SB Nation - Chris Gant

2013 Hawaii football's 10 things to know: One cannot fall much further

Bill C. — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 13:00:08 -0000

Confused? Check out the glossary here.

1. Norm Chow still hasn't led a good offense since 2004

I felt bad. Aesthetically, Hawaii's hire of Norm Chow seemed just about perfect. One of college football's most celebrated assistants heading home to take the reins of a program that was neither far removed from success nor built sturdily for future success. It made perfect sense through that prism. But this celebrated offensive assistant hadn't been in charge of a celebrated offense for a while.

[H]e hasn't led a good offense since 2004. After he returned from three years with the Tennessee Titans, he took over a UCLA offense that had ranked 109th in Off. F/+ in 2007 and led offenses that ranked 114th, 88th and 90th. When he took the Utah offensive coordinator job in 2011, UCLA's offense improved to 66th. Meanwhile, he inherited an offense that ranked 62nd in 2010, and they ranked 95th last fall. He won his Broyles Award in 2002; who won in 2001? Randy Shannon. Things change.

So if you made a hire in part because of his reputation as an amazing assistant coach, and he hasn't been an amazing assistant for a while, is he still a no-brainer good hire? (Then again, I wasn't a fan of the James Franklin hire at Vanderbilt either. So what do I know?) One thing is certain: he's connecting with the community in a way that few coaches could. He will be given time and patience, and he has responded with some ambitious recruiting -- according to Rivals.com, Hawaii has offered two five-star prospects and eight four-star prospects from Hawaii to Maryland. We'll see if that pays off.

Now, in fairness, my criticism was a little bit short-sighted. Being a head coach requires a completely different skill set than being a good offensive assistant. A head coach is part-coach, part-politician, and part-guidance counselor. And while Chow's run of offensive success had stopped a while back, there was nothing saying he couldn't make up for that by acing the two latter parts of the job.

Also in fairness: In the first year, my criticism was also correct. From 2005-11, the era for which we have F/+ rankings, Hawaii never ranked lower than 103rd and ranked 43rd or higher three times. After plummeting from 43rd to 87th in 2011, the Warriors cratered all the way to 121st in 2012. Granted, a lot of that was probably going to happen no matter how good the coaching job might be -- Chow was engineering a pretty stark shift in offensive philosophy, and the defense was replacing a lot of starters -- but it still happened. The defense actually held rather steady (96th in Def. F/+ in 2011, 90th in 2012), but the offense was an outright horror show. In 2010, Greg McMackin's offense ranked 28th in Off. F/+; in 2011, it fell to 70th. In 2012, it was the worst offense in FBS, ranking 124th out of 124.

For a man once known as an offensive guru, this isn't a good look. Can some new blood in the offensive coordinator chair right the ship a bit? And with the personnel on hand, are we looking at part two of a two-year salvage job?

2012 Schedule & Results

Record: 3-9 \| Adj. Record: 3-9 \| Final F/+ Rk: 121
Date	Opponent	Score	W-L	Adj. Score	Adj. W-L
1-Sep	at USC	10-49	L	16.3 - 30.9	L
16-Sep	Lamar	54-2	W	15.8 - 13.2	W
22-Sep	Nevada	24-69	L	21.6 - 37.0	L
28-Sep	at BYU	0-47	L	13.2 - 42.7	L
6-Oct	at San Diego State	14-52	L	14.4 - 25.6	L
13-Oct	New Mexico	23-35	L	19.5 - 32.4	L
27-Oct	at Colorado State	27-42	L	16.7 - 32.0	L
3-Nov	at Fresno State	10-45	L	21.6 - 24.8	L
10-Nov	Boise State	14-49	L	18.1 - 24.9	L
16-Nov	at Air Force	7-21	L	4.4 - 25.3	L
25-Nov	UNLV	48-10	W	15.5 - 10.3	W
1-Dec	South Alabama	23-7	W	27.9 - 13.4	W

Category	Offense	Rk	Defense	Rk
Points Per Game	21.2	102	35.7	106
Adj. Points Per Game	17.1	123	26.0	45

2. One unit came around

Through two months of the season, there was almost nothing redeeming about Hawaii's level of play. The offense was terrible, and the defense was below average. The Warriors lost by 45 at home to Nevada and by an average of 41.3 points in road games against USC, BYU, and San Diego State. Those were all bowl teams, obviously, but when the schedule eased up, Hawaii didn't really fare any better, losing by 12 and 15 points, respectively, to New Mexico and Colorado State. More good teams (Fresno State and Boise State) meant more 35-point losses.

