WKU Football: Staff Predictions Week One - Hawaii

We all predicted the Tops beating Austin Peay but how do we see this one going?

The Tops won the very first college football game of the season against Austin Peay last week and thankfully we all predicted that one going WKU’s way, even though it was closer than we thought it would be.

Now, WKU travel to Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Warriors who got routed at home by Vanderbilt 63-10 last week. But should we take stock in that blowout and assume this is an easy win? How do we see it going? Let’s see.

Matt McCay (1-0)

The more I look into it, the better I feel about both WKU’s performance vs. Austin Peay and WKU’s chances at Hawaii. Austin Peay surprised me. They were a big FCS team. They had legit size in the secondary. Tyson Helton described them as “even pretty lookin’” in postgame press conference interviews. I think he was impressed with them. Now, think of what WKU did and how they performed. The effort was there, so that’s a good sign moving forward. Check that box. But how many plays did WKU just blow some coverage and allow Austin Peay to make a big chunk play? Two touchdowns were scored from big busted plays in the secondary. Imagine if WKU fixes most of that before next game. That means WKU would have given up maybe 250 yards of offense and kept APSU well under 20 points. That would’ve been an impressive defensive performance.

And that doesn’t even touch the offensive side of the ball. Joshua Simon and Dalvin Smith are both presumably healthy and didn’t get a single reception against Austin Peay. Craig Burt is another proven option that did little. Austin Reed was off for a quarter and a half before he started connecting for nearly 200 yards in the second half. The offensive line gave up zero sacks. The punter averaged 46, one of my biggest sneaky concerns for 2022. Cory Munson, a proven beast at kicking the ball into the end zone, was awful. I think Western is in a good position to take a huge step forward this week as long as they can avoid the distractions and eliminate some dumb stuff. Avoid the distractions of luaus, Spam, and jet lag and the Tops should win this one. Hawaii should improve, too, but WKU is the better team if they pull a few more things together. I cautiously like WKU big, although this could easily go any of 1,000 ways.

I’ll go bold and say the Tops make a real statement: Western Kentucky: 48, Hawaii: 13.

Alex Sherfield (1-0)

After an eventful first game for the Tops, they’re hoping to continue some momentum traveling into Honolulu. Going into to Saturday, it’s a matchup that’s in our favor but it’s not going to be any easier. Even though the Rainbow Warriors only had 358 yards in last week’s loss, they can still run an productive offense. The Tops offensive line should have a repeat of last week in protecting Austin Reed and not allowing any quarterback sacks.

Despite Hawaii’s run defense allowing over 400 yards on the ground, this could be the week where the running game flourishes. If not, at least we know that we’re still a pretty solid passing ball club.

WKU: 35, Hawaii: 17

Devin Stewart (1-0)

This game is gonna be a rebound for Hawaii, but the Tops will make it clear who’s the better team.

Tops on top 32-27.

Jake Gary (1-0)

Hilltoppers didn't come out as hot as I thought they would against Austin Peay, so it is time to dial our predictions back a little bit in terms of winning big until the Hilltoppers show me they can do that. Overall though I think WKU is the better team and that will show, mainly in the second half. Austin Reed played his best ball in the fourth quarter against Austin Peay, and I expect this one to be close until then. Hawaii will be looking to prove they are not as bad as they looked last weekend as well. Can't wait to stay up until 3am to see the ending of this one.

Western Kentucky: 33, Hawaii: 20.

Jared Rosdeutscher (1-0)

When I first looked at the whole schedule when I did my every expectation to have article, I thought this game would be a loss for WKU. With the early season matchup having this time change for the Tops to get used to, jet lag, and a mostly new offense/defense I didn’t see this going WKU’s way.

But seeing what Vanderbilt, who historically has been a cellar dweller in the SEC, did to Hawaii last week as they hung 63 points on them it gives me hope. I don’t think Hawaii is super terrible or anything but they definitely didn’t look too hot in that game, especially in the second half (specifically the third quarter). But I’m sure they’ll adjust a few things and make this a lot closer game than we think.

As much as I’d like to see a big win, I think leaving the Aloha state with a win at all this early in the season is fine by me. Give me WKU winning a closer game, 35-30.

Fletcher Keel (1-0)

What we saw out of the second half last week from the Hilltoppers was far more promising than the first half, and I’m hoping the philosophy, especially on offense, stays the same entering tonight.

Hawaii is not a good program at the moment, there’s no way around that, and going 2-0 to start the season would be a huge morale boost, especially with how many question marks there were coming into the season.

It took about two and a half quarters for Austin Reed to really feel it, but he has arrived and he’ll pick up right where he left off, I have no doubts about that.

The only thing I’m unsure of is if the time change will play any sort of factor. If no, or not majorly, WKU will roll. If so, I can see a similar game to last week, where its a frustrating start into a comfortable win by the end.

Regardless, give me the Tops today, 38-20, and we’ll sit 2-0 entering the first bye week.