In case you hadn't heard, the Broncos do not need any extra motivation for tonight's game against Hawaii. Having Todd Harris in the building is motivation enough.
Oh, and then there's that whole WAC championship thang. Ha! We almost forgot!
But really, this is not so much a rematch of last year's regular season finale as it is a hybrid version of San Jose State coming to town. These are not the Warriors that we remember gloating on the field last season; these are new, different Warriors who play actual football.
Will a Boise State victory still feel good? Absolutely it will. Is a Boise State victory almost a sure thing? Absolutely it is.
The vaunted Hawaii defense has been good, but not GOOD, like everyone expected they would be. Here's a fun quiz: How many points are the Warriors giving up per game this season? Is it:
a. 20
b. 25
c. 30
If you said "c," you're right. Teams are averaging 30 points against UH, even factoring in the challenged offenses of San Jose State and Louisiana Tech. Boise State should be able to get at least that many, especially playing at home.
When Boise State is on defense, the Warriors had just better pray for a horribly blown assignment or that little lightning box that appears in Mario Kart to make everyone else really small and slow. Other than that, Inoke Funaki can't pass well enough to keep the Broncos from stacking against the run. And with Ellis Powers spying on Funaki's bootlegs and scrambles, the Hawaii offense should be in shackles all night.
So to summarize, the Bronco offense will score at least 30 points, and the Hawaii offense might struggle to gain 30 yards.
Revenge will be sweet.
Other predictions:
- Ian Johnson will rush for 100 yards (we are saying this solely because we want to be able to say "We told you so" on Monday even though we never really believed it would happen in the first place).
- The Broncos will complete multiple passes of over 30 yards.
- Inoke Funaki will miss at least one play with an injury/stinger/Jeron Johnson helmet wedged into chest cavity.
- Greg McMackin will fill the Hawaii Gatorade coolers with ice-cold Coca~Cola. For himself, mostly.
- The Bronco offensive line will control the line of scrimmage and still face criticism afterwards for "that one second-quarter three-and-out."
- Boise State will get a big play on special teams, but we're not saying what it is (because we aren't entirely sure).
- Bush Hamdan will see the field.
- Brad Elkin will see the field ... from his permanent seat on the sideline next to Brock Jaramillo.
The game starts at 6:00pm on ESPN tonight, so if you're not going to the game, make sure you have remote control privileges for the night. Check back with the OBNUG comment thread during the game, and feel free to leave your predictions in the comments section of this post. No one wins pizza. Sorry.