There were few redeeming aspects to Hawaii's play in 2012, but one cannot deny that the defense raised its game down the stretch.

Adj. Points Per Game (first 7 games): Opponent 30.5, Hawaii 16.8 (minus-13.7)
Adj. Points Per Game (last 5 games): Opponent 19.7, Hawaii 17.5 (minus-2.2)

In the five final games of the season, Hawaii's defense improved to good, then better-than-good. Despite the gaudy point totals, the Warriors' defense held up about as well as a decent defense should against Fresno State and Boise State, allowing 5.9 yards per play in these two games and falling victim to a complete and total lack of offensive support. The Warriors held a decent Air Force offense under five yards per play, then totally dominated two bad offenses; UNLV and South Alabama combined to gain just 369 yards, 2.8 per play, and score 17 points.

There is enough experience returning to think that Hawaii can maintain this late improvement to some degree. But how much will this matter if the offense doesn't start picking up some of the slack?

Offense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	121	122	122	122
RUSHING	114	120	120	113
PASSING	101	122	117	122
Standard Downs		120	120	116
Passing Downs		124	121	124
Redzone		122	124	122

Q1 Rk	122	1st Down Rk	122
Q2 Rk	115	2nd Down Rk	121
Q3 Rk	124	3rd Down Rk	122
Q4 Rk	104

3. I honestly can't find one nice thing to say about this offense

In terms of the advanced per-play measures above, Hawaii's best rankings were as follows: Fourth Quarter S&P+ (104th, benefiting from the fact that opponents' scrubs were often playing in the fourth quarter of blowouts), Rushing PPP+ (113th), Second Quarter S&P+ (115th), and Standard Downs PPP+ (116th). Or, to put it another way, in the 25 advanced categories above, Hawaii didn't rank in the nation's bottom 10 in two.

Egregious. Absurd. Odious. Abhorrent. Ghastly. Pick your favorite fun word for awful, and Hawaii's offense was that. Chow and offensive coordinator Tommy Lee tried to do their quarterback, Sean Schroeder, some favors by throwing more on standard downs and running more on passing downs, and he responded with a 51 percent completion rate, a nearly 10 percent sack rate, and more interceptions than touchdowns. And while running back Will Gregory showed a little bit of big-play potential, three other running backs, who combined for more than 18 carries per game, combined to average 3.6 yards per carry. The line oculdn't do favors for the backs, the receivers couldn't do favors for the quarterbacks ... nothing worked. Nothing at all. And the one thing that almost worked (Gregory) has graduated.

4. It gets younger, at least

After more than four decades in football, Lee announced his retirement following the season. Another local guy and longtime friend of Chow, Lee got to finish his career close to home, but he didn't get to finish it with much success.

Chow replaced him with Aaron Price, the son of (and former offensive coordinator for) retired UTEP head coach Mike Price. UTEP's offense was hit-or-miss with Price in charge, but a) there were some hits (51st in Off. F/+ in 2009, 63rd in 2011), and b) he is three decades younger than Lee, and this position needs as much youthful energy as possible to revive last year's [pick your adjective] offense. If Price brings any major changes to the table, it will potentially be in the form of leaning more heavily on the run. But with a pretty new quarterback to test drive, maybe he won't do that.

Quarterback

Note: players in bold below are 2013 returnees. Players in italics are questionable with injury/suspension.

Player

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Comp

Att

Yards

Comp
Rate

INT

Sacks

Sack Rate

Yards/
Att.

Sean Schroeder

6'3, 200

Sr.

175

344

1,878

50.9%

9.2%

4.3

Jeremy Higgins

6'1, 200

Jr.

