Tempering enthusiam re: Hawaii

So over the weekend the Hawaii no-longer-Rainbow Warriors took on the Nevada Wolfpack in Honolulu.



Nevada was -3 in turnover margin (lost three fumbles, no takeaways), and still managed to boatrace Hawaii 40-22 on Hawaii's home turf.



Suddenly BYU's 49-22 win in Provo with a +1 turnover margin isn't looking so much like a return to excellence for BYU as it is a return to suck for Hawaii...

Nobody should have put any major stock in the Hawaii game. They are awful. While Northern Illinois may put up a fight, the next real test will be Boise State.

KingCoug wrote:

Nobody should have put any major stock in the Hawaii game. They are awful. While Northern Illinois may put up a fight, the next real test will be Boise State.

Not so fast my friend. Northern Illinois may beat us. They have a legit defense. If we score on them, we may be able to have a little more excitement about ZW at QB.

frdbtr wrote:

Nobody should have put any major stock in the Hawaii game. They are awful. While Northern Illinois may put up a fight, the next real test will be Boise State.

Not so fast my friend. Northern Illinois may beat us. They have a legit defense. If we score on them, we may be able to have a little more excitement about ZW at QB.

You're right, this team is in no position to overlook anyone.

KingCoug wrote:

KingCoug wrote:

Nobody should have put any major stock in the Hawaii game. They are awful. While Northern Illinois may put up a fight, the next real test will be Boise State.

Not so fast my friend. Northern Illinois may beat us. They have a legit defense. If we score on them, we may be able to have a little more excitement about ZW at QB.

You're right, this team is in no position to overlook anyone.

Though I would add that we've had 2 weeks to heal up and prep for them.

They've had the same.

BYU opens up as a 7 1/2 point favorite.



Rumor on the Northern Illinois board -

Load up on BYU. Rumor is Carey is punting this one. Childers benched, 4 rotating QBs with Sutton taking a few snaps (also kicking), backups/freshmen playing.



BYU-52

NIU-5

Another thread where their fans are arguing whether their team should punt the BYU game.



https://csnbbs.com/thread-861171.html

Hawaii hadn't played anyone yet - San Jose State took them into OT for crying out loud. They're a bad program right now with the exception of their QB. Wilson will be tested by NIU's D. But Cougs should be able to outscore them as their offense is not good. The only guaranteed win left on the schedule is NMS - UMass actually has a good offense this year and they won here last year. 7-5 at best - not beating BSU or Utah.

As for the "we needed Wilson cuz he throws the long ball" argument:



https://twitter.com/BYUstatsMAN/status/1055475569989570560

I'd like to see the number of passes that actually traveled 15 yards, 25+ yards, etc. compared to other games.



It seemed like there were more, even if we still had a ton of 0-2 yard and 5-10 yard passes to bring the average down.

Are those completed passes or all pass attempts?

CrimsonCoug wrote:

Are those completed passes or all pass attempts?

Attempts.

NIU is ranked 83rd vs. the pass but 21st against the run. Wilson just may have some success on Saturday. But if the run game ain't working, the pass game may not either. Gonna be interesting to see how they do.

hawkwing wrote:

https://twitter.com/BYUstatsMAN/status/1055474064435933184

Thanks, Hawk. The season stat comparison shows that Wilson took 3 shots over 20+ yards in 30 attempts - or 10% of his attempts. Mangum took 11 shots over 20+ yards in 182 attempts - or 6% of his attempts.



Small sample size for Wilson. It will be interesting to compare after this weekend's game. I think Wilson will continue to dink and dump. That's a major part of our offense. But, he will also take more shots down the field and open things up and ultimately score more points. Yay.

El Guapo wrote:

NIU is ranked 83rd vs. the pass but 21st against the run. Wilson just may have some success on Saturday. But if the run game ain't working, the pass game may not either. Gonna be interesting to see how they do.

Speaking of the run game, what's the latest on Squally?

hawkwing wrote:

https://twitter.com/BYUstatsMAN/status/1055474064435933184

We really need to put Hifo in as QB