Free - 2018 GBK Opponent Preview: Hawaii

With two games in the record book, the Army Black Knights continues its home stand against a distant rival from the Mountain West Conference, the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii.

When: Saturday, September 15th at Michie Stadium

Series Record: Army West Point has played Hawaii 3-times and has yet to win a game against the Rainbows, although the last two games were decided by 7 points or less.

Last Meeting: November 30, 2013 in Honolulu

Army made the long trip to the islands to face a team that was 0-11 going into the game, with expectations of gaining a win in what had been a disappointing season. Hawaii got off to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter, and after Army closed the lead to 14-7, Hawaii scored twice in the second quarter to lead 28-7 at the half. Sophomore QB AJ Schurr was sent in to replace Angel Santiago in the third quarter and he rallied the Black Knights with 3 unanswered touchdowns to tie the score at 28 all with 6 minutes remaining in the third quarter; but Hawaii bounced back with 2 quick touchdowns to take a 14 point lead and then held on for a 49-42 victory for their only win of the season.

2017 Record: 3-9 overall, 1-7 in MWC, 5th in MWC West

Hawaii won their first two games against UMass and Western Carolina, but then went on a 4 game losing streak that included an OT loss to Wyoming before beating San Jose State to escape the cellar in the MWC West. They finished the season with 5 straight losses including a 30-20 loss to BYU to end the season.

2018 Season to Date: (3-0)

* Hawaii got off to an early start to the 2018 season with the opening MWC conference game at Colorado State on August 25th. Hawaii and CSU traded touchdowns to start the game but then Hawaii scored 3 times on a FG and two touchdowns to take a 23-7 lead at the half. Hawaii scored another two touchdowns in the 3d quarter to extend their lead to 37-7 before CSU finally got it together to score 3 unanswered touchdowns and close the gap to 37-27. CSU scored one more TD and held Hawaii to two FGs, but the lead was too much to overcome and Hawaii started their season with a 43-34 win over the Rams to seize an early 1-0 lead in the conference.

* Hawaii hosted Navy on September 1 for their home opener in what we expected to be a preview of their game against Army. The Rainbow Warriors jumped out to an early 28-0 lead and were ahead 38-14 at the half. Navy scored twice in the third period to close the lead to 38-28, but then Hawaii got back on track and outscored Navy 21-13 in the final quarter to win going away 59-41.

* Last week, Hawaii hosted a weak Rice team for their third game of the season, and once again took an early lead scoring two unanswered touchdowns for a 14-0 lead before Rice put 7 on the scoreboard. UH led at the half 21-10 and started the 4th quarter with a 28-13 lead and then held on for a 43-29 win over the Owls.

Hawaii returned 43 lettermen and lost 33 lettermen from the 2017 with the losses far outweighing the returns in significance.

Head coach Nick Rolovich entered his third season having to replace:

*his defensive coordinator

*his starting quarterback

*his starting running back (Saint Juste), plus the top backup at RB

*three of his four leading receivers

*an all-conference left tackle and four offensive linemen who started at least one game in 2017

*his top three defensive linemen

*his top three safeties

Rainbow Warrior Offense

This year, Rolovich reinstalled the Run and Shoot offense that he played as a quarterback for Hawaii in 2001 - 2002. The offense features 4 receivers and a single running back, similar to other pass-oriented offenses that Army has faced this season. He brought in the talent he needed to run his offense and the results have been impressive so far.

2018 Offense Stats after 3 games:

Scoring Offense: 48.3 points per game (15th in FBS)

Total Offense: 540 yards per game (23d in FBS) with and average of 7.9 per play

Rushing Offense: 149 yards per game (87th in FBS) and average of 4.8 per attempt

Passing Offense: 391 yards per game (4th in FBS ) with an average of 10.5 per attempt

Hawaii’s offensive depth chart is highly unusual in that it does not include a single senior in the starting lineup with 5 seniors listed as backups.

Quarterback: RS Sophomore Cole MacDonald (6-4, 205) played in just six games as a reserve QB in 2017, but is off to a great start in 2018. He has completed 78 of 111 pass attempts (70.7%) for 1165 yards and 13 touchdowns with no interceptions for an efficiency rating of 197.

Running Back: Sophomore Freddie Hollie (6-0, 200 lbs) played in two games and had 9 carries for 27 yards in 2017, and he surpassed that easily in the first game of the season. Hollie leads the team with 250 net rushing yards on 50 attempts for a 5.0 average. Backing him in the lineup is Junior Dayton Furuta (5-11, 250 lbs) who played TE on special teams last year. He has quick feet for a big man and runs over people in the open field. Futura has 9 carries for 54 yards.