** (5.2)

335

60.4%

9.4%

5.6

Taylor Graham

6'5, 235

Jr.

**** (5.8)

Ikaika Woolsey

6'1, 215

RSFr.

5. A QB-friendly approach only works if you have a QB

Again, Chow and Lee tried their best to give Schroeder as many easy passes as possible, but it didn't really work out for anybody involved. Schroeder, a Duke transfer who transferred in 2012 and was eligible immediately, had almost nothing to work with in the receiving corps and responded with ... nothing. And he seemed to almost play worse against lesser defenses. Against New Mexico and Colorado State, he was 39-for-88 (44%) for 472 yards, two touchdowns and three picks. In wins over UNLV and South Alabama, he was 23-for-45 (51%) for 332 yards, two scores, and two picks. He was 0-for-5 against Air Force. It was a tough, tough year.

Now, entering his senior season, Schroeder is having to fight it out just to remain on the two-deep, as Ohio State transfer, and former four-star recruit, Taylor Graham will likely be Hawaii's starter in 2013. Check that: There's "no question" that he's the starter. He is an old school, statuesque, pocket passer with presence and a hand cannon. While we don't know precisely how good he may be -- he never saw the field in Columbus -- it probably doesn't take much of a leap to assume he alone upgrades Hawaii's talent level a good amount.

6. Will Graham matter?

In Taylor Graham, Norm Chow now has a little bit of talent around which to build. But that will only matter if Graham can find actual receivers to whom he can throw, if he has a line that can protect him, and if he has a running game that can keep him out of persistent second- or third-and-longs. He's got running back Joey Iosefa, whose size is intriguing and who can pinball around between the tackles pretty well. He's got Billy Ray Stutzmann, Hawaii's leading receiver from the last two years; Stutzmann doesn't have nearly the explosiveness to counter his poor catch rates, but if an NFL caliber quarterback is throwing him the ball, maybe he raises those rates a bit. (And no, we don't know yet whether Graham is "NFL caliber.") He's got Aussie Scott Harding, who actually had a better catch rate than Stutzmann (barely) and averaged more than 15 yards per catch. But perhaps most importantly, he's got some newcomers, too. Three junior college transfers join the receiving corps, as do intriguing freshmen running backs Steven Lakalaka and Diocemy St. Juste.

(Meanwhile, does he have a line? Probably not.)

Running Back

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Rushes	Yards	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Carry	TD	Adj. POE
Will Gregory	RB				137	691	5.0	5.5	3	+2.4
Joey Iosefa	RB	6'0, 240	Jr.	** (5.2)	125	463	3.7	4.0	1	-22.0
Sterling Jackson	RB				52	175	3.4	2.6	2	-10.8
John Lister	RB				41	149	3.6	2.7	4	-6.1
Sean Schroeder	QB	6'3, 200	Sr.	NR	19	75	3.9	3.3	1	-2.5
Steven Lakalaka	RB	5'10, 225	RSFr.	*** (5.7)
Diocemy St. Juste	RB	5'9, 190	Fr.	** (5.4)

Receiving Corps

Player

Pos.

Ht, Wt

2013
Year

Rivals

Targets

Catches

Yards

Catch Rate

Yds/
Target

Target
Rate

%SD

Real Yds/
Target

RYPR

Billy Ray Stutzmann

WR-Z

6'0, 185

Sr.

*** (5.5)

447

50.0%

6.4

19.1%

52.9%

6.4

52.0

Jeremiah Ostrowski

270

50.9%

5.1

14.5%

45.3%

5.4

31.4

Chris Gant

WR-X

6'0, 185

Sr.

** (5.4)

232

56.4%

5.9

10.7%

56.4%

5.8

27.0

Scott Harding

WR-Z

5'11, 195

Jr.

308

52.6%

8.1

10.4%

47.4%

8.4

35.8

Ryan Hall

168

62.5%

5.3

8.7%

59.4%

5.2

19.5

Trevor Davis

6'1, 175

Jr.

*** (5.5)

235

60.7%

8.4

7.7%

67.9%

8.0

27.3

Joey Iosefa

6'0, 240

Jr.

