Boise State University (-14) at University of Hawaii at Manoa

Date: Saturday November 21st, 2020

Time: 9:00pm MT

Stadium: Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium (50,000)

TV:CBS Sports Network

Commentators: Randy Cross, John Sadak

Know Thy Enemy

I don’t think we’re in Boise anymore Buster!

Somewhere over the rainbow to the land of Aloha Boise State will go for a Mountain West showdown with the Rainbow Warriors from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. It will be all business this time around as the team will be on the island for a touch over 24 hours, flying over Friday and coming back after the game Saturday.

The Rainbow Warriors (2-2,2-2) are under a new commander this year in head coach Todd Graham. Graham was hired as the Hawaii head coach after being away from college football for the past two seasons. Graham was most recently the head coach at Arizona State University. The Graham era started off with an impressive 34-19 win, on the road, against Fresno State. Since that win they have alternated wins and losses and looked less than impressive against Wyoming and San Diego State, scoring 7 and 10 points respectively.

Hawaii will feature a typical Todd Graham up-tempo, spread offense that utilizes space to move the ball down the field. This year, the Warriors turn to Chevan Cordeiro to take over the quarterbacking duties after the departure of Sean McDonald. Most people from the Island think that Cordeiro has the opportunity to develop into a quality football player for the Warriors. Aiding in his development will be the same starting offensive line from a year ago, a pair of veteran wide receivers, Jared Smart and Rico Bussey as well as a “do-it-all” running back Calvin Turner.

When Hawaii’s offense is clicking they can move the ball down the field in a hurry. Through four games they have eight scoring drives that have lasted under three minutes. Six of those eight drives have lasted under 1:50.

On Defense, the Warriors will line up in multiple formations but the philosophy is the same. They want to run an attacking style of defense. They want to force the opposing offense to operate under extreme pressure and confusion. This has been evident this season with their 33 tackles for loss, seven sacks, six interceptions and three forced fumbles. Hawaii has playmakers at every level of their defense, whether it's Jonah Laulu on the defensive line, Darius Muasau at linebacker or Quentin Frazier in the secondary.

The Warriors and the Broncos have battled 17 times. The Broncos lead the series 14-3 with Boise State currently holding an eight-game win streak. Hawaii’s three wins in the series all come at home. So they have that going for them, which is nice.

What Happened Twice Last Year

Regular Season

The Broncos remained perfect at home against the Rainbow Warriors in seven meetings, despite losing Bachmeier early in the second quarter. With Bachmeier out, backup quarterback Chase Cord ensured that the Broncos' passing offense didn't miss a beat, throwing touchdown strikes of 33, 42, and 8 yards.

Jaylon Henderson also played significant time at quarterback as the Broncos' trio of signal callers combined for 315 yards passing.

Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough as the Warriors fell behind early and never seemed to have an answer for the Broncos offense. No.14 Boise State dismantled Hawaii 59-37.

Mountain West Championship Game

Hawaii was making its first appearance in the Mountain West title game. Boise State was making its third straight and looking for their second conference title in three years.

Jalen Henderson, a senior who began the season as the third string quarterback on the depth chart, started the final four games of the season after both Hank Bachmeier and Chase Cord suffered injuries.

The offense didn't seem to miss a beat with him at the helm.

Tied at 3 late in the first half, Boise State scored two touchdowns in a 53-second span on a pair of 36-yard touchdown strikes. Henderson dropped the first one into Khalil Shakir on a streak down the near sideline with 1:07 remaining in the half.

Then after Boise State stuffed Hawaii to get the ball back with 38 seconds remaining, Henderson fired a bullet to John Hightower, who made a leaping catch as he was undercut but used his left hand to maintain his balance before racing into the end zone.

The Broncos would extend their 17-3 lead to 31-3 with touchdown runs from both Shakir and Henderson in the third. Hawaii would tack on a touchdown early in the fourth, but could not close the gap any further as the Broncos won their fourth Mountain West title in program history 31-10.

Players to Watch

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

SR., CALVIN TURNER, RB #7

Calvin Turner is a straight up dude. Prior to coming to UH, Turner played three seasons at Jacksonville University where he played both sides of the ball, lining up at both quarterback and defensive back. Upon arriving on the island he changed positions again, this time to running back which is a testament to his athleticism. Turner is a touchdown machine, accounting for 4 of the teams 11 touchdowns so far this season. Turner seems to be the Hawaii equivalent to Kahlil Shakir and the Warriors just want to find ways to get him the ball.

SO., DARIUS MUASAU, LB #53

Maybe it’s because Darius Muasau has five brothers, but this linebacker from 'Ewa Beach, O'ahu seems to love contact. Since stepping foot on campus the sophomore has made an immediate impact. As a freshman Mausau played in all 14 games, starting four. As a sophomore, Mausau leads the team in tackles with 47, is tied for the lead in sacks with 1.5, and also has 5 tackles for loss.

SR., QUENTIN FRAZIER, CB #19

“Q” as his friends call him, has done nothing but ball out during his short time as a Warrior. After graduating from Azusa Pacific, Frazier came to UH to finish out his collegiate career. Frazier is third on the team in tackles, leads the team in tackles for loss, and leads the team in interceptions. Not to mention he also has forced a fumble and recovered two.

