There were a lot of Navy football fans who came away from the season opener convinced the Navy defense would be a major liability this season.
Quarterback Cole McDonald led the way as Hawaii used its run-and-shoot offense to run Navy right out of Aloha Stadium, rolling up 522 yards while scoring 59 points. It was an all-around ugly outing for the defense as the Rainbow Warriors marched up and down the field at will.
Defensive coordinator Dale Pehrson was disappointed about the poor performance, but pointed out that it was just one game. Pehrson and Navy’s seven defensive assistants went back to work and spent this past week working to fix things.