** (5.2)

153

76.0%

6.1

6.8%

56.0%

6.1

17.8

John Lister

137

63.6%

6.2

6.0%

45.5%

5.9

15.9

Clark Evans

6'4, 245

Sr.

*** (5.5)

137

47.4%

7.2

5.2%

47.4%

6.4

15.9

Darius Bright

WR-X

46.7%

6.1

4.1%

53.3%

6.2

10.6

Bubba Poueu-Luna

5'11, 180

Jr.

*** (5.5)

0.0%

0.0

0.0%

0.0

Craig Cofer

6'4, 255

Sr.

** (5.2)

60.0%

3.4

1.4%

80.0%

2.6

2.0

Terrance Polk

5'11, 180

Jr.

*** (5.5)

Josh Long

6'4, 240

Jr.

** (5.4)

Vasquez Haynes

6'2, 190

Jr.

** (5.3)

Ammon Barker

6'4, 210

Fr.

*** (5.5)

Offensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	82.6	2.58	2.51	30.7%	64.5%	20.8%	73.1	4.8%	11.0%
Rank	116	108	110	121	84	92	102	65	113

Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	Career Starts/Honors/Notes
David Lefotu	RG	6'3, 305	Jr.	** (5.2)	18 career starts
Blake Muir	LT				12 career starts
Ben Clarke	C	6'3, 275	So.	**	12 career starts
Mike Milovale	RT	6'3, 310	Sr.	** (5.4)	9 career starts
Sean Shigematsu	RT	6'5, 290	Jr.	** (5.2)	7 career starts
Chauncy Winchester-Makainai	LG	6'4, 320	Sr.	NR	4 career starts
Kapua Sai	LT				3 career starts
Kody Afusia	LG	6'2, 305	Jr.	** (5.2)	2 career starts
Jordan Loeffler	LT	6'5, 305	Jr.	** (5.2)
Ben Dew	OL	6'3, 305	So.	** (5.2)
Kiha Sai	OL	6'3, 315	RSFr.	*** (5.6)
Ethan Watanabe	OL	6'2, 275	RSFr.	** (5.4)
Elijah Tupai	OL	6'4, 255	Fr.	** (5.4)
John Wa'a	OL	6'4, 285	Fr.	** (5.4)

Defense

Category	Yards/ Game Rk	S&P+ Rk	Success Rt. Rk	PPP+ Rk
OVERALL	41	93	94	94
RUSHING	88	98	108	86
PASSING	11	90	47	102
Standard Downs		103	109	99
Passing Downs		58	29	74
Redzone		114	117	98

Q1 Rk	101	1st Down Rk	56
Q2 Rk	66	2nd Down Rk	44
Q3 Rk	34	3rd Down Rk	92
Q4 Rk	34

7. The defense was honestly pretty decent

Granted, the Hawaii defense looked spectacular compared to its offense last year, but there really was some honest-to-God improvement late in the year, and enough pieces return to think that might continue. The Warriors were pretty exciting (and glitchy) up front, making a healthy number of plays behind the line of scrimmage against both the run and pass (80 tackles for loss, 28 sacks). Granted, they made a lot of these plays in the second half, when a given game was out of reach; and granted, they had some serious issues in both the redzone and the first quarter. But the pass defense was quite efficient, and if they leveraged you into passing downs, they new how to close out the drive.

8. Lights out on passing downs

There were some big plays allowed along the way, but Hawaii did a lovely job of shutting things down on passing downs. The Warriors were 19th in the country in Passing Downs Sack Rate; seven different Warriors had at least two sacks; defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer brought an aggressive reputation to the table, and he inherited some nicely aggressive pieces here.

Of course, he must now replace a couple of the nicest aggressive pieces -- end Paipai Falemalu and corner Mike Edwards, to name two -- but end Beau Yap and pass rush specialist Tavita Woodard return, four junior college transfers enter the rotation, and Hawaii returns one of the Mountain West's better sets of linebackers.

