um dropping back straight from the line of scrimmage whereas now going more pro style if you will in this run and gun coach graham has been backing up um laterally from a quarterback perspective that might not seem like a lot but it's really uncomfortable to get used to if you've done the other um all your life so that's one thing and then two if you are being told from the coach to look for different things from your reads looking to hand the ball off before you're looking to throw i mean even in the name of it it's run and gun so they're looking to establish the run some way somehow instead of you know the run and shoot is opposite you're looking to throw the ball down the field and then capitalize on the run on the other side of it so there's a lot going on from a quarterback's perspective that yeah i could probably point to and say that that could be why some of those deeper throws we're not seeing quite as many or in the same sort of rhythm as what we once did in the run and shoot yeah i think that's that's one thing that uh hawaii can definitely expand on especially you know we we talk a lot about calvin turner and and we will again in this episode of hfn because what he is doing is just video game type stuff but but nick martiner and what he has shown now over what i think is a a fairly decent sample size right even going back a couple of years now you think to the hawaii bowl victory over byu but this season in the five games you know after a four catch 120 yard performance here against new mexico state obviously the touchdown he's averaging just under 92 yards of contest 91.8 through five games that's 20.9 yards per reception he he he's basically catching you know about four or five balls a game but putting up those kinds of numbers and so what do you make of his emergence and and the way that he has sort of taken the reins as that go-to wide-out right we've we've seen different guys kind of get their time in the sun if you will whether it's been aaron seafish jonathan okay who's growing into a larger role here um jared smart we know his you know timeless reliability out there but but martiner has turned into not just a big play threat but a reliable one as well yeah absolutely i i think some of that speaks to uh the work he's done just um the time that he's been here at this program i've said it on the podcast before for our faithful fans out there you'll you'll remember um that back during martin's freshman year i was uh with coach stutzman down with uh the quarterbacks kind of helping those guys a little bit and i remember her just looking like a a street light pole like how skinny he was on the outside he's always had that height um but never really had that strength to beat a jam at the line of scrimmage and if you want to get those yards which he is at the visual level you got to be the gym it's the only way that's going to happen um really amazing to kind of see what he's been able to do for our offense and quite honestly unexpected jordan i i really thought that jared smart was going to be our go-to receiver coming into this season but uh it's kind of looked to um for for martin or to be that guy and i it speaks to him and shevin's chemistry as well um that doesn't happen by accident when you're feeling the pressure as a quarterback you're looking to go to your go-to guy and so i think that says something to maybe their friendship and how they work um at practice as well because if it's happening on the field it's happening elsewhere as well yeah without a doubt and so diving into the numbers a little bit deeper here uh new mexico state actually had one more first down than hawaii in this game but the the ground game in particular where hawaii won a lot of those statistical battles they averaged six and a half yards per rush uh racked up over 200 yards on the ground did hawaii uh 215 in total passing yards wise hawaii throwing for 280 new mexico state kind of did their most damage through the air hawaii 11.1 yards per attempt that's that's pretty good for shevin you talked about uh some of his efficiency in there as well the bows racking up 492 total yards of offense uh 8.5 yards per play i mean this is probably outside of that portland state game i would say even more so than the portland state game where that that game against the vikings was a little more high and low this was a little more sustained against new mexico state just seven combined punts in this game it was a little more visually pleasing especially after the week prior against san jose state where the bose and spartans combined for 22 punts 11 each in that one away punting just three times so a little more encouraging there um and another guy who is breaking out at least in this game we talked a little bit about martin but on the ground dietrich parsons um parson 11 carries 89 yards had that big touchdown day hunter just eight catches didn't have i mean excuse me eight rushes didn't have a catch uh for the first time all season he had 45 yards on the ground calvin turner adds 52 on the ground including that long reverse field play which ends up going for a score and also ends up on sportscenter top 10 again he had six catches 66 yards uh we'll dive into calvin here a little bit more in depth but the fact that they got that run game going including while being a little short-handed on the offensive line uh what is what is that build for this group hunter the fact that we know seven cordero is a dual threat he has led this team in rushing did last year uh but now they've got you know outside of him you would think three legitimate options with hunter parson and then what calvin turner can do when you hand him the football totally yeah