I was out of town all weekend, so I am woefully behind on news and current events. In lieu of anything on Ryan Perrilloux being kicked off LSU’s team or Ryan Mallet having to redshirt at Arkansas (both of which were inevitable, really), I offer you this really early analysis of the Hawaii at Florida game on Labor Day weekend.
Florida will pound Hawaii. It won’t be close. Florida could sit Tim Tebow out for the game and it still would be ugly.
Now, Hawaii’s new head coach A. Nonymous Whatshisface (actually, promoted defensive coordinator Greg McMackin) says the Warriors are not rebuilding and that they plan on playing like the WAC champions they are. He is keeping as much continuity as he can while imposing his personality on the team. He should know how to do this from his previous head coaching job at… Oregon Tech?
Yes, that Oregon Tech. The one that has discontinued football. At the very least he has the Warriors convinced they’re a good defensive team, having placed 34th in total defense a year ago. I guess he left out the part about posting that against the 111th rated schedule.
So, back to Florida. The reason the Gators would decimate Hawaii even with one arm tied behind their back is this: the game is taking place east of the Pacific time zone. Hawaii is awful east of the Pacific time zone. To wit, here are Hawaii’s last several games played in the Mountain time zone or farther east against notable teams:
- Georgia 41 - Hawaii 10 (2007) - In fairness, Georgia was really good the second half of last year
- Boise State 41 - Hawaii 34 (2006) - Boise did break through to the BCS, so props for a close game
- Alabama 25 - Hawaii 17 (2006) - Bama went 6-6 and fired its coach in 2006
- Michigan State 41 - Hawaii 14 (2005) - MSU went 5-6 and nearly fired its coach in 2005
- Boise State 69 - Hawaii 3 (2004) - Sure Boise went 11-1 that year, but look at that score!
- UTEP 51 - Hawaii 20 (2004) - UTEP was only 8-4 that year; not a juggernaut or anything
- Rice 41 - Hawaii 29 (2004) - This was no miracle year for the Owls; Rice went 3-8, but one of those three was a demolition of a Hawaii team that beat Northwestern at home the same season
If you go even farther back, you find losses at Boise State, USC, BYU, Michigan State, and Navy as well as a 5-point win over a 4-7 Rice team in 2002. The wins in this category are generally over bad teams like Louisiana Tech, Utah State, and Idaho.
The pattern with the Hawaii Warriors is pretty clear: if they go east of the Pacific time zone and play anyone with a pulse, they get smoked. The close games were against a conference rival they knew well (Boise State) and against a lifeless Alabama team with an atrocious offense. They even lost to a normal (read: pitiful) Rice team by two scores.
The travel involved from the islands to the mainland must be killer, so its understandable to a degree. However, when Cam Newton is playing target practice in the late third quarter on August 30th, don’t say you weren’t warned.
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2 months ago
Agreed this will be a pounding, but I'm not sure it will happen from the get-go, unless FL gets a special teams score (Hi, Brandon James and Chris Rainey) or a defensive score.
Hawaii still has plenty of offense, and while the word is that the FL defense is improved, they are still very young. FL's biggest weakness is its d-line. If the Gators don't get a push up front, Hawaii could move the ball.
Then again, all those passes means the clock stops, giving more time for Tebow and Company.
Never mind, this will be a whooping from the opening kickoff.
from 2 months ago
In just the last few years, Hawaii has beaten Michigan State, Purdue, Washington, Cincinnati, Arizona State, Boise State, Alabama, and the list goes on and on for high quality teams losing at Hawaii. So basically, your point bites and the same teams that you mention will beat Hawaii, i.e., Florida, and other SEC teams not on probation, refuse to play Hawaii at Hawaii. So how awesome are these teams? Where is their courage? It does not exist. The Hawaii bashing in the Bleacher report is sickening and redundant. Texas and Michigan state have paid contractual penalty fees to pull out of games with Hawaii and even Michigan would not play them at Michigan, choosing instead to play Appl. State. Great choice there boys. Also, the new head coach, McMackin has a terrific coaching career in college and the NFL, so you got that all wrong too. Sad.
from 2 months ago
Calm down Mike. I'm not a part of some grand conspiracy against Hawaii on BR; I didn't know the site existed until a couple weeks ago. A couple things:
1. I have seen that Greg McMackin has a nice record as an assistant coach. Career lifers as assistants rarely do well as head coaches, though, and there's a huge difference between being an assistant and a head coach. We'll see if he can break that trend, but history doesn't favor him.
2. Those wins you rattled off came either at Hawaii or in the Pacific time zone. My point still stands. I didn't even mention the 1-point win in overtime against 5-7 LA Tech last season.
The point is not that Hawaii can't beat good teams. It has. The point is that the wins don't come east of the Pacific time zone.