Defensive Line

Category	Adj. Line Yds	Std. Downs LY/carry	Pass. Downs LY/carry	Opp. Rate	Power Success Rate	Stuff Rate	Adj. Sack Rate	Std. Downs Sack Rt.	Pass. Downs Sack Rt.
Team	99.6	3.27	2.92	40.9%	68.4%	20.9%	108.0	5.0%	9.4%
Rank	62	105	36	86	67	38	49	49	19

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Paipai Falemalu	DE				12	46.5	6.9%	10	5	0	1	1	2
Beau Yap	DE	6'2, 260	Jr.	*** (5.5)	12	29.5	4.4%	10.5	3	0	0	1	0
Tavita Woodard	DE	6'4, 255	Sr.	** (5.2)	12	29.5	4.4%	5.5	5.5	1	2	0	0
Haku Correa	NT				12	26.5	3.9%	3.5	2.5	0	0	0	0
Siasau Matagiese	DT	6'2, 300	Sr.	** (4.9)	11	15.5	2.3%	2	0	0	0	0	1
Marcus Malepeai	DT	6'1, 250	Jr.	** (5.3)	10	9.5	1.4%	1.5	0.5	0	0	1	0
Ho'oikaika Cavaco-Amoy	DE	6'2, 255	Sr.	NR	6	3.5	0.5%	2	0	0	0	0	0
Kaeo Alo	NT				7	3.0	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	1
Geordon Hanohano	DT				4	2.5	0.4%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moses Samia	NT	6'1, 305	So.	** (5.2)	2	0.5	0.1%	0	0	0	0	0	0
David Moala	DT	6'2, 315	Jr.	** (5.3)
Kennedy Tulimasealii	DT	6'1, 300	Fr.	*** (5.6)
Ualesi Sale	DE	6'1, 245	Fr.	** (5.4)

Linebackers

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Art Laurel	WILL	6'0, 235	Sr.	** (4.9)	11	42.0	6.3%	13.5	4	0	1	1	0
Kamalani Alo	LB	6'2, 215	Sr.	** (4.9)	12	32.0	4.8%	0.5	0.5	0	0	2	0
T.J. Taimatuia	SAM	6'3, 245	Jr.	NR	12	28.5	4.2%	2.5	0	0	2	0	0
Jerrol Garcia-Williams	SAM	6'3, 205	So.	NR	11	27.5	4.1%	3	1	0	0	0	1
Kendrick Van Ackeren	LB				12	21.0	3.1%	0.5	0	0	2	0	0
Lance Williams	WILL	6'2, 220	So.	**	12	20.5	3.1%	1	0	0	0	0	1
Brenden Daley	MIKE	6'3, 255	Sr.	NR	10	20.0	3.0%	1.5	0	1	0	0	0
Benetton Fonua	MIKE	6'1, 220	So.	**	8	14.0	2.1%	0	0	0	0	0	0
George Daily-Lyles	LB	5'11, 255	Sr.	** (5.3)	7	11.5	1.7%	1.5	0.5	0	1	0	0
Darryl McBride, Jr.	LB				11	11.0	1.6%	2.5	2.5	0	0	1	0
Dylan McCagg	LB				10	3.0	0.4%	1	0	0	0	0	0
Rykin Enos	LB				12	1.5	0.2%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tevita Lataimua	LB	5'11, 230	Jr.	** (5.2)
Darzil Washington	LB	6'2, 240	So.	** (5.2)

9. You can build around these linebackers

Hawaii played a lot of linebackers in 2012 -- seven had at least 20 tackles, 10 had at least 11 -- and most of them return in 2013. In Laurel, Kaumeyer has a lovely blitz option, but beyond that, he's just got a lot of options, period. He's got speed options in Kamalani Alo and Jerrol Garcia-Williams; he's got power options in T.J. Taimatula and Brendan Daley. Kaumeyer enjoys crafting an aggressive defense, and between the depth at linebacker, increased size up front (especially if former Arizona State tackle David Moala is ready to go), and experience in the secondary, he should enjoy pressing buttons with this defense.

(Moala, by the way, has a spectacular bio: volleyball player in high school, brother in the NFL, Fresh Prince of Bel-Ai.)

