Let's Talk Sports - September 8, 2026

0:00What's up everybody? Good morning. It's that time. Let's talk sports. Canola here along with Billy Hull here on ESPN Honolulu. We have Krishimabokuro. He's working the production room in the room next door. We have Gary Dickman handing things off to us here. First, just a little bit of a programming note on what's ahead. Because we are scheduled to talk with Timmy Chang on Mondays yesterday was a holiday, but he was nice enough to allow us to do a Zoom call interview with him yesterday. We will play the recording of that a little bit later on in this opening hour. Just keep in mind that was about a day and a half after the game. There might be a little bit more that has been discussed since then, but I don't think it's going to be too different from what the normal line of questioning would be if we were to have interviewed him live this morning. Also, Rich Miano, our resident football guru will join us a little bit later on in the show as well. So plenty room to talk some UH football here this morning. We do want to send

1:02all of our heartfelt best wishes and prayers out to everyone who has been impacted by this latest storm. You know, all the people on Kauai, certainly Niihau. We absolutely are praying for the best over there that that some of the people that are impacted that they are able to get through that as safely as possible. So, and obviously, you know, even here on Oahu, we're feeling some of those effects. So let's just all be smart and safe out there if at all possible. But Gary handing things off to us this morning. I'd imagine there was quite a bit of displeasure and dissatisfaction that was the shared sentiment across most of what you heard from textors and callers this morning based on that performance by Hoha, against UNLV on Saturday. Wait a minute. You guys worked on your day off yesterday. Yeah, man. Okay. As far as what you just said, you are a hundred percent correct from after the game on Saturday and today. I mean, you know, everybody's entitled to their opinion. I can appreciate that. But some of the opinions are saying,

2:05like, to me, Tang is not qualified to be a head coach. Other one recently saying that Micah obviously is not a division one quarterback and word to that effect that he played scared. And I mean, some of those opinions, I have a hard time accepting. But a lot of the people that were upset about the game, that's just that we lost because it was a really good team. But the offense did not really do anything. Yeah. And six points is not cutting it. Yeah, what is it? First time in 17 games that Hoha hasn't scored a touchdown offensively. So there was a lot to be displeased with, I think from a fan standpoint, I mean, that's straight up and we'll hear from Timmy Chang a little bit later on in this hour. And he says the same. Obviously it is in his opinion more of an across the board level of improvement that is required to take place here. What will also be interesting you'll hear is the way he refers to this upcoming game against New Mexico state and how much weight he is sort of putting on on that game. So we'll get to that again a little bit later on in the hour. But yeah,

3:07Owen to start. I don't think it was necessarily out of the realm of possibility. I think Billy and I both expressed Gary. I think you did as well. The importance of not wanting to start off Owen to the advantage and some of the benefit that would come with starting at least one in one. If you were able to start with two wins, obviously you're setting yourself up for something that could be like, you know, next level special. But Owen to wasn't necessarily out of the realm of possibilities. I think what has been disappointing to this point is the way in which they lost those two games, you know, in Stanford, you could say, Hey, look, they still put themselves in position. They were up with four minutes left. Like they were still in position to win that game as bad as the offense was for about three quarters. And then again, it was haunted by some of those same bugaboo's here against the UNLV this past weekend. And yet they were still kind of in that game as well. If it's not for a late UNLV touchdown, you know, they're right there. Like one score away. You had what should have probably been a touchdown catch that was wiped away. I still don't understand what that call was.

4:10You know, the first it was targeting and then it was a catch and then they ended up reversing basically both of those things. And so that was that was very peculiar. So, you know, how are you getting burned a little bit by some of these officiating calls officials had a rough weekend throughout all of college football. Maybe you can just say rough first two weeks here to this point. But, but yeah, I think it's just it is that lack of of oomph that we saw certainly on Saturday from this offense. And I think it starts with there being a pretty obvious and overt lack of protection up front. And there's just not enough time. It seems right now for those deeper routes to develop. There's nothing downfield. Like that does not exist right now in this whole white yaw offense. And that is the biggest difference just visually and aesthetically from what we saw last year when you had Jackson Harris downfield with with Pofeli Ashlock being able to shear off some of that back end defense because of of his presence in the slots. You know, slot backs have played okay,

5:10but you had a lot of drops and yeah, you know, you have textors and callers, I'm sure who will be saying, Hey, Mike Olihato did not look great in that game. I will say, yeah, I think he did miss some throws that he would normally make. And maybe it's the matchup you and LV probably puts a lot of pressure on himself when it comes to that right? You know, there were a lot of murmurings at the time of his recruitment that you and LV was big time after him and the very well, there could be another dimensional timeline where Mike Olihato is the quarterback for the Rebels. But yeah, I think he missed some throws, but he was on the run again a lot and running for his life a lot. And I just don't think the timing mechanism right now in the offense is working because of the same stuff we saw against Stanford for a large part of that game. Even when you and LV was rushing three, they were still getting through and, you know, you had a couple of individual linemen for Hawaii that graded out pretty well according to PFF, but it starts there. And I think foundationally, that's where the struggles for this offense have really been tied to.

6:12We've talked a lot about, okay, what happens if they start Oh and two? Excuse me, get ready for that. I'm still a little sick. Yeah. But we talked a lot about what we'll forgive you just kidding. We talked a lot about what they would look like if they started Oh and two. And one of the things we talked about was how do they look? I feel like the one thing that people are going to get upset with very quickly at the University of Hawaii is if you're not scoring points. This is supposed to be a high octane offense. This is supposed to be an offense that throws a ball around. And you're right. You mentioned there was a texture, I guess, that set up Michael is scared back there. I'd be a little scared if I was dropping back every 1.3 seconds. I had a 300 pound guy on top of me already. You know, they were not blocking at all. They were not given to many time. And then we saw it again. I'm really concerned about this receiver's group. I'm really concerned about who are those guys that are just going to get open? Who are those guys in a game like that when the offensive line is struggling? When your quarterback doesn't have a lot of time, who's going to be that first read guy that just beats his guy? Just beat this guy one on one and gives you an opportunity to throw right there. I don't think there was a lot of that out there too. So for me, yes, offensive line, big deal. But I'm also waiting.

7:14Who's going to step up in this receiving group? I think their leading receiver was the running back game. Yeah, the final rally. The army are just going to do that. Yeah. That's just not university avoid football. Yeah. 808296 1500, the number to call or text. I think even with that late touchdown, you hold UNLV to 21 points with what you are reputed to be able to accomplish as an offense. I think that that is a game that people expect you to win. Now, I think that's why the disappointment level has been here in the few days after that game result has been where it's at. I think that's why a lot of people are really bummed because it's like, this is not what it was all cracked up to be from an offensive standpoint. Yeah, I don't know about you guys, but that football game just felt like three hours of waiting. I was just waiting for this offense to break out, waiting for this offense to break out. I was like, okay, they got off to a slow start again. Maybe this is going to be something like Stanford where they figure it out, but it was just you're waiting, you're waiting, you're waiting, you're waiting, you're waiting, you're waiting in an office and they break off that touchdown run. And you're like, oh, it's really not going to happen this entire game.

8:15I really felt a couple of drives in there. Where it's like, okay, when they did it, for a second, half, yeah, when they put some plays together, when they came out after half time and look, they had a little bit of a game plan. First of all, you got to catch that touchdown pass at the end zone. It's right there in your hands. And then you have the play, like you said, where it wasn't targeting after rule targeting. It wasn't a catch after I thought he held on long enough for it to be a catch. Clearly, I still do the defender like end up with the ball, too. So if it wasn't a catch, shouldn't it be an interception? I don't know when they supposedly whistle the downed or whistle the plate that I mean. But it's like it like they went with a third option that I didn't even think existed where it was like, oh, it's incomplete. It was like, okay, so you had targeting. Then you had a catch and then they said it wasn't a catch, but didn't the defender end up sort of prying it away like if I'm not mistaken. So if it's not a catch, it would be a pick then, right? Like, what's going on over here? I don't know. It was about the drives. So I think they didn't have that drive. And you there, I guess you were there. Okay. So remember when they scored that touchdown that we were just talking about that was taken back as far as you were waiting. That was when it was going to turn around.

9:15You get the crowd got into it. The players got into it. You could sense the momentum shifting in Hawaii's favor within like a minute when the play was reversed and everything went silent again. And you were back to not having the energy or enthusiasm or whatever they needed. That was there for a few minutes. That was a game changer in more ways than just the points in the scoreboard. Everything was shifting in Hawaii's favor. Think of this in eight quarters. Hawaii's only scored really offensively looking good in one fourth quarter against Stanford. Other seven quarters offensively have been almost nonexistent. Yes, tough. No, I know. Yeah. And that's that's the big thing right now. But you're right. I thought that whole game could have changed and then they missed the field going though. Yeah. So then you have the miss field going top of it. And it's like, all right, here we go again. But even after that, I was like, okay, they got down there. They hurt themselves again. But no, all right, let's get it going. And then it just, they have the fourth and one on like the six yard line or somewhere around there and they didn't get that. And then that's the one where the play before it was a pass to tight lock it in.