i couldn't say it any better i mean with all of these guys on the stat sheet right now that i'm looking at it just proves that we have a very versatile set of athletes that aren't afraid to catch or run the ball um they're they're wanting the ball in their hands they're play makers um and it shows um guys that are willing to buy in and do whatever it takes that that's one thing that is kind of in the dna of a hawaii football team that's successful is that we are fighters we that that warrior mantra that that what it means to be a university of hawaii football player and these guys fight um week in week out yeah the two and three record may not um say that that loudly but that's what i get whenever i watch these guys is that they're they're fighters you know speaking to the running game though jordan our offensive line in terms of size ability we we should be able to run the ball down a team like new mexico state's throats we're able to recruit better than those guys we are a better football team than new mexico state and one of the first ways you can tell if you're better than the other team not always but generally speaking is in the run game it's a reason why alabama runs over every team they face across the board from left tackle to right tackle they are physically better than everyone else and i thought that we resembled that against new mexico state so um i'm really happy for our offensive line um even in light of a couple of injuries but um we uh i'm hoping that they can maybe gain some confidence moving into the fresno state game because we're gonna need all the help we get this weekend yeah it's it's a really good fresno state team and we will get into that uh in the second half of this episode a little bit more in depth kind of finishing up our thoughts on this offense bringing it back to calvin turner and his dynamism is just ridiculous right the the highlight reels show it all and so this is a guy who you know i think to be fair has struggled a little bit with drops in the passing game that interception you talked about with seven cordero that was off the hands of calvin turner and so it isn't any reason i think to stop throwing him the football he still had six catches for 66 yards but he's now scored in four of the five games six total touchdowns five of them have come via rush one via the air obviously through a reception he's got 51 touches through five games 24 rushes 27 receptions he's averaging just over 10 10 touches basically a game essentially five rushes five catches to me that ten times he touches the ball the game is far too little but then you've also got to contend with the fact that hey look you've got talented guys we talked about martin or we talked about pinocchio's emergence maybe in the past game we talked about parson having his best game since transferring over from harvard excuse me howard as a running back day day hunter we know what he is capable of so how do you strike this balance and is it a is it in the cards to get him more touches via rushes it does it makes sense to give him a few more carries because we've seen how effective he is there we know you you kind of juxtapose that with the fact that that you want to throw him the football as well while also keeping in mind that hey you know every carry that he gets is one that data hunter or diedrich parson doesn't get yeah how do you balance all that um if i knew i'd be uh up in the uh the booth with a headset right now but uh you know he's an unbelievable talent in my recent memory i really i consider him probably one of our most out offensive offensive um guys really since john ursua and marcus kemp um both who i had the pleasure of playing with uh just when they step on the field their heads heads above everyone else they're playing against and uh enjoy it hawaii fans he will not be here next year he will be in the nfl calvin turner will be he there there's just an unbelievable amount of footage that that he's been able to put together this year he's going to get a look and i really hope he goes high in the draft because it will help our recruiting for this coaching staff in the next couple of years with that but a little bit more into what you were talking about jordan um i would love to see us use a little more uh play action with him you know because we have so much film of us giving him the football whether through sweep inside zone running i mean we use them in pretty much everything use that to bait those linebackers low and throw over top of them i would really like for us to incorporate that a little bit more because i know other teams other defensive coordinators are telling their defense is watching us stop number seven at all cost stop him do whatever you can because he's all they got um obviously we have other we have other um weapons at our disposal but in terms of standouts um he is in all red whenever you do any sort of scouting on another team at least this is how we did it at uh there's a list of guys that are in red letters to pay attention for and he is definitely one for us so i would love for us to incorporate uh him to disguise some certain things and take some more shots as an offense yeah i think i think it's a great suggestion incorporating the the play action game because it's something at least watching observing from the outside it's something they want to do right you see the ball fakes it is a concept at least in theory that they want to establish is a play-action passing game and yeah when you get your most versatile weapon you can you can use him in various ways it doesn't always have to result in him carrying the football or getting it thrown to him and and we asked that in part because