At today’s Na Koa Coach’s Luncheon, head coach Nick Rolovich apologized for the team’s performance against UCLA saying, “it’s been 301 days since our last loss and it’s going to stick with us for a while”. He also said that “we need to coach better and we need to play better”.
Asked about the fake punt, Rolovich said “it was a gamble that we probably shouldn’t have taken” adding “it was too far.”
Seven coaches are still on the road recruiting. They went to a number of games after the UCLA game on Saturday.
Rolovich did an extensive video review showing about 40 offensive and defensive plays. He broke down the plays and showed what we did well and where we missed on opportunities. As an example, he showed the play in which TE Kaiwi Chung caught a short pass and turned it into a 37 yard play. But Tui Unga was open on a deeper route for a probable touchdown if the pass had gone to him. That drive ended in a missed field goal.
Rolovich wanted a creative game play that would challenge UCLA. The offense used a number of formations and plays that they hadn’t shown this year. They also used some new plays that were developed in the off-season. Rolovich showed that when executed properly, the plays worked well.
On defense, we needed to play much better. Things we got away with during the first two games were exploited by UCLA. Rolovich showed some examples of how mistakes became big plays for UCLA.
Rolovich announced that the Wyoming game will be at 8:15 pm MT. The Wyoming trip is a tough one. We fly into Denver, CO and then take an hour and a half bus ride to a hotel outside of Laramie, WY. It’s an hour long bus ride to Laramie for the game on Saturday. After the game, they take a two and a half hour bus ride back to Denver. After a couple of hours to sleep, the team will then fly back home on Sunday.
Rolovich shared some travel “tips” he got from Dick Tomey that he used for the Air Force game last year. He’s going to do the same this year for the Wyoming trip and hopes it will have the same results.
By Mike Lum