Secondary

Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Rivals	GP	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
Marrell Jackson	FS	6'0, 180	So.	NR	12	48.0	7.1%	1	0	0	5	2	1
Mike Edwards	CB				12	40.5	6.0%	5	0	2	15	1	0
John Hardy-Tuliau	SS	5'11, 180	Sr.	** (5.2)	12	36.0	5.4%	3	1	3	3	0	0
Charles Clay	SS	5'11, 200	Sr.	NR	12	24.5	3.6%	0	0	0	4	0	1
Leroy Lutu	DB				8	23.0	3.4%	1.5	0	0	2	0	0
Ne'Quan Phillips	CB	5'9, 180	So.	** (5.4)	12	21.5	3.2%	2	0	2	2	0	1
Tony Grimes	CB	6'0, 175	Sr.	*** (5.7)	11	20.5	3.1%	1	0	0	5	0	0
Dee Maggitt	CB	5'8, 170	Jr.	** (5.4)	10	11.0	1.6%	0.5	0	0	3	0	0
Mike Sellers	FS				10	10.5	1.6%	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dante Johnson	S	6'1, 185	So.	NR
Ryan Pasoquen	DB	6'0, 190	RSFr.	NR
Tigi Hill	DB	6'2, 215	So.	*** (5.5)
Trayvon Henderson	DB	6'1, 195	Fr.	** (5.4)
Barry Higdon	DB	6'3, 180	Fr.	** (5.4)

Special Teams

Punter	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
Alex Dunnachie			49	46.2	5	11	12	46.9%
Scott Harding	5'11, 195	Jr.	15	34.7	1	1	2	20.0%

Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%
Tyler Hadden	5'11, 180	Jr.	52	61.1	9	17.3%
Kyle Nilro			2	58.5	0	0.0%

Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	PAT	FG (0-39)	Pct	FG (40+)	Pct
Tyler Hadden	5'11, 180	Jr.	29-29	7-10	70.0%	6-11	54.5

Returner	Pos.	Ht, Wt	2013 Year	Returns	Avg.	TD
Mike Edwards	KR			40	30.4	3
Will Gregory	KR			5	9.2	0
Scott Harding	KR	5'11, 195	Jr.	4	18.0	0
Scott Harding	PR	5'11, 195	Jr.	23	12.8	1

Category	Rk
Special Teams F/+	29
Net Punting	74
Net Kickoffs	99
Touchback Pct	112
Field Goal Pct	101
Kick Returns Avg	8
Punt Returns Avg	16

2013 Schedule & Projection Factors

2013 Schedule
Date	Opponent	Proj. Rk
29-Aug	USC	17
7-Sep	at Oregon State	25
21-Sep	at Nevada	74
28-Sep	Fresno State	60
5-Oct	San Jose State	72
12-Oct	at UNLV	110
26-Oct	Colorado State	117
2-Nov	at Utah State	46
9-Nov	at Navy	95
16-Nov	San Diego State	53
23-Nov	at Wyoming	109
30-Nov	Army	103

Five-Year F/+ Rk	99
Two-Year Recruiting Rk	100
TO Margin/Adj. TO Margin*	-14 / -0.5
TO Luck/Game	-5.6
Approx. Ret. Starters (Off. / Def.)	15 (7, 8)
Yds/Pt Margin**	+3.6

10. A glimmer of hope? Maybe?

Taylor Graham is an exciting specimen. Of this, there is little doubt. But it is difficult to build too much optimism in this offense considering just how [adjective] it was last year. If Graham can immediately show big-time potential, and if a couple of newcomers can spruce up the skill position ranks a bit, then Hawaii's offense will improve to a decent degree, but that might just mean a rise to 100th or so in Off. F/+.

Still ... that's improvement. And combined with a defense that could be legitimately decent, that could be enough to win some games. Hawaii plays five teams projected 95th or worse (only two at home), but improvement on offense could still lead to improvement in the win column, say, to 4-5 games or so. Like so many other rebuilding MWC programs, bowl eligibility seems like a bit of a stretch, but Norm Chow can at least take a step or two toward proving me wrong in 2013. I'm not incredibly optimistic, but in Graham and the defense, there's a smidgen of hope.

For more on Hawai'i football, visit MWC community Mountain West Connection.