they i i think anybody watching right this offense isn't a finished product there is still uh an equation to be figured out as to how best to utilize all of these weapons because i think the talent is undeniable there there's no doubt about that uh transitioning to the defensive side of the football darius mussal got to play a full game here for the first time in a few weeks after being uh you know disqualified for targeting against oregon state and thus missing the first half against san jose state he had 11 tackles nine solo three tackles for loss and two sacks like that's just another day at the office for darius cameron lockridge though uh gaining uh garnering a lot of the headlines and rightfully so seven tackles all solo uh he had that fumble recovery touchdown on on what was a weird play that that may have been a forward pass but the camera angles when you're dealing with an online stream aren't the best sometimes when you're looking to be bailed out by instant replay review um and it worked out in hawaii's favor he had a pick as well uh in garnered mountain west defensive player of the week honors uh in the conference and and that's big for for a defense that i think is looking to build off of what was a successful week last week against san jose state and then this past week against new mexico state they they at least have found a little momentum uh we will see if they can carry that over the next week but uh it is at least a encouraging trend it is an encouraging trend jordan but i'm still not sold man they outpassed us they out through us you know by a narrow margin just three yards but along with you know our defensive line not being able to create a lot of penetration you're seeing it right there that the guys that have the most tackles are darius muisal our linebacker and then parsons who's a cornerback so our d-line's job is to create pressure and whenever you create pressure then you create force throws quickening of the quarterback and if they're able to throw for almost 300 yards against us um obviously we're pretty fortunate they only scored 21 points with with that amount of yards down the field um i'm sincerely worried this weekend um looking at what sort of a defense we're able to put on the field right now because um running the ball passing the ball it doesn't look like we have a whole lot of answers yes they play hard we create turnovers somehow some way um guys like corey bethley get in there punch the ball free obviously you got a ball hawk and darius muhasal who can run sideline to sideline and make 11 total tackles for those listening at home that's crazy that's a crazy stat right there um to be a part of 11 tackles when there's probably maybe 60 uh total plays for the other team so you're literally getting there that many times that it's just that's crazy what what a talent he is but um yeah jordan i uh for someone who likes to try to lean on the optimistic side of things i'm not on the optimistic side for our defense you know i think it's fair right and that's the the difficult part about trying to purse through this new mexico state victory is okay there was success but you got to look at okay what what was maybe circumstantial what is what is something that is going to be weakened and weak out reliable right what is sustainable from the success that we saw because i mean to be fair right this this is a team that i i'm i have no idea if this is accurate but they've got to lead the country and drop touchdown passes by their opponent like new mexico state had one where a guy was i mean all alone in the end zone and uh just straight up dropped the ball and and so that you know in the game the same yeah same thing right and and even against in this new mexico state game in particular you know right again they were only up 10 at halftime and 14 going into the third quarter and and if that touchdown catch is made i believe they settled for a field goal in that instance i don't think it was a missed field goal but i mean you know it's it's a much different story it's a much tighter ball game and you don't know how teams respond and you know the belief maybe that new mexico state has if they're within a score at a certain point so yeah it it is those i think are the trends where you're looking at it's like okay that that has to get cleaned up right they they can't that's not sustainable they can't live like that on the edge uh the way they are doing and so on that note hunter is as we kind of close out our opening half here before we take a little bit of a break uh we mentioned we're five hawaii's five games in it's a pretty decent sample size they're eight games left on the regular season schedule you remember last year they only played nine games total so five's you know pretty pretty decent amount where where is this team at where where do you what is your assessment of this group you know no longer is it just hey this is a one-off game or or something here like we can look at trends now i think in a fairly comfortable manner so so what do you what do you see and and where is this team at five games in heading into a huge home game against fresno state nationally ranked bulldogs yeah i um you know after last week's loss to san jose um not just from a football standpoint but things that were coming out from you know friends of mine that are still on the team uh the culture of the team was failing and failing greatly um i would love to uh hopefully get to practice a couple days this week and kind of get a feeling for a vibe especially with it being homecoming against for uh fresno state this week um so i i hope that they're able to kind of build off of that from a cultural and a bonding standpoint