WKU Football: Gameday Information at Hawaii
Your Gameday Guide for Everything for Your Trip to Paradise
After a successful 2021 campaign, WKU football is in the rare position of the unknown. In the FBS era, WKU has generally known where it stood, and generally was assumed to improve or maintain its status quo.
The last time out, WKU took on Austin Peay in the opening moments of the college football season, having a somewhat surprising time putting the Governors away. WKU held a one possession lead late in the fourth quarter before kicking a field goal to ice the game away, 38-27. Western’s opponent, Hawaii, took on Vanderbilt in Honolulu for its home opener in a late night blowout with Vandy winning 63-10. Although the final margin was hideous, Vanderbilt’s 42 unanswered in the second half really marred the fact that it was 21-10 at halftime.
WKU (1-0, 0-0 C-USA) takes on Hawaii (0-1, 0-0 MWC) in what is officially the first week of the 2022 college football season. In a unique opportunity, WKU gets to travel to paradise to take on the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii.
WKU is looking to fix some issues from Austin Peay. WKU was not as sharp as it could be offensively, missing on some chances to capitalize deep in opponent territory. Western’s defense also did a good job overall yardage wise, but still gave up seven plays of 15 yards or more and 27 points. If WKU could minimize the big plays, they would immediately step up a class or two in defensive prowess.
Western has plenty of question marks; from up front on both sides of the ball, skill positions, punter, etc. From our analysis, we believe tight end, running back, and linebacker all should definitely be better. However, tight end and running back all left some things to be desired. Last week, the biggest concern was the defensive line and the secondary. With five sacks last week, the defensive line seems capable. And the secondary did force some turnovers. However, down to down, they need to have better discipline.
Hawaii is a team deeply affected by drama. Over half of the team left the program last season, and Hawaii and new head coach Timmy Chang is still picking up the pieces. However, Hawaii is still respectable, especially at home. They did muster over 350 yards against Vanderbilt, while also holding Vandy under 200 yards passing. How much of that was Vanderbilt blasting the Warriors and letting them beef up some stats and how much was ability from Hawaii? We don’t know, but Tyson Helton and crew seem to think this game comes down to the last possession on Saturday at 11 PM Central Time
So let’s set the stage for WKU and Hawaii, shall we?
Location
Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex
Capacity: 9,000
Until the new Aloha Stadium is complete, the Rainbow Warriors will continue to play home football games on campus at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex, which seats around 9,000. It was reported that the UH had plans to expand capacity to 15,000 but because of a materials shortage, those plans were put on hold.
Time
Saturday, September 3, 2022 11 p.m. CST
Weather Forecast
If you’re going to the game, first of all, let me know if you’re not using your tickets and I’ll be happy to fill them. Second, if you are indeed going, prepare for rain just in case, and watch out for the significant winds at 15 or so mph. It should be nice and warm, though. With the humidity and the wind, I would be surprised if weather conditions didn’t affect the way the football travels through the air on punts, passes, and kicks.
TV
The T1 Sports App
Spectrum Sports PPV
Radio
Randy Lee (Play by Play), Terry Obee (Analyst), Lexi Schweinert (Analyst), Jared Holland (Sideline)
Tune in to your local Hilltopper Sports Network station.
Also, you can listen to the radio call anywhere in the world on the WKU Gameday App!
Gameday Information
WKU
WKU at Hawaii Press Conference
Hawaii
Around C-USA
C-USA Week 1: What They’re Saying
Betting Lines from Sportsline.com
WKU -16
O/U 67.5
ESPN.com Match-up Predictor
WKU-73.5% chance to win
Current Records
WKU: 1-0 (0-0 C-USA)
Hawaii: 0-1 (0-0 MWC)
Last Time Out…
WKU ended up in a bit of a battle with Austin Peay. Part of it was some luck (like a bang-bang play on a fumble return for a touchdown called back, fumble on a punt return bounces back into the punt returner’s hands). That’s potentially two touchdowns. Add in a trick play that surrendered a touchdown and a missed tackle in man-to-man for another long touchdown. WKU allowed most of Austin Peay’s 300+ yards on chunk plays. If WKU can knock out the chunk plays and take full advantage of opponent mistakes, the Tops should see immediate improvement.
Hawaii hosted Vanderbilt for its Week 0 opening clash. Starting at 9:30 Bowling Green time, not many stayed up to watch the entire game, and that’s where people may be led astray. Vanderbilt won 63-10. But it was 21-10 at halftime. Vandy exploded for 35 points in the third quarter and obviously iced it away. However, looking at a few things beyond the scoreline, Hawaii had some bright spots and has some talent. Hawaii’s running back coughed the ball up twice, something that should be pretty rare, even for a turnover prone back. Those two fumbles allowed Vandy to score in the first half. Without them, does Vandy go into halftime with the lead? Hawaii moved the ball enough to rack up over 350 total yards. Hawaii also held Vanderbilt’s passing attack under 200 yards. They did allow a whopping 400+ on the ground, but I write a little bit longer paragraph summary to say this: Hawaii is much better than that 63-10 score line against Vanderbilt. They will be fairly comparable to WKU in many ways, and WKU better be ready for massive improvement from the Rainbow Warriors.