10:17Probably should have got the first. Yeah, it goes out of the one makes it fourth and one. Those are just those are the plays you got to make. Yeah, those are the things you got to clean up. I think that's the thing. It's like it was so messy. It was so sort of disoriented and disjointed and yet and yet. You're talking about if that is ruled a catch or if there are a couple of other catches as opposed to drops, like they're still in position to possibly win that game. Like that is bananas. And a lot of that I think has to be attributed to the way the defense played for the most part of that game. And you know, it did come down to the defense in many ways. Again, Stanford and they had an opportunity to kind of force the closure of that game and they weren't able to do it. This defense hasn't forced any turnovers yet. I think that's something that Dennis Thurman is absolutely going to be upset about as the decoordinator. But yeah, I think that's if you are trying to maintain a level of hope here after what is still a disappointing O and two starting a matter of way, how you slice it, it is the fact that they were also close to still.

11:17I mean, there is, if a couple of things go the other way, I mean, they're still a way to imagine and not, you know, be out of the realm here in terms of fantasy. Like they were close to being too and oh. I mean, that is not out of the realm of possibility, the way those games ultimately played out. But, you know what, the scoreboard is the scoreboard. They are O and two. There is a lot of, there are a lot of elements to the way they lost those games that are going to be disappointing. And the lack of firepower offensively is going to be at the top of the list. I had Jared of Sue on my show last Wednesday. And that's one of the things he turned about is coming out with energy, coming out strong, putting up points in the first quarter. That did not happen again. So you're right about that. And when you, what you said, can no, I agree. And I don't like to say it this way, but in each of the two losses, a referee's call that should have been called differently, could have been the difference in us being too and oh. Yeah. When you really think about it, Stanford got a touchdown after that lousy call on that same drive.

12:18And then of course, Hawaii would have been within three or four. And they got that taken away in all the momentum. I don't like to blame the games on the rest of the game. Sure. I mean, there are some other things that Hawaii could have done to help yourself in that game. Yeah. Those two plays. And some people might not buy that. We're still over to like you said, the scoreboard is what the scoreboard is. The numbers don't lie. There's still a lot of football left, but a couple of things are obvious that this offense has to get back on track the way they were. And I totally agree it's the offensive line mostly. Although I can give them something positive. I think they did a better job of run blocking than they did against Stanford. That I think they did better, but pass blocking. No. Yeah, pass protection is is absolutely an issue, I think, right now and something that they're going to address. Now they are moving their practice back today because of the storm and the rainy weather. They're going to be practicing it midday instead. So it's going to be hot and humid, you know, for the guys. But again, we are going to hear from head coach Timmy Chang. We did an interview. We pre-recorded an interview with him yesterday.

13:20So that's coming up in just a little bit. What are you leaving us with here this morning? A couple of quick things. Just to sell promote for the show. A couple of in a couple of weeks from now, it is pretty definite that I will have Steve Kerr on the show reached out to Golden State. They said they could work it out. So I'm looking forward to that the week of the 21st they said. The other thing is much. How much time are you planning on spending just talking with him about his San Antonio Spurs days? I was going to bring up him playing in college at the Hilo Civic back in the days when he played at Arizona's ice. I watched him playing in that game. And nobody cares. The Spurs stuff, man, that's what the people want. The other topic you guys will be proud of me. Earlier this morning, I did eat egg salad sandwich from Japan from 7-11. I bought it on Saturday. The quick story is they were out of it again. I go to the same 7-11. It's empty on the shelf and I have to clerk. You guys still out. You know when you're going to get them back and he goes, we might have some in the back. And then he went in the back and he was really wanting. I'm like, yeah, why would you not put them on the show? So he gave me one. I'm very happy. I got it on Saturday after the football game.

14:22So that was September. Actually, I got it on Sunday. Please tell me you ate it pretty right away. No, I didn't eat it right away. But I look at the expiration date. It's today. I had two days to eat it. So I ate it very early this morning. Oh. Oh, I have a little piece of advice. If you can get food from 7-11, I'd encourage you to eat it right away. I'm not experienced in that mode of eating. I think in particular, if it's an egg salad sandwich, it just feels like it might be a better idea to eat it as soon as possible. I'll tell you what was good. Well, I know what you mean. That's what I was regretting. By the time I get home from buying it, I'm throwing it away. I wasn't going to eat it for the expiration date. It's like Tuesday morning. It's like Tuesday morning. This is going down. I meant to eat it. You have to tell somebody to come in and write back up. I knew I would have probably have thrown it away if it was later on today or tomorrow. But so it was good. How was it? It was really good. I'm not an ex-halla guy. Gary needed to prepare for the storm. So he stopped up on a lot of very perishable items.

15:23And I'm going to journey. So I can give you a real quick one on journey. Yeah. OK, but they got this thing on Instagram about journey and not the concert. It's going to go on. They've been assured by the governor and everybody that they're not going to cancel the concert. They got this kind of release on Instagram. And the schedule is this. 3 o'clock blazedale box office open. 5.30 exterior journey torn merchandise booths will open. OK. At 6 o'clock, the interior concessions will open. But at 6.30, the arena doors open. How could the interior concessions be open if the arena doors aren't open for a half hour later? Well, I think the outside of the, yeah. Yeah, the concourse. Right outside concourse. That'll be open. That's where the concession stands are, right? No, they're inside by the seats. The concession stands at the blazedale is after you give your ticket and you're walking around the concourse. The concourse is inside the blazedale. Oh, no, I think they're talking about the actual arena like that, that door. I'm assuming that's what they're talking about.

16:24Well, they say exterior is where the merchandise boots will open the interior. If they're saying interior, you know how there's two doors, right? There's the door that gets into the inner concourse. That's like outside of the actual building of the arena structure. But you got to show your tickets to get in there. Sure, but then I think they're talking about the arena doors. Like when you walk into the actual arena, like the actual cover to arena, I have never seen somebody where you give your ticket. That's you're saying then you give your tickets at six and you can't get to your seat until 630. Yes. Yeah, it sounds like they've never heard of that. Yeah, I think they want people to convene and get some concessions. Wow, and concess. I will report those lines to you along. I will report back on that because I think people want to know. Okay, all right, all right, very good. Well, we wish you luck. That's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Too bad you didn't save your ex-ando for just when you walk through the exterior gate for Journey here tonight. All right, Big Mahalo to Gary Diggman. We are gonna get to a bunch of text messages.

17:25Of course, we have a lot that are stacking up. So we will do that here on the other side of this upcoming commercial break. As mentioned, we are going to be talking with Timmy Chang. That is an interview that we pre-recorded yesterday. So we will be playing that for you in just a little bit. We'll probably go one more segment and then play that interview for you on the other side of the second break. Billy is victoriously raising his two index fingers. What's going on over there? My laptop works. Hey! All right, so Billy, a little behind the scenes action, is celebrating that his laptop turned on. It was powered down and had no battery. So congratulations to you. Well, we do. What's up, welcome back. Let's talk sports. I know a lady, Billy Hall, ESPN, Honolulu, 8082961500, the number to call or text. Let's get to some text messages. We have quite a few there stacked up here. Textor says it's the first one to get in here to start the show. That was quite possibly the worst, most disappointing game I have seen in this era.

18:27Almost reminiscent of the Norm Chow years gut check time, boys, no excuses. This textor says if our receivers caught those short TDs, then we could very well be two and no. I think yeah, if you are to try to find some level of encouragement or hope out of these two losses, it is the fact that they still despite the struggles, despite the lack of the explosiveness offensively, they were still very much in position. I mean, they had the lead with four minutes left at Stanford. They were driving the field with a chance to tie it against you and I'll be multiple times that defense for Hawaii kept them, I think, in a realistic range. And even with that last late touchdown that kind of sealed it, you would have said going into the game, if you hold UNLV to 21 points, the opportunity should be there for Hawaii to win that game. So yeah, interesting. And I don't disagree with that textor there. This textor says, well, football team was overhyped from the last games last year to spring game, over the summer, online bad again, the CW telecast sucked.

19:30I was actually down to the stadium. I didn't watch too much of the telecasts. You were at home watching it. Did it, in fact, suck? I saw the replay. It was, I mean, I didn't think it was that bad. I mean, they got most of the names, right? That's pretty much all in one way. And he was in them. It's like, can you get the white names, correct? They did a pretty good job. I mean, there were a couple plays that missed coming out. Okay, I heard that, yeah. Commercial breaks, but I didn't really notice anything was too bad. A textor says, what happened to K5? Thought Kanua was going to do the games. And when is Ashlock coming back for real? If it's a season ending injury, they should just say, then we know if there's hope or not. Well, K5 only has the rights to a specific number of games. It's kind of the way college football works with these television rights deals. The conference deals take precedent over the local media rights deals. And so the CW is kind of an added layer. So in previous years, you'd have the Fox Sportses and the CBS Sportses and the ESPNs and they would come in and they'd sort of select. It's almost like this fantasy draft among all these national broadcasters where they go through the entire schedule

20:31and they go in this draft order. And they can pick games that they want to air on their platforms. And so in any given year previously, probably have about six or seven games that would sort of remain and trickle down to K5 previously spectrum. But in this year, you had that added layer of the CW and that deal with the Mountain West Conference. And so the CW was able to come in and they scooped up three Hawaii games. And so that leaves four with K5. So we are airing the Hawaii, New Mexico state there this week. Good, come on this Saturday. Yeah, yeah. That'll solve everything. No, but it is a big game from the vantage point of, Hawaii needs a win, man. Like they need some positivity here. They need to put it together. New Mexico state, they started their season at Florida state and the electricity was working thankfully during that game. But they scored a few points against Florida state and then they play Mercyhurst, which is out of the NEC and in FCS football and they clobbered them. 51 points. So I mean, how do with that what you will?