where we're still playing for each other um because if not we're going to have a long rest of conference play um for the remaining part of the season so um offensively uh we're get we're scoring points may not be able to point to what style of an offense we are running but a win is a win we've said it before there's a million ways to skin a cat as long as we're getting in the end zone great i really i really could not care any less so um if you want to win the mountain west and especially with our team with our defense we have to outscore people so 41 points is a great step in the right direction yeah and look a tremendous opportunity coming up against fresno state and there are turning points in every season right sometimes that turning point is for the better sometimes it's it's for the worse uh but a tremendous opportunity to to maybe take advantage of that that could be a turning point to really build a lot of belief if they come out with the upset this coming saturday speaking of turning points we're going to take a little bit of a break and turn our direction and attention to the bulldogs on the other side of this uh it's episode five hawaii football now this is hawaii football now from espn honolulu [Music] all right so fresno state comes to town 5 p.m kickoff in manoa again a little bit earlier than the usual home kickoff time it is for national television the game will be on cbs sports network the bulldogs ranked number 18 in the latest ap poll they climb up a few spots uh after being ranked 21st last week i think this week they're 21st in the coaches poll but well we'll give them credit up to 18 in the ap poll they're four and one is fresno state of course their only loss coming on the road in a game they gave oregon everything the ducks could handle oregon of course up to number three now in the ap polls so that it kind of shows you the caliber of fresno state and then we know what they did a few weeks later uh going to pasadena the rose bowl and beating ucla 40 to 37 nationally ranked ucla we know what they did against hawaii in week 0. this is the 54th all-time meeting between hawaii and fresno state they've met every year since 1992 they are basically the longest standing rivalry that hawaii has uh amongst their current opponents in terms of frequency in terms of history um an opportunity though hunter against a nationally ranked opponent hawaii 10 and 46 all time against nationally ranked teams they've lost 13 straight almost hard to believe their last win against a ranked team that 2010 win against number 19 nevada when colin kaepernick and company came to town of course that that famous game right um where hawaii wins yeah uh brian moniz and company and and hawaii ends up winning that game and sharing the whack title back in 2010 um what kind of opportunity is this is this for hawaii huge huge um it's our homecoming game it's fresno they're on our campus we should have had fans sorry i gotta throw it in there man um no they're nationally ranked um and could even be a higher nationally ranked team in my opinion um considering their performance against oregon in a very good ucla team that if you if you remember beat the absolute snot out of us uh in week zero um it's a huge opportunity um yeah just for the game itself but then pepper in there as well that we're playing fresno um hawaii outside of maybe byu we really don't like those guys san jose in recent years has kind of taken on this pseudo rivalry with us with some stuff going on with social media and we both were once coached by dick tomy okay that's kind of a rivalry no this is fresno we do not like these guys and they do not like us the blood is thick here in that bad blood and man um i i think back to all the times that we played those guys no matter if they were better we were better um we were more healthy they were more healthy we found a way to go deep in those games because they matter fresno week is just different it really is um and uh plus it's homecoming it's significant jordan to say the least yeah it's it's a good team no doubt about it uh their quarterback jake haner has been great yes i i don't throw that around lightly either he's thrown for uh 1842 yards so far through five games they like hawaii one of a handful of teams that have played five games up to this point uh taking advantage of that week zero uh scheduling option he's completing 73 percent of his passes 15 touchdowns two interceptions he's also ran for three touchdowns and that dude is tough if anybody watched the oregon or the ucla game i mean he got beat up and was there late in games especially that game-winning drive against ucla uh what he mounted to go ahead and then they gave up a score and then another drive that he put together uh to eventually win that game uh the running back ronnie rivers has been there for for a while now and he's still really solid uh jalen cropper is a really good receiver he's the brainy mountain west offensive player of the week he and jay kaner have sort of split those um honors the last couple of weeks he's got eight of the 15 touchdowns through five weeks and then josh kelly they're other wide receivers averaging over 20 yards of catch so it's a really good offense and their defense has given up some points here and there but um that offense and you pointed it out hunter it is something to be of concern no doubt about that but but yeah take us through fresno week take us through a rivalry week what is different about it is it something that is talked about during the week is it some is it just something innate that everybody knows um there is usually a little different buzz to practice when there is a rival waiting at the end