Michigan Football: 2016 Game-by-Game Predictions
By Erik Schlitt
Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
September 3, Hawaii at Michigan, 12:00, ESPN
After struggling for the past four years, Hawaii has hired a new head coach in Nick Rolovich who was a Rainbow Warrior quarterback in the early 2000’s. His tenure starts off with one of the most brutal traveling schedules ever.
Friday night they kicked off the college football season with a 51-31 loss to California, in Australia. That’s 10 hours on a plane both ways. Then they return to Hawaii for three days before traveling to Ann Arbor (a nine-hour flight) to face the Wolverines on Saturday at noon. By the way, that noon kickoff in the eastern time zone is at 6:00 a.m. locally in Hawaii.
If the Warriors are able to overcome by jet lag and time adjustments, they are still outmatched talent-wise on the field. Fifth year quarterback Ikaika Woolsey, has 19 starts in the last three years and senior running back Paul Harris will combine to lead their offense.
New defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa coached defensive backs last season under Don Brown at Boston College. He is installing a 4-3 system and hopes to use his experience with Don Brown to build an attacking unit.
Unfortunately, their best defensive player, defensive tackle Kennedy Tulimasealii, was dismissed from the program in June and leaves a giant hole in the middle of the line. With multiple starters from last year returning from injury, Hawaii’s defense has their work cut out for them.
Against California, their defense gave up 51 points. Cal’s quarterback Davis Webb completed 38 of 54 passes for 441 yards with four passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown, and zero interceptions. Not a bad night for a quarterback who was a backup at Texas Tech in 2015.
Prediction:
This should be a game that Michigan wins easily, taking advantage of the multiple obstacles Hawaii has to deal with.
Michigan wins (1-0)
Next: Week 2: University of Central Florida Knights