21:32But it's a New Mexico state team that I don't think you go in there. Tony Sanchez is the head coach. You don't, I think go into this game against the Aggies and think like, oh, this is an automatic. Like it doesn't feel that way. I don't think Hawaii has the luxury to think that way based on how they play the first two games. No, and just this Timmy Chang interview we're going to play. You mentioned it. His thoughts on the game coming up this week. I thought we're really interesting to hear and look. Oh and two is a possibility. At Stanford, you know, that's a tough way to start the season. We talked about it. How are they going to bounce back now? Because the one thing about the UNLV game that I kind of forgot, that was a huge game for a lot of the players. Obviously, you got the Bishop Gorman crew playing UNLV, Hawaii versus Las Vegas. There was a lot of emotion that went into that. They've got to be able to bounce back and keep getting better and play really well this week. There cannot be a letdown from losing to UNLV. So how this team handles an O and two star, I think is going to be the big storyline to watch this week. Texter, our defense kept us close. Kudos to the big D. Those boys played tough. Yeah, I think that you'd have to say that. Now they did not take any possessions away.

22:36No turnovers yet forced by this defense. I think that's going to be something that Dennis Thurman is going to want to see altered or changed here this week against New Mexico state. Texter, a little hub brothers on the topic of UH program. Apparently, there's a lot of negativity going to the program for two losses to start the year. Hopefully the sentiments aren't coming from coach Chang signing deal at the beginning of the season. She's Go Boz. Yeah, I mean, some people will use that as fodder. Like, oh, we gave them five years and here we are, you know, off to an O and two start. I don't, I think you have to sort of take a little bit of a larger picture view at that. I don't think that that extension was not deserved based on what had been established here. This is a disappointing start, but what you will also hear from Timmy Chang is there remains some optimism that this team can still be good. That this team can still achieve. I mean, and that's sort of the math of it, right? And again, it doesn't, it doesn't hit the same way because they didn't even score a touchdown this past weekend on offense, but everything that this team still wants

23:38to accomplish remains in front of it. All of that stuff is still there. They can still contend for a Mountain West championship. They can still, you know, get into a, a, a bowl game. They can still have a winning season and they can still have a special season. So that's all in front of them, but, but it is kind of hard to maintain some of that enthusiasm when you start off Owen too like that. Must win game on Saturday. I actually kind of think so, man. I do too, actually. Yeah. Even though it really isn't, because it's a non-conference game and you can still sweep the rest of your conference games, to me it is. If you don't come out and play better and be in New Mexico state, then I think there's a real, real, real worry moving forward this season. All right, let's go to the phone line. We still have Clyde awaiting. Thanks for waiting Clyde. 808296 1500, the number. What's up? Yeah, can you hear me, okay? We got you. Okay, sorry, we got a cold. I just, it's going around. I never played the game and I never was big enough to even be a water boy, but I've had season tickets for 50 years and might, I want to get you guys

24:39to stop some three things that I thought we need this year. One is a leap track because of the offenses I just stacked with in 20 yards of line. You don't have to look for anything deeper. The other one is obviously everybody's talking about the online, but you've got to change up the block. You've got to change up the block. Watching those guys coming off the edge and you and LV guys coming off the edge and just you're a sacking or hitting my guard, chasing him out of the pocket list. Hard to watch. And the third thing is I listen to the post game with Chris and some of the texts and calls you guys are getting. And I kind of wonder how many of those guys that are complaining are at the game. If you're going to sit in the barn, turn to beer, put the beer down, go buy a ticket, and go to the game and support these guys because a lot of us have been here for decades and we've been a lot of these guys. Right? Yeah. Just for me, I don't want to take all the time,

25:42but I want to get you guys to get just thoughts on those three things that I'm talking about. I hang up now and the guys go great, show you and carry them and even Chris along the post game shows with our news. Hey, right? Thanks for your time. Thanks for your time. And let's see what you guys think about what my thoughts are. All right. Well, thanks, Clyde. If you are a season ticket holder for that many years, you are a true fan. You can speak from that vantage point for sure. Yeah, I do think offensive line struggles. I think that's one of the more disappointing aspects. I think they were pretty high on how the online looked through a much of fall camp and that hasn't necessarily come to fruition. I think it sort of cuts them off a little bit at the knees as to what they can do, playbook wise. You have to call quicker release plays. And so you have to rely much more on maybe the running back as a safety valve out of the backfield or the slot backs.

26:45It just doesn't seem like there's enough time for the white outs to have those routes develop. And when Micah has put it on like the back shoulder or when there has been any kind of thing a little bit further down the field, you've had drops. You've had maybe receivers that aren't on the same page because this running chute requires them to make reads just like the quarterback. And there seems to be a little bit of a disconnect there. So it starts, in my opinion, with the offensive line and that past protection. But there's a lot of things that are also a bit faulty even beyond that level. Yeah, I mean, I agree with Kunal. It starts with the offensive line. But at the same time, it's a team game. When the offensive line is struggling and you don't have a lot of time to throw, you got to rely on your receivers to be able to go out there and just beat someone one on one and give Micah an early open target and then catch the ball when you do. The drops pass and the end zone was big. Like I said, when you're running back as leading your team and receiving in a game, that's not Hawaii football. So I think everyone's got a lot of improvement to do. But they really, these receivers, somebody out of this group really needs to kind of step up. One, two, even three guys need to step up.

27:45Kai Kai had the big game, the first game, one catch in this game. You basically look at down the list other than the running back. No one else had more than three catches. So somebody's got to be able to go out there, get seven, eight catches, get open, make the defense thing about one guy. And then maybe that helps the other guys get open as well. Hey, what's up? Welcome back. Let's talk sports. Kanowa, Billy, ESPN, Honolulu. All right, we're switching things around just a bit. And our apologies if you were expecting the Timmy Chang interview here. We pre-recorded it yesterday. It is at a length where we are going to run into some issues with the remaining commercial breaks here in this hour. So what we're going to do, swapping things around, we're going to play that at the top of the hour, eight o'clock. When we come back from that top of the hour break, we are playing that Timmy Chang interview. And now we have our, a little bit of time to now welcome our resident football guru, Rich Mianna, to the show. So you're going to bump Timmy Chang for Rich Mianna? Exactly. I like it. How does that feel, Rich? That's got to feel good, right? I kind of feel special this week. I felt a little bad last week. I couldn't sleep because you guys bumped me for Timmy Chang.

28:47But I felt like I knew him. Yeah, it all evens out. We've been getting a few text messages, because we were sort of talking about this last week with you. June Jones, you always say a team shows the greatest amount of improvement, usually, between weeks one and two, our games one and two. And a lot of textors are saying, this textor says, I learned that UH is not ready for prime time. Or they're going backwards. What did you view from the performance against UNLV, and certainly in relation to the idea of we were anticipating a little bit more of a positive step overall? Yeah, it was a huge regression. And I think because of the optimism of the way we saw the fourth quarter against Stanford, ostensibly, any, even defensively, they played well in the fourth quarter, that this is the team we're going to see the rest of the year. We'll have all of these things on film to figure out what they did wrong in the first three quarters against Stanford, but they're going to come out guns of blazing. Offensively, they're going to do some things and defense, take the ball away, and make some big plays.

29:51But this leads me to the other thing, which is you are never as good as they say you are, and you're never as bad either, and you're somewhere in between, right? But where is this football team? Because if you look at protection and running the football very inconsistent, there's no vertical passing game. The quarterback from maybe one of the only games that I've seen him be not only inconsistent, but inaccurate, which I thought I'd never utter out of my mouth in terms of Mike Olly, how to, not only is he accurate, he throws a catchable ball, right? And he knows where to go with the football, he knows where the check-downs are, he knows all of those things. So when you start talking about the drops at the inside receiver, because after the first game, I said, they're going to be productive. Well, would they be Kailaw Pilaris? Would they be Chad Owens? Would they be Devon Best? Would they be Ryan Gray's Mullens? Would they be Craig Stutzman? Well, they dropped so many footballs from the inside, yet outside receivers not getting separation, getting a little bit more involved in the offense, but really not any, no vertical passing game,

30:54no take the top off the defense, there's no explosive plays. You know, not only did I watch it at the stadium, which we could talk for hours about the PA system and some of the other inadequacies at TC Ching, but I watched it on television, and that was six hours of bad football. Yeah, you were just sitting there, I was saying it earlier, Rich. I was just sitting there waiting and waiting, and waiting for them to get going. Interesting to hear you kind of talk about the receivers a little bit more. Would you say, are you more concerned with the receiving group or would say the offense of Lon? I would say the offensive line, only because everything starts up front, Billy, and the edges seem to be so weak in terms of constant pressure. Now, that was an athletic team, that was a long team, that's why they blocked so many balls. That was a well coach team, but they were coming off the edges, and Michael was running for his life. There was no consistency in the run game. You know, I still have faith in this offensive line, because I think they're well coached, and I think they're athletic enough to make improvements, but they're gonna have to practice with pads on.

31:55They're gonna have to like go against the ones. You cannot expect in college football, guys to get better if you treat these guys like throws. They, you know, they need to go and get better each and every single game against good people in order to call us them, in order to harden them, in order to get them ready, because there's a lot of football to be played, and there's a lot of games to be won. If this team is more physical, if this team is more fundamentally right, I don't think you'll see inside receivers dropping balls like that, because we didn't see that in the first game. We don't see that at practice, whatever. That was a one off, but they're gonna have to get that running game going. They're gonna have to get those outside receivers to continue to be more vertical. If you don't throw the ball down the field, and you could probably count to one hand, the amount of time in two games the ball has been thrown vertically, you're not back in those safeties up. You're not putting fear on those cornerbacks, and I don't care if it's double moves. I don't care if it's a long foul ball, but you gotta press the ball vertically to be a good offense.