No one used to play at Gonzaga in basketball either, but it's had nearly a decade of sustained success in the regular season and the post season. As a result Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, and Tennessee all visited Spokane this season. If Hawaii wins some bowl games away from Aloha Stadium and becomes a nationally-recognized power, it will become more attractive to play there.
I hate to tell you, though, but the loss to Georgia set the cause back several years. After an undefeated regular season with a record-breaking quarterback and the best coach in school history, they walked into the Superdome and got absolutely smoked. There's not much else I can say.
2 months ago
Teams don't like to play Hawaii at their stadium because:
a) there's no reward for beating them
b) it's incredibly expensive and not a big moneymaker from a TV standpoint (time zone differential)
c) it kills almost two days because of travel if you're an east coast team
Hawaii needs to understand that traditional power schools have been earning their national respect for decades, some for over a century. You can't just whip up a high-scoring offense, put up big numbers, and then expect everyone to take you seriously. Especially with a showing like the Sugar Bowl. I do think the Warriors are on the right track and will benefit from playing teams like Florida at their places. That was FSU's approach in the 80's when they came out of nowhere. That's what all unknown teams have to do in order to command respect. It will come someday, as long as you guys shell out some money for a good coaching staff.
I thought McMackin was when you take your girl on a date to McDonalds.
2 months ago
Hawaii & Boise State will be for real in the not-too-distant future.
That time has not come yet. The Boise State team that beat OU proved that the WAC isn't always for chumps. The Hawaii team that got smoked by GA proved that the WAC usually still is.
I do not really see an impossibility for these two teams becoming recognized football powers. Let's stick to Hawaii for the moment, though, because they're the subject of the article (a good one too, thanks for a great read).
Hawaii will get smoked this year, but I imagine that they could walk into the Autzen Zoo and win in a few years. They've got to win their conference and, every year, win at least one game against a big-time conference. And guess what... I think they could do it.
But not yet, Warrior fans. Not yet.
from 2 months ago
It also doesn't help that the bottom of the WAC is horrible. Idaho, Utah State, and New Mexico State may be I-A teams in title, but they are not in quality.
It would be nice to see a new conference made of the best teams of the WAC and MWC - Boise State, Hawaii, Fresno State, and Nevada from the WAC and BYU, Utah, Air Force, and TCU from the MWC. Call it the Big West, since it'd be similar to the Big East in size and in a couple years, in quality too.
2 months ago
I don't mean to demean your article but....
No one expects Hawaii to win in Florida. Why are you writing an article saying "Why Florida Pounding Hawaii Is Inevitable?" I'm sure Hawaii will be at least a 10 point underdog against Florida. You're not exactly making a bold statement...
Why are bringing up games from 4 years ago against Rice and UTEP? Why don't you bring up games from 20 years ago?
from 2 months ago
The point was to point out Hawaii's curious inability to play well against good teams in games played east of the Pacific time zone. I thought it was an interesting pattern. Florida is incidental in this case; I'd be making the same point if the Warriors' first game was at Southern Miss or Troy, only not predicting a blowout.
Games from four years ago are relevant because the main issue here is travel time and distance. That will never change for Hawaii no matter the year. It's a natural disadvantage that Hawaii has yet to figure out a way to overcome.
2 months ago
David my man,
Give the little fellers some hope. I think Hawaii is gonna make some noise this year, more so because of the schedule they have. To tell you the truth, i dont see how these little fellers made it so far in the past 3 years. The teams they beat need to check themselves. Theres no excuse, this is Hawaii???
The mainland schools should be dominating them in everyway , in Hawaii or here on the Mainland but these lil fellers are finding a way. This past years schedule was weak i agree, but the wins they pulled off by the hair on thier nut sacks still makes me wonder how the hell they did it??? If you look at thier travel plans for the LA tech then to vegas dammm, they did it. This Hawaii team should have been broken a long time ago. Just the fact that your even writing about this game further proves that these lil'fellers are making some noise. David their not news worthy!! Keep the focus on the real teams. If Hawaii makes it to the show then shed some light on them. But if they earn making it to the show then you need to write about the loser programs that loss to them.
If hawaii even scores a running touchdown on Florida, just 1!!! The big bad school point is lost. Hawaii should not even get more then 3 first downs!!! But if they compete well and by a stroke of divine intervention that Hawaii wins. Your gonna have to come up with more useless opinios of how or why they won. Instaed of focusing on these teams that loss to Hawaii.
Its on you lil'fellers!!! until they make it to the big show dont give them any hype!!! David their not worthy...
yet??
from 2 months ago
I'm not sure what you're saying here. I think there's some sarcasm, but I can't tell the end point. You might want to proofread your comments next time.
I think the complaint is that I am getting down on a team that's trying to rise through the ranks to join the top tier of college football. That's not it at all. There's quite a bit of snark, but there are two main points in this piece:
1) the average fan doesn't know the name of Hawaii's coach, and
2) Hawaii has not been able to beat good teams east of the Pacific time zone.
