Hawai'i Bowl - Scout Inc's take
- Thread starter BobbyBlueChip
- Start date
Analysis from Blue Gray Sky
The thing that jumps out at me after writing this is just how old the Hawaii team is. Of the 22 starters, only 1 (running back Pilares) isn't at least a junior. 18 of the 22 starters are at least seniors if you go by when they graduated high school. There are no true freshmen on the entire 2-deep. Contrast that with 8 freshmen on ND's 2-deep, 5 of which have started a game.
Hawaii's team is full of junior college transfers and transfers from other colleges, which explains why there are so many college veterans on the team. However, that experience hasn't translated into discipline as Hawaii leads the nation in penalties and is only second to TCU in penalties per game. It's hard to say if the penalties are more of the personal foul or false start variety, but Hawaii lately has had a reputation of hitting through the echo of the whistle. A lot of electronic ink has been used writing about ND's passion and willingness to fight back this season. How they handle an (overly) aggressive Hawaii team from the start will give us an early clue as to how the game might unfold.
I mentioned a few times how the second half improvement was noticeable in a few players like QB Greg Alexander and DE David Veikune. They certainly have stepped up their production, but it's only fair to point out that their competition over those games was hardly impressive. The first 7 opponents that Hawaii faced went a collective 62-26 on the season while the last 6 only went 28-46, including 4 teams that won 3 or fewer games. How much of that late season improvement was due to Hawaii improving and how much was due to the much lower level of competition?
Looking at the talent levels, ND has the edge at just about every position. But what has made this season so maddening is that despite the edge in talent, Notre Dame has still struggled and looked awful at times. Getting Micheal Floyd and Brian Smith back from injury will definitely help as they not only are two of the more talented players on their side of the ball, but also the two likely to fire up teammates through their play. It's easy to relax when the days leading up to the game are filled with beach parties and trips to water parks. If ND can focus and not treat thet entire bowl game trip like a vacation, ND should win, perhaps even easily. But nothing has come easy this season. Assuming ND starts out slow, they will need to avoid the 4th quarter collapses that have plagued them the latter half of the season. Both teams have been rather generous to their opponents with turnovers (ND is 85th in turnover margin, Hawaii is 90th), so it's very likely that the game could come down to which team is able to hold on the ball more. Much has been made about Hawaii's nation worst sack numbers, so if the Irish defense are ever going to have that breakout sack-filled game we've all been waiting for, now's as good a time as any.
The thing that jumps out at me after writing this is just how old the Hawaii team is. Of the 22 starters, only 1 (running back Pilares) isn't at least a junior. 18 of the 22 starters are at least seniors if you go by when they graduated high school. There are no true freshmen on the entire 2-deep. Contrast that with 8 freshmen on ND's 2-deep, 5 of which have started a game.
Hawaii's team is full of junior college transfers and transfers from other colleges, which explains why there are so many college veterans on the team. However, that experience hasn't translated into discipline as Hawaii leads the nation in penalties and is only second to TCU in penalties per game. It's hard to say if the penalties are more of the personal foul or false start variety, but Hawaii lately has had a reputation of hitting through the echo of the whistle. A lot of electronic ink has been used writing about ND's passion and willingness to fight back this season. How they handle an (overly) aggressive Hawaii team from the start will give us an early clue as to how the game might unfold.
I mentioned a few times how the second half improvement was noticeable in a few players like QB Greg Alexander and DE David Veikune. They certainly have stepped up their production, but it's only fair to point out that their competition over those games was hardly impressive. The first 7 opponents that Hawaii faced went a collective 62-26 on the season while the last 6 only went 28-46, including 4 teams that won 3 or fewer games. How much of that late season improvement was due to Hawaii improving and how much was due to the much lower level of competition?
Looking at the talent levels, ND has the edge at just about every position. But what has made this season so maddening is that despite the edge in talent, Notre Dame has still struggled and looked awful at times. Getting Micheal Floyd and Brian Smith back from injury will definitely help as they not only are two of the more talented players on their side of the ball, but also the two likely to fire up teammates through their play. It's easy to relax when the days leading up to the game are filled with beach parties and trips to water parks. If ND can focus and not treat thet entire bowl game trip like a vacation, ND should win, perhaps even easily. But nothing has come easy this season. Assuming ND starts out slow, they will need to avoid the 4th quarter collapses that have plagued them the latter half of the season. Both teams have been rather generous to their opponents with turnovers (ND is 85th in turnover margin, Hawaii is 90th), so it's very likely that the game could come down to which team is able to hold on the ball more. Much has been made about Hawaii's nation worst sack numbers, so if the Irish defense are ever going to have that breakout sack-filled game we've all been waiting for, now's as good a time as any.
listen bobby...i want to be reimbursed by you if nd can't beat this weak team...deal....:142smilie
happy holidays to you & your family bobby...:toast:
happy holidays to you & your family bobby...:toast:
by having the 4 horsemen as your avatar means that you are backing nd in every game...remember i know where you live now...:142smilie
I certainly could be talked into ND . . . and rather easily. Either they blown them out or they get blown out. It's all about "want to" and I'm having a tough time gauging it, but if I've got questions, it probably means there is a motivation problem.