32:56We're talking with our resident football guru, Rich Miyano, the defense. If you had told people, all right, you're gonna hold UNLV to 21 total points. You probably like what he's chances based on what we were anticipating seeing from the offense. And really, if it's not for that Jett Thomas 50 yard touchdown run in the last five minutes, it's a much closer game than even that. How would you grade, despite no turnovers forced, how would you grade the performance of the defense? I'd give him a solid B, and again, you're exactly right, because that last long run was kind of what the damn is gonna eventually break. They're gonna hit one. They're gonna have an explosive. But the only damage that was being done to that defense, because they did shut down a lot of aspects of UNLV who was very successful against Memphis in terms of total yarders and point scored. They shut them down, and it was a quarterback run. It was the 71 yards of the quarterback putting his head down running over people, which is demoralizing. But to me, the most dangerous thing in an offense

33:57is when the quarterback is involved in the running game in crucial situations. When you're a 6-1, 220 pounds, Jackson Arnold was putting his head down, he quarterback power, quarterback draw, quarterback counter. Once you start getting that 11th guy into the running game, it adds to your numbers, it adds to the math. And when you have a quarterback like that, you use them in critical situations and they did. And he was effective running the football, and so I'm on some play action passes. But again, the secondary wasn't exposed, like maybe they were a little bit again, Stanford. I still thought Kona more played well, Jemaye Otis played well, the defensive line for the most part played well. But they do have to work on taking the ball away. They do have to work on sacks. They do have to work on explosive plays and defense passes broken up. But Matangi Thompson made a couple of plays, they were hanging around, and you're right, you take that last run out of the equation, it was more than a B, it might even have been a B plus. But this offense, that was as bad as I've seen,

34:59since at least the last UNLV game, the last season. So if you're coaching this team and you look at this offense right now, what are you doing this week to get prepared to try to correct this? What are you focused on the most? Well, I think the one thing that this offense has, this whole team has to worry about is toughness. And when I say that, I mean, you got to practice your pads, you got to bang, you got to work on fundamentals, you got to do all those things. This is not the NFL. I know we don't have a lot of depth and you got to worry a little bit about injuries. And I'm not talking about tackling to the ground. But I'm talking about nine on seven, I'm talking about inside run, I'm talking about one on one pass, rush, whatever, we've got to get better where Micah has more time. It all starts up front, make no mistake about it. And it's not to put the burden on the offensive line because I'm not saying that's the worst position group out there. What I'm saying is Micah does have a little bit more time. If we can start to establish a running game and Cam Barclays a huge loss, make no mistake about it. But Devon Rice is impressive in terms of how small he is

36:01but how hard he runs inside. But when he gets to the outside, getting to the perimeter. And again, I don't like the question calls, but that's fourth and one to Cetani Markaela who is playing well. To me, you get someone like Devon Rice on the perimeter, you get somebody like a jet sweep or something that's more of a run pass option for Micah. Micah involved in critical situations in the running game as well because he can hide up in between those lambs and run quarterback power from empty. Do a lot of things that you need to do. So, but the biggest thing this week is to get tough, to get physical, to start to front. All right, so we're talking with our resident football guru, Rich Miano. It's a New Mexico state. We'll get a quick thought on that game from your head coach by Tony Sanchez, former UNLV head coach for five years. They come off of a game where they score 51 points against Mercyhurst and FCS program. They put up 17 in a loss at Florida state.

37:03That's the most points, 51 that they've scored since the 2023 season when their quarterback was Diego Pavia, by the way. Your thoughts on this week's game. Is this a must win, Rich Miano? Yeah, I think it's a must win for a number of reasons, right? Is you don't want to start on three. Second, I think more important than that is the psychology of this football team, right? So when you start talking about the leadership council, the guys that are playing well, the captains, the seniors, all of the dreams that they had, trust me when I tell you, this team was confident going into Stanford. It was even probably more confident that was going to score 40 points or so offensively against UNLV and make that big transition segue into from the first week to the second week. If you happen to lose this football game, and it's not a terrible team, but it's a team that I think we should be more athletic. It's a team that I think we will be favored in. It's a team that you're at home in front of this fan base that expected so much after a bowl win and nine wins last season.

38:06And I think more importantly, the players' psychology, it's important for them to have results. You work all training camp, you work the first two weeks of the season, you open up against Stanford, big game on national TV. Then you play UNLV, one of the most athletic teams and one of the best teams in the Mountain West Conference. You have to be a team you're supposed to win. You're favored by you're more athletic than them. This is a must win. And I think the psychology of this team could be damaged. And I think also the fan base will be damaged. And you see things on social media like our quarterbacks too short and we need a new quarterback and all these other crazy things. Social media will light up if Hawaii is 0 and 3. And not saying that that's the end all, but the psychology of this football team will be very scary if they're 0 and 3. All right, Rich, yes or no. You're a fan of the mystery second in college football?

39:08Well, I've learned so much in terms of thinking that, we know this because we're in the booth. So the thinking of the field clock versus the television clock versus all of those things. And what I learned yesterday, and it made a lot of sense, from a psychological standpoint, whatever it says on television, that's where your two million viewers are. That's where your 16 million viewers are. The three guys that are in the box trying to figure out the 0.2 thirds of a second, whatever else, 0.8 tenths of a second left on their clock. Nobody knows who those guys are. Nobody cares. But when you have a national TV audience in the clock says 0 and it's millions of people watching, just satisfy the millions of people. Otherwise, the conspiracy theories grow beyond belief. That's right. By the way, I said yes or no. But thanks anyway, Rich. Appreciate it. I love you, man. Thanks for jumping on a little earlier with us. I'm sorry. Thank you for watching the Italian. And I think golf would really be a hole on weekends. And that really drives me crazy.

40:08Oh, that's great. No one of you is such a conversationalist. Rich, we appreciate the time on Rich. Yeah, I know you guys got to rush me to get teaming. I'm the thank you for the. Get off. Get off already, Rich. Our resident football guru. We got to take a break. You're listening to Let's Talk Sports. What's up? Welcome back. Our number two of the program Let's Talk Sports. Konoha Leahy. Billy Hole here, ESPN, Honolulu. We want to give you guys a mahalo for your patience here. We had to shift a few things around just timing wise. A lot of text messages trying to get to that. A little bit lengthier commercial breaks here this week. I guess we're in the midst of football season. So we're getting a little adjusted on our side too. So thanks for bearing with us on that. Without further ado, we do want to now toss to the prerecorded interview we had yesterday with head coach Timmy Chang. And of course, anytime we talk you H football on the show with a guest, whether it's Rich Miano, our resident football guru, a couple of segments ago, or here with the head coach, Timmy Chang, it is driven by BMW of Honolulu, the ultimate driving machine.

41:09So yes, this is our talk. With coach Chang. All right, coach, thanks for making some time to talk with us. You've had at least at the time of our recording this. You've had about a day and a half to process what went down on Saturday. What has stood out to you? What are the things that are most prevalent in your evaluation of that performance against UNLV? In just missed opportunity there, you know, really good football team that came in to Hawaii. Very early on in the season, this game will have implications later on down the road. If they're going to continue to do well, we need to be an I-1-2, need to obviously correct things and get better. And really, as I talk about it with our staff and we need and we get into alignment, it really starts with us, just making sure that we're putting the guys in the correct situations, we're coaching the guys to the detail that we need to be coached at.

42:10Our fundamentals and techniques show up on Saturday, and then we're holding them accountable to those things during the weekend. So, you know, that's really, you know, in a nutshell, on how to just really rectify issues that we can fix ourselves and get better and therefore we'll fill out better in putting our position, of our putting ourselves in position to win and compete on Saturdays. Yeah, coach, I know when the schedule came out, everyone knew right away, right? Stanford, UNLV, two tough games to start. But what is maybe one or two things that is just maybe surprised you about the opening two games of the season from your guys at standpoint? Well, you know, it's, I don't think it's a surprise, I think it's more of, you know, you get to assess what type of team you do have, you know. You know, there's different guys that are playing. You know, in these positions that were, you know, that were played by guys that are not here from last year or, you know, guys that were here

43:12from last year that get an opportunity now. And so now you just really get to see where we're at, you know, fundamentalized, technique wise, scheme wise. You know, are we capable of, you know, with an opponent on the road at Stanford and then a good opponent here, you know, really good opponent here and UNLV, who's been on the top of the class in the Mount West the last three years, you know, are you, is your fundamentals what it needs to be, is our scheme is what to be, are we coaching the guys the right way? You know, so really all those things get to come alive in. And really, you know, for, you know, I just could speak offensively, you know, and we, I think, I think we know, I know the fans in the community knows what the offense should look like. And so, you know, we got to get it to that type of level and be consistent and, and, you know, just be really good at being great at the simple things that we're doing. When you talk about the offense, because that is always going to be the lead conversation piece, especially with the reputation that you and your affiliation

44:16with this program have created. Where does it start? Is it a protection thing at the foundation of it? When it comes to your evaluation of the wide outs of Micah's play, sort of what's the, the pecking order there of how you dismantle trying to figure out, you know, where we are still in need of improvement? Yeah, it always has to start with me as a play caller. And that's where it starts, you know, and then from me, it goes to, you know, our coaches and guys. Just, as we look at, as we watch the film, okay, and then we think about back in January when we're teaching the offense to our guys and we're re-teaching or re-teaching our offense, you know, are we holding these guys accountable to doing the right things over and over and over and over and over. So then when we go out there on Saturday, you see it live in real time, you're really onto the next play and then, you know, trying to fix things, you know, as they go or trying to look at what defenses are doing

45:18and trying to get them in the best situation. When you truly get to assess the game, like all of us coaches probably went home and watched the game at some point right after the game or somewhere in midnight where we're watching the game on our own from wherever we're at. You really get to see at least the dive down in the detail of what's happening in any specific one, two, three, play four, play five, all the way up to play 73. I think we got up to, you know, so you really get to dive deep into, okay, where did we, do we want to put the guys in position to make plays? Or two, or are there a breakdown somewhere? You know, in the pinpointing of breaking it down, I just think consistently overall, we just have to be better in every situation, right? It's not just one thing or another, it's collectively as a group because we all affect each other in one form or the other. And so in a nutshell, that's what it is, right? But at the end of the day, it starts with me and I have to be better.

