College Football News Preview 2020: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Offense
Stop with the turnovers. It’s always a high-risk, high-reward thing when it comes to the Hawaii offense that likes to throw and throw some more, and the current coaching staff will and to crank down the mistakes in a big way.
The 2019 Rainbow Warriors turned it over 21 times, and the 2018 version gave it up 14 times. Last year? 30, and that tied them with Central Michigan for the most giveaways in college football.
Turnovers didn’t always equal losses, but they made things a whole lot harder. On the flip side, Hawaii was 6-1 when it gave it up just once or less, and was 3-0 when it didn’t turn it over.
Biggest Key To The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Defense
Don’t give up so many first downs. Granted, Hawaii didn’t finish last in the nation in first downs allowed per game, but it did give up more than anyone in America by a lot.
Again, to be fair, it played two more games than anyone but Clemson and LSU, but the 341 first downs allowed were still 17 more than Kent State gave up and 26 more than Arkansas State allowed.
This isn’t anything new for Hawaii, and that’s been the cost of doing business considering the team’s style over the years, but it’s still an area to tighten up with more of a pass rush than the 2019 D generated.
Key Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Player To A Successful Season
QB Chevan Cordeiro, Soph.
Todd Graham has already stated that Cordeiro is the starter and one of the pieces of the puzzle he can count on considering there hasn’t been time or a chance to get everything going as normal.
Now the sophomore has to produce.
Cole McDonald left early and was picked up by the Tennessee Titans, and now it’s Cordeiro’s turn.
He didn’t exactly save the day in the win over Arizona, but he leveled things out when McDonald kept throwing picks. He’s not the most accurate passer – he only hit 58% of his throws – but he’s careful, he doesn’t make a ton of mistakes, and he can run.
Now he has to be fantastic as the main man for the new era.
Key Game To The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Season
Nevada, Oct. 3
While the Rainbow Warriors should certainly be dangerous enough to pull off a win at Arizona, and they’re not going to to concede anything to UCLA in Honolulu, they could be 1-3 to kick things off.
And then, after the trip to Oregon, they start the Mountain West season in a West battle with Nevada in a game to measure just how much things have changed under the new coaching staff.
Hawaii won 54-3 last season, but it lost seven of the previous eight games before that. With at Air Force, Boise State, and at Fresno State next in Mountain West play, beating the Wolf Pack is a must.
– Hawaii Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Hawaii Fun Stats
– Passing Yards: Hawaii 5,056 – Opponents 3,428
– Penalties: Hawaii 103 for 918 yards – Opponents 88 for 767 yards
– Fumbles: Hawaii 18 (lost 13) – Opponents 11 (lost 5)