LAS VEGAS — Dan Mullen started with Timmy Chang when he was asked Monday what makes Hawai‘i difficult to prepare for. Micah Alejado is back at quarterback and already threw 50 passes in the Rainbow Warriors’ opener, but Mullen sees part of the challenge in the person deciding where those throws go.
Chang spent his playing career operating the type of passing offense he now oversees at Hawai‘i. Mullen believes that gives the Rainbow Warriors a head coach who understands more than how the offense is supposed to look. He has spent enough time in it to know where to go when a defense starts taking something away.
“They have a head coach that not only played in their offense, not just coaches it or believes in it, but is one of the most successful players ever in that style of offense,” Mullen said Monday. “I think that the familiarity, the comfort, his ability to make changes in it and really knowing every in and out of what they’re doing makes it a huge challenge.”
Alejado gives Chang a quarterback comfortable carrying much of that offense. Hawai‘i threw 52 passes in its 37-27 loss at Stanford, with Alejado attempting 50 and completing 30 for 269 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. Twelve Rainbow Warriors caught at least one pass, and most of those throws did not travel very far.
According to PFF, Alejado completed 19 of 24 passes thrown from zero to nine yards for 156 yards and a touchdown. He completed 13 of 16 short throws between the numbers for 118 yards and a score. Only four of his charted attempts traveled at least 20 yards, with one completed for 24.
Marcus Stokes attacked UNLV much differently Saturday night. The Memphis quarterback completed only 15 passes, but seven gained at least 15 yards. Stonka Burnside caught a 48-yard touchdown early in the third quarter, Jemyri Davis had a 32-yard reception in the fourth and the Tigers added completions of 21, 19, 16 and 15 yards.
Memphis finished with 223 passing yards and two touchdowns on those 15 completions. The Tigers produced 13 explosive plays for 275 of their 418 total yards in a 27-21 win at Allegiant Stadium. Their other 47 offensive snaps produced 143 yards.
Hawai‘i showed at Stanford that it does not need Alejado to continually throw over the secondary to move the football. The Rainbow Warriors were willing to take the shorter completion, distribute the ball and make Stanford defend another snap.
Tama Uiliata caught eight passes for 62 yards and a touchdown. Kainoa Carvalho finished with five receptions for 72 yards, DeVon Rice caught four for 25 and a touchdown, and Blaze Kamoku added three for 42. Eight other Hawai‘i players caught at least one pass.
That worked best in the fourth quarter. Hawai‘i entered the period trailing Stanford 23-7 before putting together three consecutive touchdown drives and briefly taking the lead. The Rainbow Warriors went 80 yards in 16 plays on the first drive, 63 yards in five on the next and 90 yards in nine on the third. The last one put Hawai‘i ahead 27-23 with 4:06 remaining before Stanford responded with the final 14 points.
Alejado did not need a deep throw to bring Hawai‘i back. The Rainbow Warriors kept moving the chains, and Chang stayed with the passing game long enough for the yards to accumulate.
UNLV spent the beginning of this week going over a different version of the same problem. Jake Pope went directly to the explosive plays after the Memphis loss, even after the Rebels forced five punts, created the game’s only lost turnover and held the Tigers to three conversions on 11 third downs.
Some came when Memphis got behind the defense. Others came after UNLV had an opportunity to get the ball carrier on the ground. Jaylin Carter’s 36-yard touchdown in the third quarter was one of those, with UNLV getting a chance to contain the run before Carter got through the defense and tied the game at 21 only 1:17 after Jackson Arnold had put the Rebels back in front.
Mullen also went back to the explosive plays after the game. UNLV did enough defensively to get Memphis off the field for stretches, but the mistakes it made were costly.
“I thought overall we played pretty well,” Mullen said. “We obviously gave up a couple of explosive plays. That was really disappointing.”
Alejado attempted 16 short passes between the numbers against Stanford and completed 13. He was also 3 of 5 on short throws to the left and completed all three to the right.
Those throws will put UNLV’s linebackers and safeties around the football throughout the game. Pope played the most snaps of any UNLV defender against Memphis, while Mumu Bin-Wahad handled most of the work at nickel.
Photo: Guy Curtright / The Scarlet StandardThe secondary personnel remains largely the same on this week’s depth chart. Denver Harris and Avery Helm are still listed together at one cornerback spot, Quandarius Keyes remains first at the other and Bin-Wahad is first at nickel.
Memphis made UNLV cover the field vertically and punished the Rebels when receivers found space farther downfield. Hawai‘i is much more willing to make a defensive back come forward, tackle the catch and line up again.
Alejado also gets the ball out quickly enough to make life difficult for UNLV’s defensive front. PFF charted his average time to throw at 1.95 seconds when Stanford kept him clean. That number rose to 3.96 seconds when Stanford pressured him.
Stanford still found opportunities when plays lasted long enough. Hawai‘i tackles Judah Kaio and Boogie Henderson allowed four pressures apiece, while Lipe Moala and Dean Briski allowed two each. Center Ethan Spencer did not allow one over 62 pass-blocking snaps.
Sending additional pressure comes with its own cost against an offense that spent much of the Stanford game throwing underneath. Bringing a linebacker or safety toward Alejado removes a defender from one of the areas he targeted most often.
The Rainbow Warriors also did not get much from the running game to take the ball out of Alejado’s hands. Hawai‘i finished with 46 official rushing yards after sacks were included, with Rice leading the running backs with 35 yards on 11 carries. Hawai‘i ran 74 offensive plays and threw on 52 of them.
For UNLV, the challenge will be making those shorter completions end there instead of allowing them to become the explosive gains that hurt the Rebels against Memphis.
“We let up some explosives,” Pope said. “That really is what it came down to, on the defensive side.”