46:20You know, Coach, you look at that UNLV game, close game at halftime, stays close in the second half, but that first drive of the second half it seemed like you guys really put together some good plays back to back, got it down in the red zone. Then you had the drop and then you had the overturn call about targeting and then you miss a field goal there. How big of a momentum swing did you feel like that was in terms of the entire game? You know, it is what it is, you know, that's just part of it. That is part of it, you know, and for me, when the call is made and they make up their decision, there's no, and it goes all the way to the hub and the replay booth in Las Vegas for our conference. You know, those guys make the call, there's not really, there's not much you're gonna be able to accomplish at that point. You know, we'll have those conversations offline, you know, in Sunday and Monday moving forward, but you can't do anything about it. So, you know, for us, you know, we look at the next two series,

47:20we drove down there again and had an opportunity to score again. We ended up kicking a field goal to go 14-6 and then we flipped it around for the first possession in the fourth quarter and we were able to go all the way down and we could stop down fourth and one and, and you know, we just, there are so many positions that we again that we're able to, we've we've we've we've capitalized and finished, you know, regardless of regardless of, you know, errors or mistakes or anything that's going on, you know, we had our, we had our chances and when we watched the film now and we're back through the drawing board, it's just really about just correcting it. You know, again, for us as we came in yesterday and spent the, and spent the full day inside here and just we talked as we talked to the staff. So, you know, how can we, because, luckily, as a team, get better, the office, the even special teams and then how are we gonna, how are we gonna hold each other, each other's coaches and hold everybody accountable and,

48:20and really just go, go get those fundamental and these sound things done. You know, it's one thing to do them and, and say Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, it's another thing that is shows up on Saturday and, you know, and if we're not doing it or we're not saying it correctly, then how do we, how do we teach it better so that we're getting what we want on those, on Saturday. We're talking with head football coach Timmy Chang, trying to find answers. You mentioned the, the all day meeting in the office and you're giving your coaching staff chances to, to chime in on, hey, look, this is maybe what we need to do better. And when you add all of that up, what specifically becomes the focus and the objective this week as you prepare for another game, this time against New Mexico State? Yeah, you know, really good New Mexico State team, they play hard. They're, you know, they're, I thought I was really impressed, you know, on the way back from Stanford, you know, I was able to watch their game live against, against Florida State and, you know, they, they,

49:22they are aggressive. They tackle well, they're fundamental techniques. It's, it's sound they, they, they, they play good football, came off winning as merciless. At the end of the day, it's all about us, you know, and so we're, we're, we're, we're, we're gonna dial down these practices and, and dial in on what we have to do to get better and, and have good practices, you know, hopefully barring some of this weather that's coming through, you know, our prayers are out, our prayers are out through the state of Hawaii, especially the, the families and loved ones in Ni'ah, and Kuala, that we'll fill in and, and, you know, even us on a law who that, you know, might fill the effects of it in some way or another, I hope everybody out there stays safe, but, you know, this is a big week for us, you know, being down back against the wall on the tube, you know, we have to, we have to come out with a sense of urgency, but we gotta be detailed in everything that we do. We gotta hold each other accountable to everything that we do, and, and really just get back to you, the basics of, of what this, what, what, what we're about. Go, Chad, you feel about the job your defense did,

50:22really kind of keeping you in the game from nearly the entire game on Saturday. Yeah, you know, very, I mean, to the fourth quarter, all the way up to, you know, you know, that, that, you know, our, you know, we missed the fourth down. We got the ball back with five minutes left, you know, and we ended up going three and out, you know, that the defense held all the way to that, that four minute mark, man, I mean, you know, it was, it was impressive, you know, I thought, I thought they gave, I thought they gave the, you know, UNLV, you know, a lot of tough, different looks, you know, I thought, I thought, I thought UNLV's quarterback is pretty tough, man. I mean, he's, he's trying to run over guys and, and, and, you know, he's trying to, he's trying to fill the ball, but I, I thought our defense, you know, they, they gave up, you know, they gave up some, some, you know, some first downs here and there and maybe they got the ball move to the midfield position, you know, which, which was good for them because, you know, you're playing a field position game and you're making us work

51:23and drive down the length of the field, but at the end of the day, you know, 14 points is 14 points. And, you know, that, that, that, I think, I think they did a great job. I thought the game plan by DT was, was, was, was really good and executed really well for us to be in position. I mean, you know, keeping the 14 points for a whole half and just, and just getting letting us, you know, you know, like you mentioned, the, the, the, the points that came off the board in the first drive, you know, three points in the second drive. When we look at the film, we could have scored those, both of those possession. And then also could have scored on that four down positions that we got down in there. So, you know, just team complimentary ball, you know, we, you know, in offense, I think, I think the thing about it is that we want to get better and so that we do put ourselves in positions, but it's good to know that we have a defense that, that's playing really good right now, you know, and, and, and, and is, and is able to shut down, you know, in offense, like you know, be. You know, coach, you, you guys get off to an O and two start and yet,

52:25you know, the goals for this team are still very much in front of it. There is still time this season to accomplish those things that you set out to accomplish, at least in large part. But you mentioned something interesting. You, you, you use the phrase backs against the wall. How much do you feel like the clock is ticking? Like this week, we need to break through and get a win. How would you describe the place that this team is in right now after two games? You know, when you, when you're on to, it doesn't, it never feels good. So you definitely don't want to go on three, because that, that would even feel worse. You know, I, I, I feel, I feel for the, I feel for the guys because I know that they work really hard, you know, they, they, they're, they're trying, they're trying to do the right things, you know, the, at the end of the, at the end of the day, what we, what we, what we, what we're looking at is just the, the details and what we're doing out there. So we put the hard work with the detail. I think we should be fine.

53:25The thing that, the thing that I would love to see is that I would, I would love to see us get a win right here again, the win column, went into the by week. And so we head to Wyoming, you know, that's a, that's an opportunity to go two and two. And then you get to come home for a San Jose State team. But, you know, I would not want to go over three right now. And that's, that's, that's the most pressing thing is that, you know, you take one game at a time, and this is the game that's in front of us. And for us, you know, the back against the law is that we, we want to win this game. So we're not going three. Just kind of curious, what was that locker room like after the game on Saturday, from, from players standpoint? Uh, down, they were down, the guys were down as expected. You know, because I, I think they know that we can, we, we have, we, we, we can, we can, we can be pretty good if we, if we're doing the right things. And so, you know, from, from, you know, from all the guys in the locker room, they don't matter what position you played, you know, they're, they're, they're, you know, they were down. And, um, you know, I would, I would expect, I would expect that from the guys

54:28because of all the work and how hard and what they're trying to do and accomplish. But in, but in reality, you know, it's, it's, it's us just being really detailed now. So as, as we get to, you know, 24-hour rule, whether we want to loss, we're moving on. And, and they got to hear on this, you know, it kind of, the Labor Day kind of came right at the right time for us, you know, because now these guys weren't in school today. So, um, you know, they had a, they had a, they had a pretty long morning, almost like a training camp morning, um, with, with, with, with, with what, um, you know, lifting weights and then we're able to watch the, watch the film together and, and really go through it with detail on, on what we got, what, what, what we're seeing, what we're going to do moving forward and then, and then how we're going to practice and continue to, uh, to hone in on our skills. We're talking with head coach Timmy Zhang. Every team, every year sort of takes on a different collective personality. At a time like this coming off of two losses, uh, is this a team in your opinion that requires harder coaching or is this a team that requires more uplifting?

