Previews

Rebecca Gallegos of Ka Leo O Hawaii has a preview of the Purdue game.

While UH is a member of the Western Athletic Conference and rarely gets the opportunity to meet nationally ranked teams, Purdue, a member of the Big Ten Conference, has already faced Notre Dame (sixth), a 35-21 loss, along with other nationally respected teams such as Penn State University. There isn't a better time for the Warriors to make a solid statement.

"Purdue is a really good team," said strong safety Jacob Patek. "They have a lot of good opponents in their conference ... We have to come out, try to make a statement that we can play at that level, even though we are in the WAC and our conference isn't really a strong [one]."

The Sports Network has a really in-depth preview, this excerpt taken from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Opponents of the Warriors typically put up some decent passing numbers if for no other reason than they are trying to catch up to the fast-scoring squad from Honolulu. But in the case of the Spartans, who have had a huge turnaround this season, they posted a mere 110 yards through the air and only 82 yards on the ground, which means they averaged barely three and a half yards per play while converting 3-of-13 on third down. Placing second on the Warriors in tackles with eight, four behind Solomon Elimimian, Melila Purcell tallied 3.5 TFLs and 2.5 sacks, not to mention a forced fumble, in being named the WAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. Heading into the game last weekend SJSU had the 10th-best rushing squad in the nation, but the Warriors took that all away somehow. While there have been a few games this year in which the Warriors have given up quite a number of points, that has not been the case in the last month. Over the course of the last four games no opponent has produced more than 17 points, which means the scoring defense for the Warriors is now ranked third in the WAC at 22.1 ppg allowed. Purcell now has 13.5 TFLs and 7.5 sacks to lead the program, while Adam Leonard checks in with a team-high 89 tackles and four fumble recoveries for a unit that is slowly getting the respect it deserves.

Every week people expect the Warriors to hit a wall on offense and every week the squad goes out and tears up opponents. Don't bet against Hawaii this weekend because non-conference visitors to the island generally have a hard time adjusting to the big change and the offensive attack.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Hawaii 49, Purdue 31

I predict it'll be more like 76 to 13. Nah, I'm only kidding. Only a little though. GO WARRIORS!!!!