The rest of the college football slate kicks off Thursday with Vanderbilt and SC squaring off in the first big ESPN game of the week.
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No one expects the first game of a season to be pretty – and though Cal’s 51-31 win over Hawaii looked good on the scoreboard in Sydney, Australia, there will be plenty for Sonny Dykes and crew to work on before the trip to San Diego State on September 10. Flawless for college football.
Under coach Nick Rolovich, Hawaii wants to take home more than the Malibu surfboards they were presented upon arrival Tuesday. May all gridiron junkies in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres rejoice in its long awaited return.
Things won’t get any easier for Hawaii when the Rainbow Warriors play MI at the Big House next weekend in Ann Arbor. They are the closest school, geographically speaking. The Rainbow Warriors were 3-10 a year ago for a reason, and though Nick Rolovich may eventually turn things around, he must play this season with the hand he was dealt, and it was obvious that Cal had more and better cards to play. So what’s a few thousand more miles?
“Too many mistakes and turnovers, and it cost us”, said Nick Rolovich, a former Hawaii quarterback making his head coaching debut for the Rainbow Warriors. Muhammad’s best game in 2015 came against Texas when he amassed 164 yards – including a 72 scamper – on 10 attempts and one touchdown. The Warriors haven’t been bowling since 2010.
After leaving Hawaii to become the Offensive Coordinator at Nevada, Rolovich learned the Pistol Offense from its creator, legendary Wolfpack coach Chris Ault. “We’re really looking forward to seeing our first game”. Turnovers were an issue and with the offense and running the ball more will definitely help in getting a turnover margin to at least even and not the minus 23 which they had past year.
Freshman wide receiver Kumoku Noa’s older brother Kanawai is a sophomore wide receiver at Cal. Kumoku was a first-team all-state receiver at Kamehameha in 2015, while Kanawai was a two-time all-state receiver for Punahou before appearing in all 13 games for Cal in 2015 as a true freshman at receiver and on special teams.
But Webb, who replaced Jared Goff the No. 1 overall National Football League draft pick by the Los Angeles Rams helped move Cal into control in the second quarter. Not unsurprisingly, Dykes went back to his old stomping ground, and holy land for the Air Raid offense, Lubbock, Texas to snag Texas Tech transfer Davis Webb. A win on Friday would get the team off to a good start on the 2016 season. The three-hour-plus spectacle included the typically American kiss-cam, big hot dogs and a cannon fired after every touchdown. Webb should be able to flourish in Sonny Dykes’ system, which saw Cal put up 38 points per game on average each of the last two seasons.
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The last American football of any kind played in Sydney was an NFL preseason game at the Olympic stadium that attracted 73,000 spectators in 1999.
