Hawaii Football: UC Davis Knows Warriors Play a Different Game at Home

Honolulu, HI—The last time Hawaii lost a regular season football game at home it was against perennial national powerhouse Southern California.

Tonight, at Aloha Stadium (6:00 p.m. HST), UC Davis hopes to become the next, though they are no national powerhouse—quite the contrary.

The Aggies, from just outside of Sacramento, Calif., will be the fourth Football Championship Subdivision (Division II) team to play Hawaii in the Greg McMackin era and the 10th dating back to 2001, all of which were Hawaii wins.

Average margin of victory for the Warriors in those games? Thirty-three points.

UC Davis is just what the doctor ordered, you might say.

Coming off an 11-day road trip that saw Hawaii sleepwalk through the first quarter against Washington, and then "slide off the mountain," as McMackin put it, against Nevada-Las Vegas, an FCS opponent at home is just what the Warriors need. And UC Davis head coach Bob Biggs knows it.

"They're obviously a very good football team," Biggs told Aggie Insider this week. "Bryant Moniz, their quarterback, is one of the better quarterbacks in the country. [Hawaii's] very, very prolific in the pass game and they don't seem to play as well off the island, much like a lot of people don't seem to play very well when they go to the island.

"But they just don't seem like they played with the same energy in their last two games, against Washington and against University of Nevada-Las Vegas, as they did in their first game against Colorado when they did play on the island. You know, it takes its toll on a team when you change time zones... They just looked like a different team."

After beating Colorado 34-17 in its season opener on Sept. 3, Hawaii lost to the Huskies 40-32, and the Rebels 40-20. UC Davis, on the other hand, lost its first two games on the road before winning its first game of the season last week at home.

"UC Davis is a very fundamental, well-coached, well-disciplined football team," McMackin said at his weekly press conference. "And they're the type of team that wants to knock off the bigger teams. They beat Stanford three years ago (and) they beat San Jose State last year. Two years ago they played Boise (State) the best anybody has played them... And all of these are at the other team's home"

It actually was six years ago when the Aggies beat Stanford 20-17, but the point is not lost in McMackin's mistake. UC Davis has beaten big-time college football programs in the past and is certainly apt to do so again. Plus they're coming to Hawaii after already playing a game at Arizona State this season.

These big stages are becoming old hat for the Aggies.

"So we're gonna have our hands full," McMackin said. "I know they're from another division but that doesn't matter, because these guys will be sky high. They get a chance to play in front of a good crowd, and play a Division I football team, and they're gonna be jacked up.

"Now is when we need everybody to help us. People can either jump off the boat because really, we were 1-2 last year, and people thought we were going to be fifth to eighth. I really believe in these players, and I believe in these coaches. Other people and their opinions hold no power over the destiny of what we're going to do."

Biggs, who actually lived in Hawaii in the '70s, knows the Warriors will be coming after his team with aplomb.

"They're obviously hurting a little bit right now, and they got a bitter taste in their mouth I'm sure from these last two losses," Biggs said. "Particularly Las Vegas, who's been really hammered the last couple weeks by other (good) teams. So I'm sure they're anxious to get Davis at their place, and so we know we got a great challenge ahead of us."