Looking ahead to Hawai'i - they may be worse than we thought
Starting the season, the consensus on Hawai'i was that they were not good at all. Two games into their season, we may have to adjust our priors DOWN.
OK, transitive property caveats apply, BUUUUUUT....
Hawai'i is 0-2, losing to Western Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Neither is a powerhouse for sure, but they're both 2-0, so maybe they're both improved and tougher than they would seem to the casual fan, such as myself.
Here's each team's results so far:
1. Western Kentucky
- Beat Hawai'i 49-17 (at Hawai'i)
- Beat Austin Peay 38-27 (at WKU)
2. Vanderbilt
- Beat Hawai'i 63-10 (at Hawai'i)
- Beat Elon 42-31 (at Vandy)
When your opponents have a tougher time against Austin Peay and Elon at home than they had against you after they traveled 6 time zones to your house, you're probably pretty bad.
Anything less than a CSU-level beatdown will be a major disappointment.
September 5th, 2022 at 9:17 AM ^
Yup; shoulda got in on the betting before the line moved up. They seem quite bad, and now they have to travel six time zones to play. Hate to see a slaughter, but really hope we don't gat caught playing down towards (don't think we could get "to") the competition.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
Sure "playing down" isn't ideal, but it's the injury risk that really grates. Fine, let's see JJ in a starter role... which is all well and good until he and a couple of linemen end up "working through something" till the off season. We talk about this in terms of basketball non-conf scheduling, but there is NO upside to this game. Beat'em by a million running the third string all day moves the needle not at all... reinforce bad habits ("playing down"?), pick up an injury or two, "only" win by 30,... see where any of those get us.
September 5th, 2022 at 11:55 AM ^
Unlikely to play down with our QB of the future getting his first start. Plus, the depth chart players will get lots of pt and will be out to show they should be moving up.
September 5th, 2022 at 7:20 PM ^
And due to no DST in HI it's a 6 hr difference instead of 7. With a 9 hr flight (direct). I'm thinking since HI started football in 71' they've had the toughest road schedule ever since.
And yeah it's WAY more difficult to adjust flying west to east instead of east-west. Not even comparable.
September 5th, 2022 at 9:21 AM ^
hawai'i, seen here practicing their blitz package...
September 5th, 2022 at 12:29 PM ^
Here is the talent level
September 5th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
Hawaii has not been the same since Ikaika Alama Francis graduated.
You all remember Ikaika, right? In the conversation for Matt Millen's worst draft pick. And quite the conversation it is.
September 6th, 2022 at 4:23 PM ^
Great to see the Brentford avatar. You Bees!
-BFC fan in LA
September 5th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
So ... Hawai'i linebackers are adorable and cuddly?
Got it. Thanks.
September 5th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
think: a kinder, gentler counter-HT and ejection of the linebacker. most of the fur remains on the linebacker.
September 5th, 2022 at 3:37 PM ^
“Oh, I'm shaking in my custom baby seal-leather boots.”
September 5th, 2022 at 9:28 AM ^
Even a CSU-level game would be meh against them. If we’re stopped in the red zone three times in the first half again, that would be ominous.
September 5th, 2022 at 9:37 AM ^
Oof...
September 5th, 2022 at 10:11 AM ^
I don't know. Have you seen their goal line package?
September 5th, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
Not playing 10 on 11 in the Red Zone will make a huge difference
September 5th, 2022 at 9:34 AM ^
Removed my comment math is hard.
September 5th, 2022 at 9:38 AM ^
Hawaii is the other way. A noon eastern start would be the worst for them. Or, say, a noon start in Dublin.
September 5th, 2022 at 9:41 AM ^
Really baffles me that this isn’t a noon start.
September 5th, 2022 at 9:45 AM ^
Michigan lobbied for this to be a night game on behalf of Hawaii. They had no reason to stick it to a team that is trying to rebuild and they know is several tiers below them. Noon game would be straight up unfair to Hawaii
September 5th, 2022 at 10:07 AM ^
Genuinely curious, is that a quote from somewhere or just your own speculation?
September 5th, 2022 at 10:17 AM ^
Wasn’t it a noon game in 2016?
September 5th, 2022 at 10:32 AM ^
I think it was, or at latest it was a 3:30 game. Certainly not a night game. However, iirc Hawaii was on a road trip and had played in Madison the week before, so they'd have had some time to adjust. I can't imagine they went back to Hawaii between being in Wisconsin and Michigan.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
The Hawaii game in 2016 was a noon game and Hawaii was on a road trip, except the road trip was not Wisconsin, but Sydney, Australia against the California Golden Bears. The 63-3 outcome was fairly predictable and something similar should be forthcoming Saturday, although I suspect we will be as kind as possible, since I believe we would like to schedule another game in Hawaii in the next 10-15 years.
