The Hawai'i football team resumes practicing today as it begins preparation for the Jan. 1 game against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

But the 11-day break was lost on the coaches, who have worked daily since the Warriors completed an unbeaten regular season with a victory over Washington.

The defensive staff, in particular, has not rested. Terry "Duff" Duffield, the quality-control coach for the defense, apologized for including an extra tight end in a play drawing. Duffield was excused. After all, he drew the play at midnight. Defensive coordinator Greg McMackin, meanwhile, has charts of all of Georgia's 807 offensive plays this season.

"I'm proud of how hard our coaches and players have worked," said McMackin, who returned this year to take over the UH job he held in 1999.

The Warriors have improved in every significant defensive category — yards per play; yards per rush; turnovers gained; and third-down efficiency.

"Our goals are to get the offense back on the field, because we have such a great offense and we don't want them to stand on the sidelines," McMackin said. "Getting the offense back on the field is our job."

Because the number of defensive plays varies among teams, McMackin said, a true measurement of efficiency is to break it down by play. This season, UH opponents are averaging 3.43 yards per rush and 4.72 yards per play. Last year, opponents gained 3.93 yards per rush and 5.68 yards per play. In 2005, the averages were 5.39 per rush and 6.14 per play.

UH is ranked 16th nationally in turnovers gained with 19 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries. They ranked 17th last season, 61st in 2005, and 40th in 2004.

This season, opposing offenses converted 28.7 percent of their third-down plays. They were successful on 39.3 percent of third-down plays in 2006 and 48.5 percent in 2005.

"I give the other (assistant) coaches real credit for that," McMackin said. "I sort of introduce everything and teach it to the coaches, and they teach it to the players. I can't ask for a better job they've done."

The previous two years, the Warriors attacked out of 3-4 alignment. This year, McMackin implemented the 4-3 as the base defensive formation. But UH also has an Oky scheme (3-3-5) and two types of nickel defenses (4-2-5) involving different personnel. Including the different blitz plans, the Warriors have used about 140 defensive schemes this season.

"These guys have picked up a pro package, and done it really well," McMackin said.

What's more, they have learned a pro defense on a college student's schedule.

"They're a real smart bunch of guys," McMackin said. "You learn that when you go through spring (training). We've gone way beyond what we gave the first group when we were here (in 1999). ... This is a very smart football team. We've been able to take them to a lot of places that some college teams couldn't do because of their football intelligence and their willingness to work at it and learn it."

Visit Tsai's blog at www.HawaiiWarriorBeat.com.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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