of the week yeah you know one really cool and unique thing about being a hawaii football player or at least it used to be before kobit was the amount of former players that come to practice and you get to talk with them you get to hear uh past games past memories um and the one game other than when you know those guys would face off against byu if it was one of those years that our schedule allowed for it was their memory against fresno state they're our most consistent opponents year in year out um it's pretty much every other year we go there they come here um i mean that they are our ugly next door neighbor that we do not like and uh we're well familiar with each other and yeah anytime you are playing a nationally ranked team number one and then number two a um arrival everyone is locked in a little bit different um the only way that you can realistically hope to be in a team like this is to be situationally perfect so no unnecessary false starts no holding everybody needs to do their job perfectly like that that is the measuring stick for playing a team like this the next one is holding on to the football the only way that we're going to have a chance if any against this fresno team is if we outscore them and the only way to do that is if we hang on to football and do what we're supposed to do on offense so a little bit about that and um yeah i mean even as a player i can remember rolo talking about the times when they would you know play fresno how much you know that that rivalry meant to those guys um that adds a little bit of heat to you as a player because you want to be a part of the culture of hawaii and our continued legacy against this program as well yeah it it it brings back some of the the most fond memories i think for a lot of fans over the years through different eras of university of hawaii football i mean i remember as a kid i had the newspaper cut out because that was something you used to do back in the day i'm sure kids nowadays are like why would you do that right you just screenshot something off of your phone or something but i had 2007 win like uh it was the 2000 uh one two well with the year ashley lee catches the touchdown in the corner of the end zone to beat fresno on national tell i think it was on years it was a friday game friday afternoon game many guys consider that hawaii's best win ever yeah yeah so i mean you know there there are there are moments right that they kind of get etched in in hawaii lore and and they only come because of rivalry games or opponents who are good right they come against teams that are good whether it's you know kaepernick and nevada whether it's you know the 2007 boise game whether some of the some of these games right and so this this is a really good fresno team and with that it presents a tremendous opportunity for this team and the other thing that that kind of factors in or at least i'm curious to ask you hunter how much of a factor it is hawaii has a buy next week right both of these teams have been going this will be six straight games for the two of them uh and especially when you look at it from hawaii's standpoint right the amount of travel that they have already done having gone to california to oregon now all the way basically to texas right uh eastern new mexico flying in and out of el paso does the bye week coming up factor in it all the fact that hawaii will get a little bit of a chance to recoup after this one they don't have you know not that you ever want to look ahead right and i'll coach your binders right we're going 1-0 every week all the talk but the fact is there's no game next week there is an opportunity to catch your breath a little bit does that factor in at all uh as this team gets ready for fresno i definitely i think so undoubtedly um hawaii has a different set of circumstances compared to anybody else in the country with our level of travel and it's not just air miles that you know has um has something to do with that it has everything to do as an athlete your ability to recuperate um recover especially after a violent game like football where your body already has a hard time recovering on its own and so at home against arrival with a bye week the next week all of the ingredients are there to leave every thing on the field in my opinion so i think it absolutely has has something to do um with how they can play and play free you got nothing to lose and try to punch them in the mouth because um they're the ones that have something to lose not us yeah it's an opportunity to kind of play that underdog role and and that's that's not necessarily a bad place to be of course the the elephant in the room everybody's talking about it once again the fact that the university of hawaii as you already kind of alluded to hunter it's homecoming and nobody's going to be allowed in again outside of you know staff officials and i assume the band is still allowed back in after they were permitted to participate in the san jose state game but it really seemed like and this is kind of the story of how this has unfolded right over over many weeks now um it seemed like there was hope right the the university of hawaii has a plan in place they have submitted that plan for approval honolulu mayor rick blangiardi coming into this week had supported that he basically forwarded that request on to the governor's office lieutenant governor josh green has voiced his support he feels that they should basically have full attendance and and all of this sort of hinges on the fact that you know hey people in attendance need to be vaccinated and need to wear masks and that is the understanding um but that request has been denied basically by the governor