First Look At Hawaii’s 2022 Football Schedule
Warriors schedule under first year head coach Timmy Chang
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Breaking down Warriors schedule
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On Wednesday the Mountain West released the 2022 Conference Football schedule.
After wrapping up a five-game non-conference schedule that includes Vanderbilt, Western Kentucky, Michigan, Duquesne and New Mexico State, The Warriors will hit the road to face the defending West Division champion San Diego State Aztecs to open their conference slate. The Aztecs lose Defensive Player of the Year Cameron Thomas and running back Greg Bell, but they pulled in the second-ranked recruiting class in the conference and tend to do a good job replacing talent that has moved on. It will be a tough task to open the conference slate in the brand new Snapdragon Stadium.
Aug 27 Vanderbilt
Sept 3 WKU
Sept 10 at Michigan
Sept 17 Duquesne
Sept 24 at New Mexico State
Oct 1 OPEN DATE
Oct 8 at San Diego State
Oct 15 Nevada
Oct 22 at Colorado State
Oct 29 Wyoming
Nov 5 at Fresno State
Nov 12 Utah State
Nov 19 UNLV
Nov 26 at San Jose State
They will then return home to host the Nevada Wolf Pack. This is a winnable game for the Bows as the Wolf Pack are also a team that has a new coaching staff and has taken a hit from the transfer portal. The former leader of the Pack, Coach Jay Norvell took the Colorado State job and brought some key contributors over to Fort Collins with him.
The Colorado State Wolf Pack umm…. I mean Rams, will certainly be looking for revenge as they host the Bows the next week. Coach Timmy Chang faces his former boss for the first time. It will be interesting to see Colorado State play under Norvell. Last season the Rams had little to no offensive identity under Steve Addazio but that should certainly change as Norvell should bring his Air Raid attack to Fort Collins. In the past, the Bows have struggled when traveling to elevation and the cold, but hopefully, they can build off of last season’s impressive win up in Laramie.
Speaking of Laramie, the following week the Cowboys visit T.C Ching Field for the first time. Wyoming has also been hit by the transfer portal losing a couple key players including receiver Isaiah Neyor, running back Xazavian Valladay, and projected starting Quarterback Levi Williams. I like Hawaii’s chances in this homestand.
The toughest road game of the season (besides Michigan) should be against rival Fresno State. Jeff Tedford returns to Fresno to lead the preseason conference champion favorite Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are loaded on Offense with Quarterback Jake Haener returning from the transfer portal and two of the conference’s top receivers in Jalen Cropper and Josh Kelly also coming back. Running back Ronnie Rivers who had seemed to be playing for the last decade has finally run out of eligibility, but Jordan Mimms was solid in his absence last season. Haener has seen his struggles against the Bows the last two seasons so we should expect to see him at his best this year.
The Warriors will then return home to face the defending conference champion Utah State Aggies and then finish the home slate against UNLV the next week. The Aggies return Quarterback Logan Bonner but lose Biletnikoff award semifinalist Deven Thompkins to the NFL draft. Coach Blake Anderson took a team that was 1-5 in 2020 and turned them into the 11-3 conference champions in 2021 and he looks to continue that momentum going forward.
The UNLV Rebels beat the Warriors in Las Vegas last season and although their record was 2-10 on the year, they have shown improvement under Coach Marcus Arroyo. They lost two close games to the two division champions in Utah State and San Diego State. Kailua product Cameron Friel was the Mountain West Freshman of the year and will look to build off of a Freshman season where he was thrown into the fire due to injuries but improved and played well down the stretch.
The last game of the season is one that some Warrior fans will have circled as the Bows travel to San Jose to take on a Chevan Cordeiro-led Spartans team. After winning the conference in 2020, the Spartans took a step backwards in 2021. Nick Starkle struggled with injuries and the receiving core lost a couple key members from the 2020 squad and struggled with drops. Coach Brent Brennan and the Spartans will look to bounce back in 2022.
It’s hard to put a number on how many games the Warriors will win in 2022 right now because the roster is still being worked on and it is a brand new coaching staff. Head coach Timmy Chang has made it clear that after getting off to a late start due to the timing of his hiring, he is in no rush to fill the roster. He wants to wait and see what happens with the transfer portal and make sure that he is bringing in the right group of guys to finish off the 2022 recruiting class.
There are some challenging road games on the 2022 schedule but due to a few other teams in the conference dealing with transition and the transfer portal there are some winnable games. If the Bows can win the games they are supposed to and steal one or two upsets, I can see them being bowl eligible in Coach Changs inaugural season. As always, let’s go Bows!
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