55:29What, what's sort of the, the strategy here from, from a coaching standpoint? Yeah, I, I, I do think it's, it's a blisting, you know, it's, you know, we, we, we, we, we bank on love, man. I mean, that's what we're all about. We, we are, we, I want these guys feeling good to be around, around each other. I want them to understand that they can, they can trust us. Um, you know, we, we will always be there to help them, you know, as, as, as we can and, and be there for them to mentor them, to guide them. Um, and so none of, none of this, none of, none of what we talk, none of what we do is ever out of ill intention of trying to, you know, ever put down somebody. And so, you know, when we, when we have to get things addressed, because we have, because it, it, it, it, it, it, it really comes down to those, those fine details on what we have to address and get better. You know, we, we know that because of all the love that we put in with the guys, when we started, when we started to deposit some of those things, yeah,

56:30they, that sometimes they, they, they will get coached hard, but they'll, they'll know from us with full communication, everything laid out on the table that, hey, we have to do this because of this. This is the why and why we're doing it. And this is how it has to be done. So that was a lot of the conversation that was happening, especially with the quarterbacks and receivers that I just had with, um, in, in meeting with the guys. Um, and so, you know, that, I think that, I think that's the thing, dude, is that, you know, the, the way this show came about is so I could spend a little bit more time with the quarterbacks and receivers and, um, or just talk with what we're doing and now that you show, um, the, the morning show is that, you know, it, without, with the coaching show, it just, it, it now that it frees me up to spend a little bit more time with those guys, which, which right, right, right now we need. So it's perfect timing. A couple of guys who flashed here, if, if we can take a moment to accentuate some of the positives, you have Devon Rice and, you know, again, a performance that displayed some of his explosiveness also in the passing game.

57:32Uh, and Konamor, uh, maybe it's not always the, the greatest indicator when a safety is leading your team in tackles through two games, but, uh, I mean, he has continued to be impressive, uh, in terms of, of his statistics and his play overall. How would you describe what you've seen from those two guys? Yeah, um, Konamor, you know, love Konam, uh, love Konam story and, and his resilience to continue to just, to just fight and push through, you know, and, and, and, uh, I know, you know, because the, because of us knowing our guys, you know, we, you know, I know Konam story and where he's come from to, to be where he's at now, in a starting role and a big, and a big starting role. And, and for him to be as productive as he is, it's really great. You know, the other defensive guys that I don't want to highlight is Jermai Otis. Jermai Otis is playing, you know, really good football. And, um, and he's downhill. He's, he's, he's communicating with the guy. He's a big reason why that core group, him and Elijah Palmer are the big reasons why that core group of defensive guys are what they are. And so, um, you know, they're, they're the quarterbacks out there.

58:34And, um, and it helps, you know, Matongi Thompson in the back playing good. I think our, I thought our corners, you know, are, are, are, are starting to come along. Um, and then our defensive line, uh, you know, from the defensive end, um, to our defense and the tackles, they're starting to gel. So, you know, I love where they're at. DT's been doing unbelievable with those guys. Um, and that's been really good. I love the Von Rice, you know, with Cam being down, uh, you know, the Von, you know, the Von was, he has a, he has a different gear. You know, he, he, he played fast, um, you know, it's very explosive. And you can see that in some of the runs and the pops that he has. So he, he's been, well, he's been, he's been a, a great, a great addition for us. Coach Arson, though, that's a great job with him. And, um, you know, love to see it. Well, coach, we appreciate the time. Uh, we know that there's a lot on your agenda here. And so, uh, you still making yourself available for us and for the fans, uh, I think goes a long way. So, uh, thank you very much and good luck this week. Thank you. I appreciate you guys. You guys stay, uh, stay safe out there and, uh, and again, blessings to the state of white.

59:39All right. So there was the conversation with coach Timbichang. Again, again, we appreciate him, uh, being pliable in terms of his availability yesterday. It was a holiday. We are scheduled to talk with him on Mondays after games. So we look forward to doing that again, uh, next week. Um, and so we're getting to maybe what was a little bit, uh, more interesting about some of what he said. Uh, I think what he talked about with regard to the New Mexico state game, talking about the team being, you know, backs against the proverbial wall, uh, and sort of, uh, dressing this weekend's game as having that level of importance. Like, yeah, you know, obviously they don't want to go O and three, but it sounds like, no, we can't go O and three. Uh, we, we need a victory here because that is, is going to, uh, in many ways sort of propel us one way or the other, uh, the, the result of this, this weekend's game. He was putting some weight on it and even thinking a little bit more ahead of like, you know, we got to buy after that. Then it's at Wyoming, then it's home against San Jose State and he was already kind of mapping out, uh, how they can, um, uh, pick themselves up off of the canvas, so to speak after the, uh, the first two games.

1:00:43That stood out to me. Yeah. Same with me. And it's funny. We kind of laughed about it when we brought up the old must win game for you and LV and that's a conference game or whatever. And we said, you could lose your first conference game and everything is still there. This isn't even a conference game. So by that, by what we were using last week to determine must win games, and this shouldn't matter either. But at the same time, no, this really does matter because if you go O and three, you know, you're not showing any type of ability to be able to turn this thing around right away. New Mexico States, a team you should beat at home. They should be able to put up some points on this team. And so yeah, even though it's not going to change your conference record and all your conference goals are still out there, no matter what. Now you hear rich, me honest saying it's a must win. I'm saying it's a must win for the simple fact is that they need to show that they can get some of this corrected immediately. And they need to show they can beat a team like New Mexico State at home. Hawaii favored by eight and a half currently in this week's game. All right, we have a pair of tickets to give away for UH football versus New Mexico State Saturday. We're going to do so by way of a trivia question. Is that okay, Chris? We're going to do that 808296 1500 is the number.

1:01:46If you can call in and just correctly answer this question, who is the team leader right now in total receiving yards, total receiving yards for the Rainbow Warriors through two games through two games. Who is the leader in total receiving yards? If you can answer that question correctly, you get the two tickets. All right, you're listening to Let's Talk Sports. We're going to go ahead and take a break. What's up? Welcome back. Let's talk sports ESPN Honolulu presents the Joshua Walker show live at Ruby Tuesday, Moana, Lua. We have another one coming up next Tuesday, September 15th, a week from tonight, 6.30 PM. I'll be down there with coach Walker, ono food, prize giveaways and a lot of rainbow, Wahine, volleyball chatter. See you there was a good weekend for sure for the Rainbow Wahine, volleyball team going three and o and winning the outrigger, invetational and doing so without the services of probably their most dynamic hitter in Shalei Reed. And so a lot of things to be encouraged about certainly for Rainbow Wahine,

1:02:47volleyball 808296 1500 is the number to call or text. We still don't have a winner. No correct answer yet for our trivia question. We're giving away a pair of tickets, UH football versus New Mexico state on Saturday. That's if you can correctly answer this question again, 808296 1500, who's the current leader in total receiving yards through two games for Hawaii? If you can answer that, you get two free tickets. Nothing better than free tickets. Textor says, good morning, Jens. Devon Rice was eating up yards. UNLV's defense was on their heels, but then UH went away from the run on second and two. That drive stalled with a drop pass and then UNLV's defense stuff, the fourth down run attempt resulting in a turnover on downs. Sometimes you got a role with what's working and at that point in the game, the running game was working. Was that the one where they tried to run the jet sweep as well? And UNLV didn't bite on the play faked and they were able to sniff that out on fourth down. That was a heck of a play by that defense. They looked very, very poised and obviously engaged and locked in there.

1:03:50So I give them a lot of credit there. Yeah, you know, hindsight being 2020, the play calling is always going to be something that's going to be dissected, right? Like should they have continued ahead with, you know, with what was working. Should they have just tried to continue to exploit the run? It didn't seem like a lot was necessarily fluid in the passing game. And so that was one of the better aspects, even from an offensive line performance standpoint, they seemed to be a little bit better when it came to run blocking versus past pro. And so, you know, I think that texture makes some sense there. It's always going to be like that though, right? It's like if it works, then a great play call. If it doesn't work, then a what were you doing? You should have done something different. Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. Also, this is the running shoot and yeah, you know, you can pick up some yards of Russian. But ultimately, this is an offense predicated on passing the ball. So that's going to be what they do. But there's no doubt. I think both running backs were averaging over four yards of carry. Rice is making some big plays. They did show. You're right. It was a rich.

1:04:51They brought up the run blocking was actually kind of decent. A lot a lot better than the past pro blocking. So yeah, they were able to get some yards, but at the same time, this is an offensive wants to throw the ball. So, you know, you're going to try to stick to what you're doing best, even if you struggle and doing it right now. All right. We have a couple of textures who have texted in with the correct answer for our trivia question. But we got you got a call in right? I mean, that's that's the those are the rules, right? You got a call. You got a call eight away 296 1500. So, hey, look, good on you. You got the answer right. Maybe that's all they wanted to do was just flex their knowledge. But if you want the tickets, you got a call in eight away 296 1500. Who is the leading receiver total receiving yards through two games for the University of Hawaii? All right. So we're going to go ahead and take another commercial break. We have an NFL divisional preview. The season starts tomorrow. So we got to get through these. We got what two more to go here, Billy? We got two more to go. We're going to do one today, one tomorrow. OK. All right. So we have another one on the other side. We do have the phone ring in here.

1:05:53So we'll let Chris answer that. And if the caller has the correct answer, we'll announce the winner on the other side. But let's go ahead and take a commercial break. This is also something that you have to think about here. And we're kind of loading you up on some on some programming notifications. But ESPN, Honolulu and Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines want to send you on an unforgettable family vacation at the big white ski resort in Canada. It is a trip for four, including airfare hotel, ski and snowboard equipment, rentals and more. So here's the thing. You listen to let's talk sports, Ampaseco and Hart. And when you hear the Aloha Sounder, all right. I don't know exactly when it's going to come up, but I think you might want to listen pretty closely over the next couple of breaks, the next couple of commercial breaks. There might be a chance here. If you hear the Aloha Sounder, if you call in and you're the ninth caller, you will be qualified to win that prize. Also, we are attaching just for today a pair of rainbow, Wahine volleyball tickets versus central Arkansas on Thursday. So all right. We have the trivia question that's hanging out there.

