Hawaii will enter Autzen Stadium Saturday night as five-touchdown underdogs against the No. 13 Oregon Ducks. If the Rainbow Warriors do lose by 35, it likely won’t be because they failed to put points on the scoreboard.
Head coach Timmy Chang, once a Heisman candidate when he played for Hawaii, installed an offense where options 1 through 3 are to throw the ball; option 4 might be to throw the ball deep.
Fortunately for Hawaii, they have a quarterback seemingly up to the task in Brayden Schager. The junior from Dallas, Texas is your prototypical pro-style quarterback at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds. He is averaging 325 yards through the air and has 10 touchdowns. But Schager has been known for throwing a few interceptions. He has five so far in just three games.
“Their quarterback has probably the strongest arm as far as getting the ball down the field that we’ve seen so far this year and they connect on deep shots,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “I know that (they’re) looking for more balance, but they create explosive plays with those throws down the field and they have some guys that can really stretch the field.”
One of those guys looking to stretch the field is receiver Pofele Ashlock. The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder from Euless, Texas is having a nice beginning to his career after redshirting last season. Ashlock is averaging 105 yards receiving and has three touchdowns. His best game came against Stanford where he caught eight passes for 114 yards and two scores.
The other main target for Schager is Steven McBride, a senior who is a transfer from Kansas. He has already surpassed his stats in Hawaii in his three years as a Jayhawk. McBride leads the team with five touchdowns.
Hawaii’s offensive line won’t be the biggest Oregon will see this season, but they do have 6-foot-8, 310-pound Luke Felix-Fualalo, who transferred in from Utah. He played in 12 games for the Utes, mostly as a reserve lineman and on special teams.
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