at last check as we record this i'm not sure if there's an opportunity for that decision to be reversed by saturday but as we record this on tuesday evening uh that request has not been approved it has been denied uh and once again we are here with this hawaii team on homecoming against the nationally ranked opponent the first chance to beat a nationally ranked opponent for the first time since 2010 it's on national television it is an opportunity to really kind of turn this season in the right direction and yet um we're all going to have to watch it from from our couches if you will and and i think you know there is a lot of understanding in the community i think of of the need to prioritize health and safety for individuals as well as the greater public but i think there is a growing not that there wasn't frustration right to start the season with the fact that nobody's been allowed in but this is now the third of only six home games this year that won't allow any fans in but there is a growing frustration i think hunter um at least from from people i talk to what you see on social media what you see on the internet i think you know even from from folks within the program even though maybe they can't speak out as openly but you know that that they are doing what has been asked they have a plan in place that that that seems to work at least elsewhere um but but yet we we we haven't seen any headway made yeah um it uh it it's hard for me if i wasn't connected to espn honolulu like you and i are um as members of the media know knowing and being connected to this program because we have to cover it talking with friends of mine it's hard to feel like we're in football season right now other than if you follow a team on the mainland and for our guys you know playing a rival in in fresno state a nationally ranked rival um i i know they they have to feel like no one cares and especially when a plan is put together a sound plan one that is extremely safe extremely um conservative in what they're asking for i mean the last uh uh ask i think was um 500 friends and family of of the uh the student-athletes i mean that is extremely conservative considering the size of that complex um everyone would be vaccinated it's it's frustrating jordan it really is man because you're you're essentially telling those guys thank you for representing our state but we don't give a crap that's essentially what they're saying to these kids and it's it's really unfortunate when they're expected to go out and play their hardest i mean let's take it a step further what is that saying to the top recruits out here still in high school that are thinking about whether to stay in hawaii or go elsewhere when they're looking on the mainland even a uh middle tier college on the mainland playing in front of a packed house i would want to go to the mainland it's not even a question um when our governor who is supposed to be our elected official fighting for our best interest is not doing that for this football program in in this university um yeah it's uh it's quite frustrating and the the disapproval i i'm feeling it too is cont is starting to rise right now because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense the uh sort of protection and insanity that he's trying to um govern from yeah and i know it it has elicited a lot of emotion from fans right i know people have gotten worked up and and i'm not saying that they are not warranted in that but but yeah i agree with a lot a lot of what you said it to me it's as simple as look there is a a plan that has been tried and successfully executed elsewhere and i know hawaii is unique i i totally understand that um but like you said they are not asking for 9 000 people i think the latest request was was a thousand for uh ching and 150 for some of the indoor events such as women's volleyball um and somewhere in between that for for rainbow haney soccer out at waipio um and there are there are other events going on on oahu and and within hawaii proper you know across the state that that have similar numbers that have been vetted that have shown a mitigation plan and that have been held successfully um and and why that opportunity hasn't been afforded to the university of hawaii for their athletic events um to me is just baffling um it's it's yet again it's yet again a um an example of the lack of support that our program needs to get to the next level when people are asking why can't we be considered to jump up to the pac-12 it's because of things like this where you look at programs like that and they're bringing in sometimes 100 million dollars of revenue every year when we don't have the backing of our own elected officials no wonder our program isn't going to um thrive we we would need to correct so many things to even be at that same level not even leading in that in that sort of a category and as a player it's so frustrating it's so frustrating because all you can control is how you play and when you do play well and you aren't shown the support man it's disheartening yeah i i hear you i i hear you hunter and yeah let's um we we can do what we can to support the team right and and um cover these guys and uh i know a lot of fans out there are um thoroughly frustrated but but also still chomping at the bit to get an opportunity to go watch those guys play in person so again um kind of putting a bow on this fresno state contest coming up this weekend again a 5 p.m kickoff um at home at the qing complex and it will be nationally televised on cbs sports network as we kind of wrap things up here we want to make sure we get our overtime segment in uh i'll go first hunter this is a little bit more of a