1:06:54We have the sounder Aloha Hawaii that you want to be listening for. And and you can win tickets and possibly this massive prize right here. Do we have a caller on the line for the trivia? All right. We have Tom from Pololo. Let's take this real quick before we take the break. Tom, what's up? Do you have the answer? Hi, how's it going? What's up? You got the answer? I do kind of a car volume. Boom. There you go. Kai Kai. Yeah, you got it. So cool. So calm. So collected. Kind of like Kai Kai. Most instances. Congratulations. You got two tickets for Hawaii's. What we believe to be somewhat must win a game against New Mexico state on Saturday. Right on. Awesome. Well, hang on to the line. Chris will get you set up on how you can claim them. But hey, thanks for listening. Thanks for calling in. Hey, thank you. All right. Yeah, Kai Kai Carvalho. He is the leader in total receiving yards right now for Hawaii. He has 98 total receiving yards on six catches. All right. We're going to go ahead and take a break. NFL, divisional preview when we come back.

1:07:56What's up? Welcome back. Let's talk sports. Canola Lee. Billy Hull here on ESPN Honolulu. Big Mahalo certainly to the textors and some of the other callers who attempted to answer the trivia question, but congrats to our winner who we spoke with prior to that break. We will be giving away tickets here. The rest of the week as well for both Rainbow Warrior football and Rainbow Wahine, volleyball, but it is that time. We didn't get to a whole lot of some other stuff that happened in college football. We promised that we will do so tomorrow. Maybe our best and worst segment will give us a chance there. It was a weird. I want to do 15 minutes on lane, Kiffin shooting jumpers on a basketball room on the sideline during LSU Clemson. We didn't talk about Michigan, Western Michigan. There were so many things. College football is nuts. That's all I gotta say. Good weekend. Like, would you say this was a good weekend for college football? It was a good weekend for me. I got to watch college football. Good weekend for college football. You don't mean like, was it a good? I mean, I watched every staff for the board. What's the best way to a boys' state? Was it a good product overall?

1:08:57The weekend that was of college football. Because you had the call at the end of the Michigan game where they got another chance at it. Bryce Underwood throw the Hill Mary, which is an amazing play. And we'd probably be talking about how unbelievable the play was if we weren't stuck in, you know, having to talk about now magical seconds that nobody in the stadium knows about. Like, this is the best realization that we have come to here. Is the big 10 is defending the idea of players and coaches and fans do not have access to the actual time of a game in a stadium. Like, that's bananas and crazy to me. But you had that. You had the, you know, power outage because apparently like a drunk driver, like blew up a transformer or something like that outside the stadium. And so they didn't have power. There was a hour 40 delay or something. It's just unbelievable stuff that was happening all over the place. You have Lane Giffin, who was just like pouring salt in the wound in an absolute slaughter of Clemson and at half time is going like, hey, good thing we don't have pro players. Like, just smug as can be.

1:09:59Was it a good overall product? I mean, it's college football. I didn't mind it. I thought it was great. I enjoyed myself. I watched some good games. There were a whole lot of good games, but you know, I saw some teams play really well. I thought Miami against Stanford was boy, Miami looks like they might be really good again. I don't know, man. I once the football comes around and I had nothing else to do. I was home sick all weekend. So I enjoyed it. I liked it. You don't seem like you did. Well, I just, it just left a lot in my mind to like to be desired. Like this is this multi billion dollar product. And it just feels like there were a lot of rinky, dinky and questionable aspects to it. And it's a, hey, look, it's an opening weekend for most of the country. You had a lot of blowouts, particularly on Saturday, right? You only had the one sort of like ranked matchup, I think, which was, what was it? SMU and Florida State yesterday. Yesterday or Florida State was on Sunday. Oh no, on Sunday. Sunday was the ranked matchup. A Louisville. Yes. Yeah. So, so you only had sort of like that one.

1:10:59And so it just, it was a lot of lopsided type of results. And so overall, it was just like, eh, it just left something to be desired for me. You didn't watch any of Idaho State beating Utah State. The Pactwells Utah State. I did see Texas State. I like to move by Texas. I mean, what they're doing to the Pactwell with some of these teams is embarrassing. No, I enjoyed it. I, boysy, boysy out of chance to be the starlight. What were you rooting for in that? Because it's like, boysy winning probably wouldn't be like the best for the Mountain West, right? But, but seeing, but it's Oregon. Yes. Seeing Dan landing and Oregon lose, I'd imagine from your standpoint. Dan landing is, is cocky play calling and going for it on four downs all the time when he shouldn't nearly constantly. I mean, he puts team in trouble. If boysy handles the end of the first half correctly and goes in up 10, which they should have, that could have been a different game. But that was the game. That to me was like old school college football. A nice, boysy, uh, Oregon week one game. A lot of those other teams aren't playing anybody. You got what Texas, no how-state coming up this weekend. But who cares? I don't know. I don't know.

1:12:00You're a good college footballist just, but Lane Kiven shooting jumpers during the game. That's actually what got to it. That's what put me over the edge. I'm a liable. That is pretty funny. I mean, that is just by itself pretty funny. All right. Well, we got to get to this because what made me, I just want to say real quick is we walked out Friday. We did the show from UH and rise. We were walking out. Somebody sent a text that said, hey, I know Billy got sick for a day. Are you guys not doing the NFL previews anymore? I enjoy those. Louisville Ole Miss. That was the right thing. All right. I just need you to get there. And then that made me very, very happy. So let's finish these off. We got two left. The season starts tomorrow. We'll save the best for last. We'll save the NFC West for tomorrow. So today we're going to do the NFC South, NFC South. They're playing teams from the NFC North and the AFC North. So that's pretty tough. You got Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta all finishing eight and nine last year and New Orleans finishing six and eleven. What a division. Let's get right to it. Tampa Bay. Over eight and a half wins. They signed Vita Bay. They don't sign Baker Mayfield. Who knows? He's a little upset about that, but I think he'll be okay.

1:13:01This is a team that started six and two last year when Baker Mayfield was healthy and earning MVP votes. Then Baker Mayfield got hurt and it really kind of changed everything. The defense got a lot worse under Todd Bowles. But you know what? This division's really bad. So you got to think about it here. Who are you going to ride with? Are you going to ride with New Orleans? Are you going to ride with Atlanta? Who's starting to a? Yeah, to a win. We're going to start. We're going to ride in Dallas. I guess they're in Carolina. It's a bad division. Eight wins or nine wins gets the over. I still think Tampa Bay is the best of the bunch. I don't know if it's Tanner or old buddy Tanner being in here with him for two years doing the radio show. He's a Tampa Bay fan. So I watched a lot of Baker. I really liked Baker Mayfield last year until he got hurt. So I look at the rest of this division. I'm not a big fan of some of these teams. Like I said, getting Vita Bay back is big. I know they lost Mike Evans, but he's a little up there, but they got some good young receivers. And he's a booker, Jaylen the Billion, Chris Godwin. He's been there for a while, but he's that steady presence. And he was injured a lot last year. Yeah, they dealt with a lot of injuries.

1:14:03I'm just going over because I mean, I think they got the quarterback in this division. And I think that, you know, playing those other teams are going to get him to nine wins. Yeah, it was interesting what was happening in the offseason, the discourse around Baker Mayfield, right? Like there was this hesitancy, I think, among even Tanner Hayworth and other Tampa Bay fans of like, hey, look, do you go forward and sign Baker Mayfield and give him a big contract and continue to operate as if he is your franchise quarterback or do you just kind of strip it all down and build back up? And he was more in favor of stripping it all down, which I was a bit surprised by. I'm a little worried about, you know, you referenced Mike Evans. He was definitely one of the leaders on this team. Lavante David also gone one of the leaders on this team. And so where will that leadership, that core leadership within the franchise come from? But I still am a bit of a believer in Baker Mayfield. They had it cooking early on last season. And I just think that he is good enough to get them, especially in that division to over eight and a half wins. So I go over. Do you know how they play a week one? They play the Bengals. Whoever loses that game, that fan base is going to be very, very upset.

1:15:07Maybe the two coaches on the hot seat, the most, Zach Taylor and Todd Bolz played a week one. Just a week one. Yeah. Is it already a muscle win for both teams? Or both coaches? Yeah, both coaches exactly. I don't know. Todd Bolz seems to survive all kinds of stuff. So. All right. We both got the over New Orleans, seven and a half wins. They have no idea about this team. Have no idea about their quarterback. I'm afraid to say his name on air for some reason. Tyler what? Shhh. No, no, no. But they had Travis ATA. Tyler Shuck. Tyler Shuck. Tyler Shuck. Yeah, how hard is that? For some reason, it scares me a lot. It doesn't. Shuck. Shuck got it. The added Travis ATA and running back. What do you think of Tyler Shuck? I mean, if it started with an F, I could understand the hesitance. But well, it just got to be careful. All right. We don't have a dub button. We don't have anything around you, all right? What are your thoughts on Tyler Shuck? You know, I think sometimes there's definitely some potential there. You know, there's a snappy sort of arm delivery that I like.

