4. Hawaii can win if…
Take advantage of mistakes. If the Broncos turn the ball over or have special teams miscues, the Warriors have to take advantage and be aggressive with their passing attack. If they can play mistake free ball and move the ball through the air, they may be able to escape with the upset.
Hawaii can win if they play mistake free football meaning no silly penalties and no turnovers. And scoring touchdowns not field goals against Boise State because field goals will not beat the Broncos.
Sean O’Toole
Their defense is able to keep the Boise playmakers at bay and Cole McDonald has the unicorn of a game-stat stuffer type of performance without the turnovers.
If they clean up the mistakes on offense, and get more 3-and outs, they have an outside chance of winning this game.
They score more points than the other team. No seriously, it all comes down to controlling the game and not letting the score get away from them. It’ll be tough going into the cold, playing on the blue, but the Bows could pull through.
Hawaii can win if they pass effectively, force Boise State turnovers, and if the temperature remains above 43 degrees fahrenheit and it does not rain.
Hawaii can win if whoever ends up starting at quarterback gets off to a hot start and they can avoid unnecessary penalties. McDonald was only 12-of-23 in the first half during their last time on the blue and they had multiple false starts and personal fouls, while Boise State fired on all cylinders to seize the advantage against a shaky Hawaii defense, putting the game out of reach fairly early. Eliminating the mistakes on all fronts will give them a chance to hang around.
They need to be perfect. The offense needs to be more efficient than last time which barely completed 50 percent of its passes. Get that number to 60 percent, at least, and the Warriors have a shot. The running game has been on the uptick for Hawaii and getting that going to mix in with the passing game would keep the Broncos defense honest. Also, at most there can be only one interception by whatever quarterback Nick Rolovich
Hawaii can win in a shootout but the defense has to make some plays. They allowed five passing touchdowns last time and by three different quarterbacks. The Warriors will need make some stops because for how good the Hawaii offense can be it is not going to score on every drive.
Hawaii can win if McDonald plays his best football. Defensively the Warriors are going to give up some points, so Hawaii’s best shot is turning this into a shootout and making explosive plays count. That includes timely runs from a resurgent ground game that could keep BSU’s talented LBs honest. As always, this is contingent on taking care of the football and not allowing Boise easy opportunities on a short field.
Basically a repeat of question 3. If Hawaii can keep the QB clean, they have a chance.
They capitalize on their big plays with points. They had big plays in the first matchup but still ended up stalling out before the could get in the end zone