Receivers: Hawaii has just one of their top 4 receivers back from last season; RS Junior slotback John Ursua (5-10, 185) who is returning from an ACL injury in the San Jose State game last year. Prior to his injury, he led the FBS in receiving yards per game with 130.5 and had 5 receiving TDs. This year he has 26 receptions for 423 yards and 5 touchdowns. To replenish the receiver corps, Rolovich picked up 3 good JUCO transfers. Junior Cedrik Byrd (5-9, 170 lbs) is an impressive addition from Long Beach and currently leads the team in receptions with 27 for 319 yards and 5 touchdowns. Junior Jo Jo Ward arrived from Tyler, Tx and is currently third on the team with 10 receptions for 245 yards. Senior Marcus Armstrong-Brown joins Ursua as the only other receiver returning from last years team and the only senior in the starting lineup this year. He is fourth on the team with 6 receptions for 75 yards.

Offensive Line: The OL for Hawaii is likely to be the least experienced line that Army West Point defense will face all year with two freshmen and a sophomore in the lineup:

- LT: Freshman Ilm Manning (6-4, 280 lbs) no games prior to 2018

- LG: RS Junior J.R Hensley (6-5, 310 lbs) 11 games with 6 starts

- C: RS Sophomore Taaga Tuulima (6-2, 290 lbs) 7 games

- RG: Freshman Solo Vaipulu (6-2, 310 lbs) no games prior to 2018

- RT: Junior Kohl Levao (6-6, 340 lbs) JUCO transfer from City College of San Francisco

Defensive coordinator Corey Battoon begins his first season with Hawaii after serving in a similar capacity at Florida Atlantic in 2017.

2018 Defensive Stats:

Scoring Defense: allowed 34.7 points per game (106th in FBS)

Total Defense: allowed 503 yards per game (116th in FBS)

Rushing Defense: allowed 196 yards per game (100th in FBS)

Pass Defense: allowed 307 yards per game (109th in FBS)

Defensive Line: The DL is relatively young and inexperienced. Two of 4 linemen combined for 8 starts in 2017.

- DE: Senior Zeno Choi (6-3, 280 lbs) Played 12 games with one start and 19 tackles

- DT: Freshman Blessman Ta’ala (6-1, 310 lbs)

- DT: Junior Samiuela Akoteu (6-2, 280 lbs) Played 11 games with seven starts and recorded 26 tackles

- DE: Sophomore Derek Thomas (6-3, 225 lbs) Transfer from Ceritto College

Linebackers: The most experienced unit on defense and on the team as a whole.

WILL: Junior Solomon Matautia (6-1, 230 lbs) Returning two-year starter was team’s second-leading tackler with 85 tackles in 2017 including 4.5 tackles-for-loss and 1 sack. He leads the team with 31 tackles including 1 TFL.

MLB: Senior Jahlani Tavai started all 12 games. Selected to the Chuck Bednarik, Bronco Nagurski, and Polynesian Player of the Year watch lists and led the team with 124 tackles (10th nationally in total tackles and tackles per game) He is 4th in tackles with 20.

Cornerbacks:

RS Junior Rojestermann Farris (6-1, 180 lbs) entered the season a a two year starter at cornerback with 43 tackles and 1 interception in 2017.

Sophomore Eugene Ford (6-2, 195 lbs) played in 12 games with 6 starts in 2017 and finished the season with 27 tackles and an interception.

Safeties:

Safety: Junior Kalen Hicks (6-3 200) Played in 12 games with 3 starts in 2017 and recorded 19 tackles, including 1.5 tackles-for-loss, and 1 sack. He is second on the team in tackles with 22.

Safety: Junior Ikem Okeke (6-0 200) Played in 12 games as a reserve linebacker in 2017 and tallied six tackles. He is tied for fourth on the team with 20 tackles.

Nickel: RS Senior Manu Hudson-Rasmussen (6-0 180) JUCO transfer in 2017, played in 11 games including starts in the first five games of the year at cornerback. Finished the season with 21 tackles, including a tackle-for-loss…tied for second on the team with four pass breakups.

Hawaii has surprised most of the experts this season with their 3-0 start. Before the season started most prognosticators thought Hawaii would have a hard time earning a bowl appearance, but now they look more like a contender for the Mountain West Championship. The Rainbow offense will win a lot of games for them, but if they may struggle against teams that can defend against their run and shoot. The defense is almost as bad as their offense is good.

The game against Liberty provided a reasonable preview of what Army West Point can expect against Hawaii. Both of their offenses are heavily weighted toward the passing game, although the Hawaii quarterback can be expected to run the ball substantially more often than the Liberty QB. Neither team has a good defense. Both teams started the season ranked near the bottom of the FBS, but Hawaii gained some early respect and CBS Sports had them at 51st in the FBS before the Rice game.

We noted earlier that Hawaii’s game against Navy would be an even better predictor of what to expect this coming Saturday. Surprisingly, Hawaii had 29 first downs to Navy’s 19. They had no problems passing against Navy with 31 completions in 42 attempts for 436 yards and 6 passing touchdowns, but Navy held Hawaii to 85 yards rushing with an average of 3.1 per carry and just 1 rushing TD. Navy did a good job of getting to the quarterback Cole McDonald who was held to a negative 14 yards in the game on 3 Sacks. Turnovers were minimal with Navy coming out on top with 1 fumble recovery to no turnovers for Hawaii. The Mids did not intercept any passes.

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