Both of those are valid and stand. Hawaii has some nice wins at home and on the west coast, but the school has ambition of being a national power. If you want to be a national power, you have to win big games on the road.
2 months ago
The bottom of many big BCS conferences are simply
awful. Careful when you blame the WAC for that trait
when the bottom of the Big Ten, the Big 12 and most
east coast conferences bite too. Hawaii and Boise
State has feasted on such BCS bottom dwellers and so
has Fresno State. Kansas State just paid Fresno State
hundreds of thousands in penalty fee monies to cancel
their game with Fresno at Kansas State. Fresno goes
away to Rutgers instead. Now that is sad for both
Kansas State and their conference. Boise State beats
Oklahoma, Hawaii creams Arizona State, Alabama,
Cincinnati, Michigan State, Purdue, Washington and the
list goes on and on. Stop the Hawaii bashing. Michigan
State and Texas pay Hawaii to chicken out of their
games with Hawaii. The Warriors will go 8-5 this year
after a slow start, re-build and go to a Bowl Game.
They will get back to the BCS. BCS schools are too
chicken to play WAC powerhouses away. It is that
simple. You list your reasons why and those reasons
will still be covered in feathers. Chicken feathers.
from 2 months ago
I would love to see more games between top schools. I would love to see teams like Hawaii, Boise State, and Fresno State get ample chances to prove themselves against the traditional powers.
Partially, it doesn’t happen because of the BCS. Since only two teams get to play for a championship, the system rewards teams for being risk-averse. Teams schedule one decent non-conference team, because you generally won’t get voted into the title game without one nice-looking out of conference game, and then raid the bakery for the rest. Don’t like it? Complain to the anti-playoff crowd.
Mostly, traditional powers don’t play at WAC schools because it’s too expensive. The TV money doesn’t make up for the loss of a home game’s ticket revenue and the travel costs are high.
The Pac 10 schools are right nearby, complain to them the way that Southern Miss, Troy, UCF, and others in the east complain about eastern powers not playing them in their homes. Once you’re done complaining, draw up a business case as to why it makes sense to have BCS schools make frequent trips to WAC home stadiums and call me back.
Big time college football is a business, and nothing speaks louder than green visages of dead presidents.
2 months ago
Hamilton on the $10 bill is not a president. Franklin on the $100 bill? Nope, not a president. The list goes on and on. Green visages, yes, and most SEC states, with the exception of Florida, perhaps, are green with envy, because after they lose on the road, well, they have to go back home, like, to their home state, ughh. Hawaii fans get to go back to Hawaii after road wins or losses. Life is sweet. Aloha. Good night and good luck, Sir.
2 months ago
I could add one salient point to Hawaii's smacking at the hands of Georgia - hey, maybe it's just Georgia and the WAC.
How'd that Georgia/Boise State game turn out in 2005 again?
2 months ago
Georgia Tech 28, Fresno State 40. Georgia Tech beaten badly on a neutral field away from the south by a WAC team, Oh, yea, we're talking December 2007. Last year.
from about 1 month ago
Um, Georgia Tech is not Georgia.
Not even close.
about 1 month ago
Interesting that Hawaii beat every single team that you have listed above in Hawaii with the exception of Georgia which like Florida is too chicken to play Hawaii in Hawaii. Every team you listed above Hawaii has beaten at home except Georgia. You try to label them as inferior. Every team that has been in the Top 25 over the last several years has been formidable at home. Stop the Hawaii bashing.
25 days ago
DAVID,
Like David in the Bible, Hawaii represents the Davids. Like Goliath which Florida represents are the likes of Georgia and USCs alike.
You see David, Hawaii recruits are 2 and 3 star players and if you look at their line-up, mostly walk-ons and non-scholarship players crack the starting line up. The Georgia's, Florida's and USC's have more 5 star players that plays their starting line up in the country.
To even mention our Warriors in the BCS is like hitting the lottery. Our meagher expense compare to the SEC's lower teams (door mat so to speak) have better facilities and more money to support the whole university's. To make Hawaii travel to Florida, that's almost their budget.
If Hawaii makes Florida work hard and Hawaii score points on 'em, it's like the J.V. team of freshmans scoring on the National Champions...Get it.....
from 25 days ago
I know; I also root for my mother's college, UCF. I saw what it did to that school when the Big East picked USF over UCF when it expanded post-ACC raid. It killed me to see how close they came to beating Texas last year.
However, I have even less hopes for a good game out of Hawaii because the game time was announced to be 12:30 pm. It's going to be extremely hot, extremely humid, there will be no breeze or wind, and it's the equivalent of a 6:30 am start time for the Warriors. They have no idea what they're walking into, and they won't be ready for it.
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