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Hawai'i at USC Game Preview

warrior_no8 — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:33:13 -0000

Next Game

Hawaii Warriors
@ USC Trojans

Saturday, Sep 1, 2012, 4:30 PM PDT
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

TV: FOX

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This will be the 8th meeting between the two schools and fourth time since 1999 that they have played the season opener against each other. USC has won all seven previous contests including a 49-36 victory in Honolulu in the 2010 season opener. In his first season will be Coach Norm Chow's first game as a head coach, a man with over 40 years of coaching experience under his belt none as head coach. USC head coach Lane Kiffin is in his third year with a record of 18-7.

Here are the starters for each team:

USC Offense

SE- #2 Robert Woods (6-1, 190, JR)

LT- #70 Aundrey Walker (6-6, 300, SR)

LG- #66 Marcus Martin (6-3, 325, SO)

C- #78 Khaled Holmes (6-4, 305, SR)

RG- #59 John Martinez (6-2, 300, JR)

RT- #77 Kevin Graf (6-6, 295, JR)

TE- #86 Xavier Grimble (6-5, 260, SO)or

#82 Randall Telfer (6-4, 255, SO)

FL- #9 Marqise Lee (6-0, 195, SO)

QB- #7 Matt Barkley (6-2, 230, SR)

FB- #31 Soma Vainuku (6-0, 250, FR)

TB- #22 Curtis McNeal (5-7, 190, SR)or

#25 Silas Redd (5-10, 200, JR)

USC Defense

DE- #96 Wes Horton (6-5, 255, SR)

NT- #99 Antwaun Woods (6-1, 305, FR)

DT- #90 George Uko (6-3, 275, SO)

DE- #58 J.R. Taval (6-2, 265, SO)

SLB-#18 Dion Bailey (6-0, 210, SO)

MLB-#55 Lamar Dawson (6-2, 235, SO)

WLB-#10 Hayes Pullard (6-1, 235, SO)

CB- #21 Nickell Robey (5-8, 165, JR)

FS- #7 T.J. McDonald (6-3, 205, SR)

SS_ #24 Demetrius Wright (6-1, 195, JR)or

#29 Jawanza Starling (6-1, 200, SR)

CB- #16 Anthony Brown (5-9, 180, SO)

Hawaii Offense

WR- #29 Scott Harding (5-11, 195 SO)

WR- #5 Billy Ray Stutzmann (6-0, 175, JR) or

#89 Trevor Davis (6-1, 170, SO) or

#81 Chris Gant (6-0, 180 JR)

SB- #80 Jeremiah Ostrowski (5-9, 175 SR)

LT- #66 Blake Muir (6-5, 290, FR)

LG- #57 Kapua Sai (6-4, 315, JR)

C- #71 Ben Clarke (6-3, 275, FR)

RG- #76 Dave Lefotu (6-3, 315, FR)

RT- #68 Sean Shigematsu (6-4, 305 SO)

QB- #19 Sean Schroeder (6-3, 200 JR)

TE- #86 Craig Cofer (6-5, 250 JR) or

#87 Ryan Hall (6-4, 240, JR)

RB/FB- #7 Joey Iosepa (6-0, 240 SO)or

#4 Will Gregory(6-0, 190 FR)

Hawaii Defense

DE- #42 Paipai Falemalu (6-3, 245 SR)

DT- #59 Siasau Matagiese (6-2, 285, JR)

DT- #91 Moses Samia (6-1, 295, SO)

DE- #92 Beau Yap (6-1, 260, SO)

SLB-#41 Art Laurel (6-0, 235 JR)

MLB-#3 T.J. Taimatuia (6-3, 235, SO)

WLB-#55 George Daly-Lyles (5-11, 230 JR)

CB- #1 Mike Edwards (5-10, 180, JR)

CB- #2 Tony Grimes (6-0, 175, JR)

SS- #33 John Hardy-Tuliau (5-11, 180 JR)

S- #9 Bubba Poueu-Luna (5-11 175 SO)

USC Special Teams

P- #35 Kyle Negrete (6-0, 225, SR)

PK-#48 Andre Heidari (5-10, 200, SO)

