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How is that possible, considering the Eagles rolled up 504 yards of total offense while Mitchell completed 39 of 69 passes for 473 yards and three touchdowns?
Well, because, the Huskies will face a similar pass-first, pass-almost-always offense in the University of Hawaii on Saturday at Husky Stadium. And here’s the kicker: The Warriors’ quarterback is better than Mitchell.
Most people outside of the islands or the Western Athletic Conference might not have heard of Bryant Moniz. But those who have watched him play or had the displeasure of trying to stop him know what the senior quarterback is capable of doing.
Last season, Moniz put up prolific statistics in Hawaii’s fun-n-gun offense. The one-time walk-on who delivered pizzas to pay his first year’s tuition attempted 555 passes and completed 361 of them, a completion percentage of 65 percent. He racked up 5,040 yards while tossing 39 touchdowns – both highest in the NCAA.
UW sophomore safety Taz Stevenson shook his head at Moniz’s numbers. As a freshman for Mililani High, Stevenson played against Moniz, who went to Leilehua High, in one of Hawaii’s bigger high school rivalry games.
“He scrambled on us and had a big arm and threw deep,” Stevenson said. “I knew he was a good player. But I didn’t know he’d be like that.”
How good?
“Anybody that plays against him is going to have their hands full,” said Fresno State head coach Pat Hill.
Last season against Fresno, Moniz threw for 376 yards and three touchdowns.
“When he’s in rhythm he throws the ball really well,” Hill said. “We put a lot of pressure on him last year, and he still made a lot of plays with his legs and his arm. If you put the pressure on him, you better get him down and contain him because he can make plays with his feet and arm.”
In last week’s 34-17 win over Colorado, Moniz only threw for 178 yards and a touchdown, but he rushed for a career-high 121 yards and three touchdowns, including a 57-yard run.
“We could have thrown the ball more, but we were getting it on the run, and it’s called the run-and-shoot and we proved it last year,” Hawaii head coach Greg McMackin said. “We wanted to throw the ball and set up the run, but if we can get it on the run, then we will take that too.
“He has the ability and he is faster than he has ever been, so people aren’t going to be able to do what they did in the past.”
Hawaii has added some option plays to utilize Moniz’s legs. But UW coach Steve Sarkisian is more concerned about the scrambles where Moniz leaves the pocket and turns a 6-yard gain into 16-yard gain.
“The bulk of them are when they’re covered well down field and he’s tucking the ball and running,” Sarkisian said. “And he’s been doing it since he started against USC last year, and he keeps doing it, and he did it this week. If it weren’t for the sacks, I think he rushes for almost 150 yards in the game. He’s a real threat.”
Huskies defensive tackle Alameda Ta’amu compared Moniz to former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli.
“He’s big and fast like him,” Ta’amu said.
But while Moniz has become a run threat, the Huskies secondary can’t forget about his ability to throw the football. That’s where he does the most damage.
Moniz is one of just 11 quarterbacks in NCAA history to have thrown for 5,000 yards. Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan is in that exclusive group; he threw for 5,549 yards in 2006.
“He delivers the ball well and he’s very competitive, and the scheme of what they got there are a lot of guys all over the field they are looking to get the football too,” said Idaho coach Robb Akey, who watched Moniz throw for 326 yards and three touchdowns against his Vandals last season.
The run and shoot has been a tradition at Hawaii since June Jones was the coach from 1999-2007. Jones played at Portland State for Mouse Davis, who popularized the offense in the 1970s. Davis coached under Jones at Hawaii, and he is now an assistant of McMackin’s.
“There’s been a lot of quarterbacks that have played in that system that have thrown for a lot of yards, not just at Hawaii, if you follow Mouse around,” Sarkisian said. “It’s a great system to allow quarterbacks to throw for yardage when he’s really in sync with his wide receivers. There’s a lot of route reading, understanding of coverage, and you need to be on the same page.”
The receiving corps was one of the bigger question marks for the Warriors headed into this season. Hawaii lost its top three receivers from last year, including All-American Greg Salas, who caught 119 passes for 1,889 yards and 14 touchdowns.
“Last year, they had a veteran group of wide receivers and he got into that system and played a very fast, mentally fast, brand of football where the ball was out, the anticipation was there and he’s an accurate passer,” Sarkisian said.
Because of how complicated the offense can be, particularly with the receivers adjusting to what the defense gives, the lack of game reps might slow Moniz down.
“Maybe it’s why he pulled the ball down a little bit more last week, I don’t know,” Sarkisian said. “Maybe the sync – they weren’t quite there yet. But they will get there. He’s too good of a quarterback and they are too good of coaches not to get there.”
So what can you do if you are the Huskies defense?
Playing better than they did against Eastern would help. Sarkisian thought there was some tentativeness in the pass rush and the coverage.
“Eastern did a great job of, when we were in zone coverages, finding the soft spots and getting completions on first and second down,” Sarkisian said. “We’ll see quite a bit of that this week.”
Sarkisian wants the secondary to be more “sticky” in the zone coverage – be aggressive and physical and not passive.
“It’s going to be critical for us because they could become very similar if we allow the game to go that way,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get them out of that mode dinking and dunking down the field.”
What other things can they do to beat Moniz and Hawaii?
“Be good in coverage, change things up and give him a lot of different looks helps,” Akey said.
Said Sarkisian: “We are going to have our hands full with him.”
Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483 ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/uwsports
