Warriors will focus on rest, recruiting during bye

For this bye week, the University of Hawaii football team is planning some R&R — rest and recruiting.

The Rainbow Warriors concluded the nonconference portion of their schedule with Saturday’s 45-26 road loss to New Mexico State.

In their first five games, their only victory was against FCS member Duquesne at the Ching Complex.

The Warriors were 10-0 against New Mexico State entering Saturday’s game between former Western Athletic Conference cohorts. But the Warriors could not slow NMSU’s newly implemented running game, which amassed 357 yards on the ground and five rushing touchdowns.

“I thought we had a really good week of practice,” UH linebackers coach Chris Brown said. “Even (Friday’s) walk-through was good. (Saturday’s) walk-through was good. The players were sharp. (The Aggies) made some big plays off of us, and it snowballed. At the end of the day, the boys played hard.”

After the game, the Warriors traveled by bus from the Las Cruces, N.M., campus to El Paso International Airport. Their non-stop charter flight arrived in Honolulu on Sunday morning. With a bye this coming Saturday, the plan is for the Warriors to heal from a five-games-in-five-weeks start to the season, go through strength and conditioning training, and practice.

“We’ll work out,” head coach Timmy Chang said. “A team like us, we need to keep working and keep preparing and weight lifting. And then we’ll get ready for (the Oct. 8 road game against) San Diego State.”

UH expects wideouts Zion Bowens and Chuuky Hines to be available to play against SDSU. Both are among the fastest Warriors. Bowens suffered a leg injury in the opener against Vanderbilt. Hines has missed the past two games because of an injury.

Bowens and Hines are expected to bring vertical speed to the retrofitted offense, which added run-and-shoot elements last week. “It was fun to watch the offense do some things and build confidence in what we’re doing,” Chang said.

Of the new wrinkles, tight end Caleb Phillips said, “it’s a very exciting, very explosive offense. I’m excited for the direction it’s going.”

Phillips said the expanded passing game complements the running attack, and will be helpful when the Warriors open Mountain West play against SDSU.

“We see glimpses of great things, but it really comes down to the little details,” Phillips said. “I’m as guilty as anyone. We’ve got to come in and have attention to detail, and get back to practice, and really take advantage of this bye week. Get our bodies fresh, and take it to San Diego State.”

Several UH coaches remained on the mainland to recruit. The Warriors are targeting programs across the country.