September 5th, 2022 at 2:00 PM ^
And that was a MUCH better Hawai’i team. They finished the year with a winning record
September 5th, 2022 at 9:46 AM ^
You ever spend a week in Hawaii, and then try to have to produce the following week?
WKU & Vandy were both ripe for an "I actually have to leave Hawaii and come back to my own boring life" letdown.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
My family was in vacation in Hawaii. I had to leave 3 days early to go meet my client - in Manhattan, KS.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:11 AM ^
White privilege
September 5th, 2022 at 10:31 AM ^
Oriental Andrew is white?
September 5th, 2022 at 10:33 AM ^
Yes the Irony lol
September 5th, 2022 at 11:31 AM ^
Wasn't his dad manager then?
September 5th, 2022 at 12:48 PM ^
Hey, dude got a lot of hits out of ol "Fuck Face" don't knock that bat. He made it himself out of wood from a tree in his backyard that was hit by lightning.
I think that's how the story goes?
September 5th, 2022 at 10:22 AM ^
My team (baseball) played at Hawaii the year before my freshman year. There was a senior on my team who spent his entire week of meal money on a sex worker the first night. He spent the rest of the trip trying to figure out how to get food to eat and pitched very hung over after the night with the sex worker. Everyone was partying in different ways the whole trip.
so yes Chuck, Hawaii does have a certain home field advantage other teams can’t fully offer. I imagine football today has much tighter bed checks though.
September 5th, 2022 at 11:33 AM ^
Decision-making: This is why catchers call the game.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
"Don't think, it's bad for the ballclub"
- Crash Davis (C)
September 5th, 2022 at 11:37 AM ^
Tell us more about this sex worker thing...
September 5th, 2022 at 10:52 AM ^
Was the buckeye offense in Maui the week before the ND game?
September 5th, 2022 at 10:57 AM ^
The one time I was able to take my wife to Hawaii while on a work trip was awful. Three days before leaving, one of my dogs died. Two days later, one day before leaving, my wife's Mom died of cancer - quite unexpectedly (its widely thought that the hospital screwed up a dosage of pain meds, but can't prove it). We delayed the trip a few days for the funeral - which was held literally the day of my wife's birthday. The entire week in Hawaii was cloudy and rainy, with the ocean looking like it belonged in Nantucket - gray, wild, and white capped. On some days the beaches were closed because of sewage runoff from all the rain. Also, one of my network engineers suffered a massive heart attack on site and died 6000 miles from home.
My wife doesn't care to ever go back...
September 5th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
Man, that is a shitty week. Sorry VA, that's Book of Job level bad week.
September 5th, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
VA, ouch! that's about three novels rolled into a one week trip.
September 5th, 2022 at 4:08 PM ^
The one time I went to Hawaii, it was for a work convention. My wife and I left our daughter with our redneck neighbor. I was at the podium starting to give my speech when my wife gave me a note. Our daughter was having her first period and our neighbor didn’t know what to do! I left the stage, cancelled the rest of the trip and booked a flight home immediately. I came home and our daughter just cried and cried. On the plus side, she may have broken up with redneck neighbor’s chubby kid so it was not all bad. (That’s not baby fat he has, it’s permanent!)
September 5th, 2022 at 5:53 PM ^
Dude, you were a helicopter parent before the helicopter was invented. And fat shaming isn’t a thing any longer.
September 5th, 2022 at 7:10 PM ^
Hmm, I don't think you got the reference.
September 5th, 2022 at 9:48 AM ^
I'm thinking one of the most entertaining parts of the broadcast will be listening to the announcers try to find enough "positives" about Hawaii to indicate that its going to be a "good contest".
I also think we're going to get very good looks at every 3 and 4 deep player on the team. Early in the game.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:50 AM ^
ORJI IN THE END ZONE!!!
September 5th, 2022 at 11:16 AM ^
Right in front of the student section so they can join in the celebration…
September 5th, 2022 at 9:49 AM ^
The only thing humane about this game - if you are Hawai'i - is the start time, which accommodates your time zone problem.
That said, I guess that you can claim that lopsided losses to WKU and Vanderbilt are resume-building, just not the resume you want.
September 5th, 2022 at 10:54 AM ^
You realize they have to travel a long way for almost every road game, right? Going east is easier than going west. At least that makes me feel better about UM Rose Bowl record.
September 5th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
Disagree, going west is way easier than going east.
Michigan's rose bowl record is not due to jet lag. It's from a combination of not caring what happens in the rose bowl, getting screwed a couple of times, and going up against generational teams from Washington (1991), USC (2003) and Texas (2004).
September 5th, 2022 at 12:22 PM ^
This is the correct answer. Going west means you gain hours in the day, which means you basically get to “sleep in” the next day. Going east means you lose hours in the day, which either means you have to sleep on the plane (which is never restful) or try to go to bed earlier than your body is used to in order to get a proper rest.