Defense makes a stand, and a point

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The University of Hawai'i football team's defense gave up the second-lowest point total this season in a 52-21 win over Idaho last night, but still wasn't satisfied.

"It's the lowest points, but we shouldn't have let them score any points," junior safety Leonard Peters said.

It was the least amount of points the Hawai'i defense has allowed since defeating Tulsa, 44-16, on Oct. 2.

"Still yet, it's frustrating when you know they shouldn't score at all," senior left tackle Lui Fuga said. "The 21 points they had was all our fault. We knew it was on us; it wasn't them."

After allowing the Vandals to score on their first two drives, Hawai'i's defense forced two fumbles, seven punts, and prevented a fourth-down conversion on Idaho's 12 ensuing possessions. Idaho's final possession ended as time expired.

"We gave up some big passes, we had some young guys who made some mistakes," Hawai'i secondary coach Rich Miano said. "But to keep them off the scoreboard in the second half ... we'd been struggling defensively the second half and that was a good job."

Hawai'i entered the game allowing an average of 476 yards per game, but held Idaho to 334. After allowing 153 yards in the first quarter — including two scoring drives of more than 80 yards — the defense allowed 181 yards the rest of the game.

"Credit to those guys; they did a nice job of getting us," Idaho coach Nick Holt said. "Surprised we didn't get any points in the second half. We needed it."

The Warriors had a season-high 10 sacks, doubling their previous high of five against Tulsa.

"We told the defensive coordinator we needed to pressure the quarterback, because it looked like he was having fun in the back," left end Melila Purcell said.

Fuga, who recovered a fumble and had a sack for a loss of six yards, said the defense needed to work on "assignment alignment" and "lack of communication."

"If we can fix those things; we'll be a good defense," he said.

Peters, who tied for the team lead with seven tackles, said the biggest difference in the defense in last night's game was that "everybody just stopped feeling sorry for themselves."

He also said the team's defensive lapses earlier in the season were being blamed on the wrong people.

"Everybody blames the coaches too much," said Peters, who returned a fumble 19 yards. "It's us out there that's playing."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.