Wow, what a season June Jones has engineered for the Hawaii Faithful! The nation's top-rated offense racked up a season-high 653 yards, while the Warrior defense came up with timely big plays, including two key interceptions, to boost No. 25 Hawai'i over Purdue, 42-35, in front of a season-best 47,825 noise-making fans Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.
Warrior quarterback Colt Brennan threw for 434 yards (33 of 48) and three touchdowns, while running back Nate Ilaoa rushed for a career-high 159 yards and two touchdowns to help Hawai'i (10-2) win its ninth straight game. The Warrior defense shutout Purdue (8-5) in the first half and came up with two drive-ending interceptions in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Solomon Elimimian led all tacklers with 14 on the night. Brennan through his 49th, 50th and 51st TD passes of the year.
Warrior receivers Davone Bess (113) and Jason Rivers (103) both reached the century mark to help Brennan break the UH single-season record for total offense yards (4,929) and passing yards (4,589). Both records were held by Timmy Chang and set in 2002. Ian Sample scored on a 28-yard screen shortly after Purdue QB Curits Painter was picked off late in the 4th quarter to give Hawaii the win.
SCOUTING SUMMARY:
College: Purdue Conference: Big 10 Columnist: Adam Davis
Name # Ht Wt Speed Pos Class Game Notes
Mike Otto 65 6' 5.0" 304 5.00 OT 2007: He's very good. Not quite in the Joe Staley class as an athlete, but he's pretty close. Rag dolls people. Makes contact and keeps it. Holds like nobody's business and gets away with it. Must keep his hands inside more or he will get in trouble in the NFL. Keeps driving to the whistle when run blocking. Throws DEs in pass pro. He lacks ideal size for LOT, but his feet look good enough. Not a pro bowl type, but I could see him starting in the NFL one day. GRADE: Positive
Dorien Bryant 9 5' 10.0" 175 4.40 WR 2007: Waterbug reciever who is deadly on short outs, quick slant and reverses. Not sure how well he would hold up over the long haul in the NFL, however. GRADE: Neutral
Kyle Ingraham 89 6' 9.0" 228 4.70 WR 2007: DNP
Anthony Spencer 49 6' 3.0" 261 4.70 DE 2007: Keeps coming, but never got there. Explodes off the ball, but lacks the quick moves to get around a better LOT. Stamina was pretty good, but even so, with Brennan at QB he was winded by the 4th quarter and not rushing as hard. Disrupted the timing on a couple of throws, but that was about it. Did force a fumble and bat down a pass. The guy has 26.5 TFLs and 10.5 sacks on the year, so he's a player, I just picked the wrong game to watch him, I guess. GRADE: Neutral
George Hall 30 6' 1.5" 243 4.72 LB 2007: Solid pure run stuffer, who didn't get the job done tonight against Iloao--but who does?? Got out of position and just could not get a clean shot on #4. When he did, Nate broke his tackle. GRADE: slightly negative.
College: Hawaii Conference: Western Athletic Columnist: Steve Martin
Name # Ht Wt Speed Pos Class Game Notes
Samson Satele 64 6' 3.0" 312 4.98 OG 2007: Nothing new to say. The guy is a stud, and if I needed a center, he'd be my first choice. GRADE: Positive
Colt Brennan 15 6' 2.4" 190 0.00 QB 2008: Very accurate again. He is throwing like 75% completions. 51 TD passes is just nuts. There is a tendecny for him to still force the ball too much. He gets away with that at this level. but definitely won't at the next. Needs to get bigger and stronger, but despite the "system" the guy is better than Chang, and can definitely play at the next level if he stays on his current improvement progression curve. GRADE: Positive
Nate Ilaoa 4 5' 9.0" 254 4.60 HB 2007: This guy is just a bull in a china shop. I am still waiting for the rest of the draft world to discover this "Ironhead Heyward" clone. Not quite as tall as the former Pitt star, but runs just like him. He was breaking tackles everywhere tonight. I bet he broke 50 in the game. Shows surprising speed and a nice little hip shake. Catches the ball well too. He did fumble twice fighting for extra yardage while stood up, so I'd get him on a wrist strengthening regime, but NO WAY would I tell him not to struggle for extra yards--it's who he is, and that is VERY GOOD. GRADE: Very positive
Melila Purcell 98 6' 4.5" 276 0.00 DE 2007: He was either double-teamed if it was a pass play, or a run to his side, or, he was run away from. Didn't do much because the Purdue O-line seemed to game plan specifically to take Big Mel out of the game, and, for the most part, they succeeded. He is still wearing a huge thigh wrap, but looks like he is getting better. When healthy he is a late draftable guy. GRADE: Neutral.
Other notes: Purdue QB Curtis Painter looked pretty good all night, until the pick bug (the same bug that has bothered him all year) got him late.
Hawaii receivers, Jason Rivers and Devone Bess are future first-day candidates.