Coaches
Tyson Helton- 4th Season- 24-16 (24-16 Overall)
Timmy Chang- 1st Season- 0-1 (0-1 Overall)
Series
First Meeting
It’s not completely surprising Hawaii and WKU have never met on the gridiron. Hawaii didn’t have football until 1971, and obviously WKU is not remotely in a region where Hawaiians would pay attention. Of course, why would the Rainbow Warriors come to Bowling Green? However, it does make sense for WKU to come out to Hawaii in terms of experience, excitement, a chance to entice future recruits with exciting trips, and it also gives WKU an extra game as compensation for the visit to Hawaii via NCAA rule. It’s also two solid Group of Five programs scheduling what is generally quality opponent in most years. It’s a win for both parties.
Last Meeting
N/A
Injury Report
WKU
*Head Coach Tyson Helton keeps injuries pretty well under wraps, so we are left to speculate on many nicks and bruises. Any of these are not based on pure rumor but based on what we know by observation or by inkling from interviews. Covers.com shows WKU with no official injuries.
TE Joshua Simon: Cleared and active; keep in mind he sat out most of last season with a broken leg; he was targeted once with zero catches last week; Tyson Helton has said he feels like this week could be more of a “Joshua Simon” type of week. We’ll see…
DT Brodric Martin: Probable. The Defensive MVP from WKU’s Spring Football Practices, Martin suffered a lower body injury early in the first half against Austin Peay. He tried to give it a go but ultimately sat out most of the first game. Tyson Helton made no specific reference to him in postgame interviews or weekly media availability, but he did say the Tops had a few guys banged up in game but they “should be ready to go”.
DB Rome Weber: Probable. Weber was walking off the field barefoot with a wrap on the middle of his left foot under his arch. He was recorded as a participant but did not record any other statistics.
QB Austin Reed: Active. Austin Reed banged up his left shoulder area on a touchdown pass in the second half. Since the Tops had a defensive possession to check out Reed. They checked just inside his armpit, he was taken into the locker room, Darius Ocean started warming up, and Reed came back out and finished the game. The only thing I noticed besides his arm hanging a little awkwardly was when he ran an option pitch to the left and really had to use both hands to get the ball to his left. Again, there’s nothing about it in the media, but anyone on the new side watching the situation closely probably would have noticed the starting QB going into the locker room. Sitting in the first few rows, it was obvious what was going on. He’s probably completely fine, and a QB can function with a crappy off-shoulder as long as he can handle whatever pain is there. I would be surprised to see a shoulder wrap and we move on. But watch his shoulder the next few games.
Hawaii
WR Zion Bowen-Questionable (undisclosed) Bowen had one catch for ten yards against Vandy. He’s a depth guy that is an experienced senior that has contributed 412 career receiving yards. This is a guy that probably means more to the locker room than the scoreboard, but glue guys like this keep locker rooms together. With the need for Hawaii to keep pace with Western’s quality offense, they will need all hands on deck.
Excitement Level —5
If you’re going, I’m sure the excitement level is a 20 out of 10. However, for the 99.9% of the rest of us staying home, it’s exciting to play Hawaii for the first time, but who’s going to get to stay up and see it? That’s the main reason for such a low excitement score.
It’s on an app or Spectrum Pay-per-view, so that eliminates some people. It’s at 11 Central, meaning anyone in the Eastern Time Zone starts the game Sunday morning.
“Hey Matt when’s the game?”
“11 PM Central.”
“Guess I’ll see the highlights in the morning lol.”
Exactly. Unless you’re going out for a night on the town or prepping for your ministry at church (like I will be) or just a hardcore fan, you’re just stone cold not going to see this game.
Also, Hawaii isn’t supposed to be any good, so I think people will be excited afterwards if Western blows Hawaii out. But if this is a close game against a supposedly inferior opponent and you don’t get to see it, who cares, really? That’s just more assurance of a slightly above .500 season.
Also, they’re not even playing in Aloha Stadium, so that either makes it really interesting to play in a small venue, or part of the allure of the legendary Aloha Stadium is also gone.
I hate to give such a negative score, but I think it’s honest. I’m excited. I think it’s great for recruiting to say, “Yeah we went to Hawaii last year.” It’s great to play an opponent you’ve never played. That’s fresh and interesting. If this was a 9:30 kickoff like the Vandy game was, I think this would be a more healthy 7 out of 10 score. But the fact that it’s so late combined with no real TV option and Western is favored by more than two touchdowns just means virtual radio silence in Topper land while this game is going on.
Regardless of the reasons to complain, you should be excited. This is a chance to play a quality program in an awesome venue. In most years, Hawaii would be considered a quality win. But a win against Hawaii would be huge for WKU. That’s a quality program and you’re just adding one more reason why WKU is awesome.
From a 2022 perspective, this is your first chance to start 2-0 since 2015, a nice omen considering WKU won its first C-USA Championship that season. This would put WKU in a position to fight for 3-0 at Indiana, making that a big game for both schools. If WKU could go 3-0, it would be the first time since 2003. Then you start getting excited, because you’re starting conference play and you don’t play contenders for a few weeks. If WKU can beat Hawaii and beat Indiana, Western could very, very easily be 5-0 heading in to a matchup with UTSA.
So let the excitement build about the prospect of putting together a nice record early in the season. It doesn’t happen often that WKU gets to start out the season with a winning record. Usually it’s digging out of the hole in conference season when the schedule relaxes.
Be excited!
If you are in Honolulu, you are contractually required to send up pictures and tag us on Twitter. That’s in First Topperlonians in your WKU Bible. “When in Hawaii, thou shalt send TTR hella pics.”