1:16:08But there's often results that make you go, oh, Shucks. And I think that's the thing. But I think he has room to actually be pretty good. I kind of like the possibility of him being pretty good. So I was originally going to go under. This is a St.D. fence. The lost tomorrow Davis. He had been there forever with the Jets now. I was going to go under. But then I found out about the Atlanta Falcons quarterback situation for week one. And I decided to make a change. I think the New Orleans Saints are going to want to do that. Did you do that on purpose? I decided to make a change. I decided to make a change. And the Saints. I have just barely going over. I have the Saints getting the egg wins. Yeah, I mean, that's not seven and a half isn't like that high of a number. They did add at the end. They do have some options, I guess, still at that running back position. But I don't know, man. I don't know if I love the Saints here. I'm a little hesitant to go over with them. You're right. The division kind of skews a lot of this, though, right? Like you would imagine. It does. Especially the indivision matchups.

1:17:09Like you would probably like the Saints, at least as it's currently comprised over the Falcons and the Panthers. But I don't know, man, I'm also a bit of a Kevin Stofansky believer, but has my belief in him being a pretty decent coach resulted in a lot of wins, not necessarily previously with his tenure in Cleveland. So I'm hesitant to go over. I think I'm going to go under as a matter of fact. I think I'm going to take the under here for the Saints. You're going to take the under? Yep. All right, Kellan Moore, by the way, is that a head coach? Yes. Yes. All right. This division's really tough. This is probably the one day. Don't listen to anything. I got to say. I was talking about Stofansky with the layman. Yeah, I got it. I got it. But yeah, I'm trying to pick between the Saints and the Falcons overrunners and possible. We'll go to the Falcons now. Your boy, Kevin Stofansky. So let's have a fancy question real quick. All right. I ended up doing a draft yesterday. Bijon Robinson fell to three and I had to take him. If he falls to three, you got to take the running back.

1:18:11Why are we so high on him? I know he's good, but what else does he have around him on offense? Aren't you not a little worried about taking him in fantasy when his quarterbacks are Tua and Michael Pentax coming off an ACL? What does he have around him? Are they just going to be able, you know, other teams are really low in the eight and nine in the box that you're only goal is to stop him. I don't know. I had to draft him and it made me think about it. I don't like this team at all. I just, they lost past rushers. They got worse on defense. Judd, the Walker kid towards ACL, the guy they drafted last year. I think it's a disaster in Atlanta. I think this seems going to win maybe five games. I'm going way under what happened to your faith in your boy, Michael Pentax, Jr. You're you dubbed if you wasn't ready to start week one. He's not ready to start week two. I worry about them, rush, you know, I think if they take it conservative with him and give him another month, I'd feel better about it. But I think they're going to see two out there and I think it's just going to be like, we got to get Pentax out there as quick as we can. I worry about rushing him back because he's clearly not ready to go week one. So I just, I got a lot of issues with this.

1:19:11I'll continue on going on there. So the reason I brought up Kevin's a fan, he goes, I was just thinking out loud like within the division, right? And the coaches that I'm trusting and I do kind of trust Kevin's to fans. Even if it hasn't resulted in a lot of wins and clean like I kind of trust him, which is why I went under on New Orleans thinking that I think Atlanta has a chance to go over. You're right. There are some holes in the way they've comprised that roster and maybe they're waiting the running back position way too heavily, right? But you have an elite running back. I think you do have some weapons in the passing game. If Kyle Pits looks like the Kyle Pits down the stretch of last season, Drake London at times has proven to be a pretty strong possession type of receiver. I kind of like especially when Pentax comes back and maybe Tua can somehow sort of reestablish and reinvent himself. There's still hope we have seen it. I don't think it's completely a foregone conclusion that it's going to look terrible off the jump. And I do kind of believe in Kevin's to fansky. So that's why I was thinking, all right. I don't know if I trust the Saints as much with that coach in that division.

1:20:14I kind of like the Falcons. If I have to choose between those two teams, one of those teams going over, I think I lean towards the Falcons. All right. So you're taking the Falcons over Falcons. I like it. I like it. All right. Our last one, the Carolina Panthers, 6 and 11 last year, seven wins. They just need to get to eight and nine. They added two huge free agents, Jaylen Phillips and Devon Lloyd on defense. Bryce Young, he's always going to be the question. How can he hold up? A lot of reports saying he's looking pretty good in that offense, but they got offensive line issues. And it's a kind of reminds me a little bit of Washington offensive line issues with a smaller quarterback, scare me very much. This is another reason this division was so tough. I went into this thinking for sure, I'm going to go over over over on Carolina, just bouncing back those two defensive players. They signed her huge really, really, really good players. I just can't get there. I cannot get there. This offense is struggling. I know how much better it's going to be. I just can't do it. I couldn't do it. So I'm going under on Carolina, but I don't feel great about it.

1:21:14Yeah. I actually kind of like them to maybe take a step here. It's just so inconsistent. Like one week, they'll look like they can beat like a pretty good team. And then the following week, they'll look like one of the worst teams in the league. I really want to go over here. And I'm just trying to figure out a way to convince myself to do that. But I've already gone over with the Falcons. I've already gone over with the Bucks. So I don't know if the math even maths there in this division, if I continue to do that. I don't know if this weighs you, but they have the third toughest schedule in the NFL this year. That does sway me a little bit. Yeah, they're the first place team. Even though all three of those teams finish eight and nine, they won the tie break. What a division. What a division. That does sway me a little bit. You know what? Thank you for that. I think I'm going to just go with the under here. Only because I already picked two teams in the division to go over. I know that that doesn't necessarily mean that that's the only way it can play out. But just the law of averages, let's go under here. All right. So we got an division. Sounds like the Bucks. Yeah, I got Tampa Bay doing their thing.

1:22:15So do I. Battle of the Trishon. Shout out to Tanner. By the way, when we, when I scheduled to do this last week, I had Tanner calling in as a surprise guest just to preview the Bucks with us. And I forgot. I'm sorry, Tanner. Oh no. I'm trying again next time. Oh no. You had already planned it with him? I did. He's not like waiting at home by the phone. Is he? He's good. All right. We're going to go ahead and take a break. We'll be back. You're listening to Let's Talk Sports. What's up? Welcome back. Let's talk sports. Kanowa, Billy, ESPN, Honolulu, the phone lines ringing off of the hook. I think listeners heard what they were listening for. Yeah. So the look, the image of Chris just frantically. Yeah. Just frantically trying to answer the phone here and keep up with the massive avalanche of calls that are coming in. This is pretty funny here. It's quite the sight. But this is our last segment. And we will be announcing a winner here because, yeah, you guessed it, there was a Loja

1:23:21Hawaii Sander in that last break. And as mentioned, let's talk sports. But Shako and Hart are going to be carrying that Loja Hawaii Sander. And if you call in and you're the ninth caller after hearing that, you will be qualified to win the unforgettable family vacation at the big white ski resort in Canada. So continue to listen for that. All right. It is our last segment. So, of course, we like to do the best and worst segment here. Chris, are we good to run the the Sander for that? Yeah. I guess we are. And worst. All right. What do you want to start with here, Bill? Wow, we're there. Some choices for the worst. But in the end, winning for me was Rutgers paying UMass $1.5 million to come over and beat him. UMass had lost 16 games in a row. They hadn't had a lead at halftime against a power conference for us since 2017. Rutgers is a 30 point favorite. Has this terrible loss to UMass.

1:24:23And then all Rutgers fans have to stick around because they had scheduled a fireworks show. A fireworks show after losing the UMass, maybe the saddest. And it's really hard to screw up a fireworks show. You know me, I'm a big fireworks guy. But what a pathetic fireworks show after losing the UMass. So Rutgers, you get my words for the show today. Oh, man. Yeah, that's a bad look. They spent the money. They spent the money on the fireworks. And they had to do it. Yeah, exactly. What a sad. That's sad. All right. My worst. This is just a bummer, man. Nebraska famously known as the Women's volleyball program that will break records because they will play indoor volleyball outside. It backfired in a huge way this past week. Nebraska taking on Missouri at Riggly Field. It was this much promoted game. This much promoted event. It was canceled early in the first set due to moisture and thus dangerous surface conditions. Yet over 43,000 fans who were in the house was a great turnout.

1:25:26It had the makings of being a spectacular historically significant game once again. But they didn't account for the humidity that was taking place there in Chicago. And it made it unplayable. And so they're saying that they are yet to decide how they're going to make the game up if they will at all. But they have already basically said it can't be held at Riggly Field again. There is no way they're going to be able to reschedule it there. So just an unfortunate thing. 43,000 people came out to watch. I think it was 18 total points played. Controversial take it all. Where is most volleyball games played indoors? Yeah, maybe keep it indoors. All right, what's your best? Panorakai, Mounted West, the old Trapper, Mounted West, Stopdance of Player of the Week after a tremendous outriggering, rotational. She was the MVP of that tournament, huge, huge, huge tournament. And the way she showed up at the end of some of those matches, making huge plays, a walk off solo block to win one of the matches, she had an unbelievable week. She's got a little bit of that clutch gene going, yeah? She's got it.

1:26:26Oh, does she have the it factor? I think she's got it. The Panna Manna, if you will. Oh, I like that. Jazz, Kayatano is my best. I'll just wink to me after you said that. Jazz, Kayatano, getting the Mounted West freshman of the week on her. 161 minutes over, two matches played last week. A while, he made defense aloud just one shot on goal and 12 shots overall in their two matches against New Mexico State and Washington State. Bud Naga-Minez crew off to a 3-3 and one start. She was very high on this freshman class and we are seeing the fruits of that. All right, we have a winner. It is Jay. Jay is the winner. It gets the volleyball tickets as well as gets now thrown into that contest for the big ski resort prize. All right, we'll see you tomorrow. Everybody have a good one.