Hawaii quarterback
Bryant Moniz took a vicious hit late in the third quarter against USC last week, but is expected to play Saturday against Army, coach Greg McMackin said.
Moniz was hit by linebacker Michael Morgan after a 13-yard scramble down to the USC 5 yard-line and looked woozy when he got up Thursday night. He missed the remainder of the game, and also sat out practice Saturday. No penalty was called on the play, as it appeared Morgan did not intentionally try to hit him in the head. But McMackin sent tape of the hit into the league office for an explanation about why no flag was thrown.
"I don’t think the USC kid did it intentionally. He’s just playing football," McMakin said on the WAC conference call. "We just want to get things, we’d like to understand how the officials saw it."
As for Moniz, he was having a terrific game before he went out, going 18-of-36 for 269 yards and a touchdown. McMackin said Moniz showed no concussion symptoms afterward, but doctors have been monitoring him.
"I see him playing," McMackin said. "The doctors are looking at him every day. His health is really important to us ... they’ve been watching him."
Even with Moniz out of the game, his backups picked up right where he left off.
Shane Austin went 6-of-9 for 141 yards and two touchdowns, and
Brent Rausch was 3-of-4 for 49 yards.
Hawaii faces the start of a 13-day cross-country road trip starting this week as it heads to West Point, the farthest game east for the Warriors in school history. The team will leave for the East Coast on Tuesday night and arrive in New Jersey on Wednesday morning. The Warriors will then practice there before doing a walk-through at Army. When the teams kick off Saturday, it will be 6 a.m. Hawaii time.
After the game, Hawaii heads to Las Vegas, where it will stay for the week before playing at Colorado on Sept. 18. The entire trip will cover more than 11,000 miles.
McMackin is not too concerned, considering his team practices in the morning.
"We're used to traveling," McMackin said. "Our guys, they’re very disciplined and they do a very good job of it. It’s a challenge we’ll just have to take care of."