positive conversation uh and it is completely unrelated to football um but i know you are a big golfer a really good golfer by the way for those that don't know at home um the ryder cup man it is football season it is nfl sundays it is college football saturdays you know from sun up to sundown um but i found myself watching the ryder cup more than anything that event is just so much fun and you can tell the guys the way that the pro golfers talk about it right whether you're on the american side whether you're on the european side they have a bl the crowds again we're gonna circle back okay maybe we can tie back to football uh but the the crowds in wisconsin at whistling it's electric it is a party it is you know it's a little different than maybe the uh the hoity toity country club aspect of golf like it is all of the fun elements of golf right it is it is it is you still got the best players in the world you got the crowds you got the audience you got the prestige you got the international flavor to it but there's also a bit of the element of like you know your sunday foursome that you usually go out with and and maybe you don't have a few cold beverages and and um you know the vast majority of normal golfers like there's a bit of that to it like it is such a fun event i could watch that thing every week and i i get it the every other year format is what makes it special you know you got to have a little bit of that rarity but it is it it's a blast so fun oh my goodness and i don't know if those at home were able to uh to watch it on sunday but there was an interview with rory mcilroy who obviously plays for team europe but he described what it's like being a part of these events and golfers are usually very stoic they're very almost lack of emotion that's why when someone like tiger came on the scene and he was fist pumping and getting the crowd pumped up it was so much fun to watch a guy like that and so rory is in this this interview talking about the significance and he's literally tearing up he's crying about what it means to be a part of these events to represent his country europe even the united states in such a global event it's um it really is something special and in the game of golf where it's usually all about one person against another person um about being quiet about um showing honor and yeah that's definitely involved in the ryder cup as well when you have a team environment um it's um collaborative where you affect what i do and i affect what you do and we're a team now battling another team and the stakes are so clearly understood by the fans of we got to make this putt to beat them on this whole man it's just so fun so so fun and especially with where the world is right now in social media a lot of us follow these guys on a regular basis and so we're well familiar with the characters that play right here and man it's it it's so much fun to follow along with yeah i i i absolutely had a blast i can't wait for two years when they're outside of rome i think is is the next event when it's europe's turn to host all right uh hunter uh you got the last word here on overtime man let's go it's it is homecoming week we're playing fresno if uh again friends family of teams that find their way to listening to this podcast shoot your boy a message um show your support um i would love for us to you know do something simple like create some signs put them up on campus show the guys that we are support of this team because they need all the help they can get this week against the nationally ranked fresno uh fresno team but uh with that jordan uh as fun as always for me man yeah it's been a lot of fun hunter uh kind of hard to believe we're already five episodes in we will be back next week uh there is a bye next week but uh nevada will look forward to in a couple of weeks time and uh who knows we may be talking about hawaii with a big feather in their cap if they can pull this upset against fresno state as a tremendous opportunity no doubt about that one thing we did kind of want to add uh two things we've gotten some questions from from some listeners viewers whether it's been on our youtube uh the facebook page as well uh where this podcast gets posted uh you can hit us up on twitter uh on all the espn honolulu accounts twitter facebook youtube uh leave a comment if you'd like uh you can hit me up on twitter uh mine's pretty simple jordan helly uh hunter i don't know if you want to give out your twitter handle um but but folks can uh hit us up if you got questions you want stuff that uh you know you have something that you want us to address on the pod we are more than open to that uh helps us uh you know fill a little content uh you do a little producing for us uh we're always open to that so yeah i don't know how did you want to give out your uh your twitter handle yeah it's uh all around athletes but just stop adapting to th all around ass that's that's mine on uh on twitter awesome so yeah hit us up if you got any questions you got any comments uh on the pod on some of the topics on the team uh and uh hopefully it'll be a bit positive a little celebratory next week we will see but that'll do it for us here now on episode five for hunter i'm jordan we'll see you back next week you've been listening to hawaii football now you've been listening to hawaii football now with jordan helly and hunter hughes all from espn honolulu

Channel: ESPN Honolulu

Views: 160

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Hawaii Football, University of Hawaii Football, UH Football, Podcast, New Mexico State, Fresno State

Id: YzFccFTtm9g

Length: 50min 26sec (3026 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021