BOISE STATE

Rs.SR., CT THOMAS, WR #6

CT wasn’t the spotlight receiver coming into this season and is sort of second fiddle to Kahalil Shakir, but all CT Thomas does is produce. You can tell that he and quarterback Hank Bachmeier have great chemistry and Bachmeier trusts CT to catch the ball when it's thrown to him. Bachmeier had this to say about his receiver, “...CT just has that knack to get open. I definitely trust just getting him the ball and our chemistry is great and I just think he has an incredible knack for getting open.” Last week he had a season high six catches for 103 yards. Thomas eclipsed the century mark one other time this season when he caught two passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns.

Rs.SR., AVERY WILLIAMS, CB #26

Avery Williams is, “must see TV.” The senior from Pasadena is cementing his legacy as one of, if not the best special teams player the Broncos have ever had. Last week against CSU, Avery blocked the Rams very first punt and recovered the ball in the endzone for a touchdown. Then he decided that that was so much fun, he blocked a second punt later in the game! Last week wasn’t Williams only special teams magic, he also took a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against Air Force. Williams now has had multiple returns for touchdowns in three of his four seasons at Boise State.

JR., DIVINE OBICHERE, NT #95

“Next Man Up” took on a whole new meaning last week as the Broncos were down to well, down to Divine Obichere at nose tackle. Obichere played a lot last week and defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding said, “He’s really answered the call.” For now Obichere is the starter at nose tackle but as much as he loves getting a lot of playing time, he probably wouldn’t mind having some of his teammates back to give him a breather once in a while.

Focus Position Group: Defensive Line

Thin is something a defensive line never wants to be. However, that is exactly the word to describe the depth of the Boise State defensive line at this point in the season. Last week against CSU, the Broncos were down to one true nose tackle available to play. In order to even play the game, they moved offensive linemen Ben Dooley over to nose tackle.

Defensive line coach Spencer Danielson and defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding are confident that they will have their group ready, and whoever is available come Saturday night, will answer the bell. Hawaii’s offensive line has had some trouble protecting the quarterback this season, giving up multiple sacks in three of their four games. The Broncos have a great opportunity to get after the passer this week, but will need guys like Scott Matlock and Shane Irwin to step up their production with the questionable depth at nose tackle.

Rev's Route to a Bronco Win

PAGING DOCTOR WILLIAMS

A special teams touchdown is as majestic and mysterious as a wild mustang in the Owyhee mountains. The fact that Boise State had not one, not two, but three of them in the first half last week against CSU is nothing short of extraordinary.

Avery Williams had his hand, literally, on two of those scores, blocking two punts and recovering one of his blocks for a score. Williams has made a house call every year of his Bronco career, but has never done it more than twice in a single season. If Williams could find a way to create instant offense by taking a kickoff or a punt to the house this weekend it would go a long way in keeping the Broncos undefeated in conference play.

UNDER PRESSURE

The Rainbow Warriors have given up 17 sacks through four games this year. That averages out to more than 4 sacks per game. Last week the SDSU Aztecs were able to get to Cordeiro 7 times in their 34-10 beat down of the Warriors. Boise State has sacked the opposing qb three times in each of the last two games. Sacks are the ultimate drive killer so look for defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding to turn up the pressure this week to help create some much needed momentum on the road.

ROAD WARRIORS

Speaking of being on the road, Boise State enters the final stretch of the 2020 regular season with three of their final four games on the road. This week will be a true test of the “business trip” mentality as Boise State has not traveled to Hawaii since 2016, which no one on this year's team played the last time they visited Aloha Stadium. The Broncos will need to have a 1-0 mindset and not allow the environment to distract them from taking care of business.

Editorial Note

Now that was a way to respond! Coming into last week I just had a feeling that the boys in blue would be fired up and motivated to put the embarrassment of the BYU game behind them and boy, did they ever! Three special teams touchdowns led to a complete beat down of the Rams.

It was nice to get Hank Bachmeier back last week and all signs point to him being the starter this week as well, which should give the Broncos a much needed security blanket in a very tough road matchup.

Outside of the BYU game the Broncos have really looked impressive in all three phases of the game, scoring an average of 40 points per game, giving up an average of only 28 points per game and scoring four times so far on special teams. Not to mention true freshman, Rocky Mountain High School product, kicker, Jonah Dalmas is 2 for 2 on field goal attempts and perfect on PATs converting all 22 of his attempts.

Lastly, Hawaii’s run defense is dead last in yards per game. They are giving up an astonishing 250 yards on the ground per game. Boise State has had a difficult time establishing a rushing attack ever since George Holani went down with an apparent knee injury in the first quarter against Air Force. Coach Harsin didn’t seem very optimistic that the Broncos would get their star runner back this week either. With that said I think the Broncos finally bust out on the ground and run wild on the Warriors.

We don’t predict losses around here.

Boise State 45, Hawaii 24

Rev's Rundown

Rev's Rundown 2020 Week five: Boise State At University of Hawaii at Manoa