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Hawaii Falls To UNLV Who Earns Second Win Of Year
Offensive coordinator is having some issues
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Hawaii couldn’t move the ball
Since the local media is too scared to write something like this in fear of losing access to the team, I will happily step up and do it since I don’t even have a media pass. This one is for all the fans who are sick and tired of watching the Grahams ruin our beloved football program. KHON’s Christian Shimabuku put it best in a tweet, “From pride rock to nearly rock bottom”. Warning: If you are a Bo Graham supporter, you will not like this article. Luckily, there aren’t many Bo Graham supporters in this world.
Congratulations Bo! You are officially the worst and most incompetent offensive coordinator in the nation and the entire fanbase hates you. It’s almost as tough to be the worst at something as it is to be the best at something, but somehow Bo got it done. The key to victory over the Rebels was for Bo to show us something.
What he showed us is that he is in way over his head and is not meant to be an offensive coordinator much less a division one coach. Daddy’s boy has single-handedly ruined this once explosive offense as well as this season and a change clearly needs to be made. Don’t hold your breath because Todd Graham can’t even admit that the offensive play-caller is the problem. Instead, he turns the blame to the player’s execution.
Coach Graham also feels annoyed with all of the criticism he and his son have gotten throughout the season and has the gall to say “People that don’t know what they’re talking about are going to complain”. I’m not claiming to be a Football expert, but when most of the comments on the Hawaii Football posts say something to the extent of “Change the OC. Your son sucks.”
You’re not only being hard-headed but also calling out a knowledgeable fan base that was already skeptical of your hiring and even more skeptical when you hired your son, who was fired by Arizona State for having an inappropriate relationship with a student, has minimal division one coaching experience besides working for you and zero play-calling experience as your offensive Coordinator.
On the first play from scrimmage, Chevan Cordeiro hooked up with Nick Mardner for a 79 yard touchdown. Mardner fought through contact, made the catch, broke the tackle, and took it to the house. Good things happen when you throw the ball to Nick Mardner!
The fans were excited. Is this the new era? Will we finally be airing it out? Could it be that Bo realized the Rebels were ranked 116th in the nation against the pass and has decided to attack them through the air? The answer to all of those questions are no. From that point on it was all downhill.
On the next possession, UNLV fumbled when the center snapped the ball to Cameron Friel who was looking to the sideline and not ready. Darius Muasau jumped on the ball and it looked like a great opportunity for the Bows to jump all over the Rebels early. Instead, the offense went three and out and Matthew Shipley missed his second field goal of the season.
Not only is the offensive play calling some of the worst I’ve seen since Norm Chow, it is also a disorganized group and that starts with the coaching staff. We saw an example of this on Saturday. On 3rd and 5 Todd Graham burned a timeout. Cordeiro looked to be trying to find a replacement contact lens during the break and was not ready to get back onto the field for the play after the timeout. After popping a new contact in, Cordiero reported to the coaches who sent him onto the field to replace Brayden Schager who was in the game because Cordiero wasn’t ready to go. This caused major confusion and the Bows were forced to burn another timeout. That is two in a row before the same play. To make matters worse, Cordiero was sacked on the ensuing third down conversion attempt. A complete trainwreck.
The Hawaii defense forced three first half turnovers yet the score was tied 10-10 at the half. The defense played well until they wore down and that is when they started getting gashed by Charles Williams on the ground. Hard to blame them when the Rebels ended the game with a 2-to-1 lead in time of possession. This has been a problem all season and has not been addressed nor fixed. Consistent 3 and outs and bad turnovers have kept the Warrior defense on the field for too long. Hawaii has forced an impressive 24 turnovers on the season but have given up 26 on offense and special teams.
The talent is there. Under the previous coaching regime, Cordiero was an emerging star, Jared Smart was a 1000 yard receiver, and the almost exact same offensive line was great in pass protection and impressive in the run game for an offense that aired it out the majority of the time. This season, Cordiero has taken at least 5 steps backwards, Jared Smart has just 345 yards and one touchdown and the offensive line is horrible in pass protection and inconsistent in the run game. The only change? Coaching.
The finale and cherry on top of a masterclass on how NOT to call a game is when the Warriors got the ball down 7 with a little over 3 minutes to go in the game. Bo Graham called 4 run plays in a row, and in the process the Warriors failed to convert on 4th and 3. The last chance for the Warriors bowl hopes and the last of my patience with this incompetent Offensive coordinator is gone with another unsurprising 4 and out possession.
I will be at the Colorado State game supporting the Bows and I encourage all the fans to do the same. We should support the players who lay it on the line and play hard every game, but that does not mean we have to support a Coach and his son who is ruining our program. If Todd Graham won’t fire his son, he deserves to be on the chopping block as well. Athletic director Dave Matlin better wake up before the Grahams turn us into an FCS program and we struggle to even get 1000 fans at the games. Hope to see everyone with their “Bo Gotta Go” signs on Saturday. As always, let’s go Bows!
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