LS-#61 Peter McBride (6-2, 230 SR)

Hawaii Special Teams

P- #7 Joey Iosepa? (6-0, 240 SO)

PK-#27 Tyler Hadden (5-11, 180 SO)

LS-#45 Luke Ingram (6-6, 235, SR)

2012 Hawaii Warriors Football Preview

warrior_no8 — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 11:01:47 -0000

Renewed excitement is in the air in Honolulu as Norm Chow takes over as the Warriors head coach. This year will be different with Coach Chow using his Pro-style offense instead of the Run and Shoot Hawaii fans have been used to since 1999.

With just five days away from the season opener, the Warriors are ready with a game plan and the starting positions seems to be set. It will definitely be a daunting task to upset the preseason No. 1 team in college football USC but coach Chow and the Warrior are pumped up to play anyone. Being show on FOX nationally and playing in front of an estimated sold out crowd of 93,000, the Warriors are excited to play in such a big event as this.

This is the largest crowd they will play in since Florida in 2008 (90,000). Warrior fans are optimistic but only to the point that they will have a good showing, take the defeat and head home with some confidence for the rest of the season.

The offense will headline Duke transfer quarterback Sean Schroeder. The south paw won the job on the fourth day of fall camp and established some leadership in the huddle. In the two- back set, returning starter Joey Iosepa and Will Gregory will start for the Warriors. In a one-back formation it will be either Iosepa or Gregory. For the receivers, Scott Harding will be on the strong side. Billy Ray Stutzmann, Trevor Davis and Chris Gant will rotate on the single-side.

Senior Miah Ostrowski will be in the slotback when they are in a three-receiver set. Warrior fans will see a new position in the formation with one or two tight ends. Craig Cofer emerged as the starting TE and Duke transfer Ryan Hall will rotate with Cofer or they will both be in with the two TE formation. Protecting Schroeder this year will be a young inexperienced line. Left tackle Blake Muir, left guard Kapua Sai, center Ben Clarke, right guard Dave Lefotu and right tackle Sean Shigematsu will start on the O-line. Shigematsu last year was the left tackle before being injured last season at Washington. This year he will have to protect Schroeder's blind-side since he's a lefty.

On the defensive side there are a mixture of speed and experience and that seems to be an excellent mixture for new defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer. Kaumeyer's 4-3 set will have blitz packages and have guys all over the place to disguise their coverage. The D-line is stacked with Paipai Falemalu and Beau Yap at the ends. Siasau Matagiese and Moses Samia are the tackles.

For the linebackers, Art Laurel will be on the strong side, T.J. Taimatuia will be in the middle and George Daly-Lyles is on the weak side. The corners are Mike Edwards and Tony Grimes and the safeties are John Hardy-Tuliau and Bubba Poueu-Luna. Mike Sellers can play safety and nickelback and Ne'Quon Phillips can be the third cornerback.

Overall, the schedule doesn't look promising for a bowl bid but if the Warriors stay healthy they may have a shot at a run towards the end of the season. They will also need to win one or two games on the road and take care of business at home.

If they get six wins that will be an accomplished season no doubt about it. Warrior fans show throw caution to their optimism on this season. They can't compare this season to the 1999 season when new head coach June Jones took over a team from 0-12 to 9-4. It will take a couple of years for Chow to get his weapons for the Pro-style offense to work.

Also as a side note, the fans need to show up and support the Warriors at Aloha Stadium. Yes the die-hard season ticket holders are there but the students and other fans need to support the only football team in town. If the team walks out on the field to a half empty stadium how do you think they will feel? I wouldn't be as pumped. The tone of the game will be dull.

Through the years when Hawaii was playing on the mainland to WAC teams they had an advantage playing in front of 12,000 to 18,000 fans. There was no excitement in the air for the home team so the Warriors can focus on their job and come home with a victory(14-14 on the road since 2007). This is our pro-team and if the players see a packed house who knows how jacked up they will get and play.

Poll

Will the Warriors make a bowl game this year?

Yes, the Hawaii Bowl

54 votes

No not this year.

28 votes

82 votes | Poll has closed