GameDay: Hawaii vs Northern Colorado

Oh yes. The day is finally here. It's been a long offseason, and the players and coaches are ready to play.

"I'm ready to get going," Brennan said of tonight's season opener against Division I-AA Northern Colorado. "I'm tired of waiting."

Right slotback Ryan Grice-Mullins said the Warriors are ready to put aside the side shows of the offseason.

"The whole summer, the talk was about the schedule and all kinds of stuff," Grice-Mullins said. "All of that was out of our hands. What we do on the field is the only thing we can control. What we do in this game is in our hands."

Stephen Tsai has a gameday preview, with probable starting lineups and breakdowns. Here's an excerpt about the goals of McMackin's MONSTER.

McMackin crafted 10 goals that he posted in each of the defensive meeting rooms. At the top of the list is "to score."

"We want to be one of the top-scoring defenses, or we want to set up our offense to score," McMackin said.

McMackin starts each practice with interception drills, in which cornerbacks run pass routes. There are specific drills on scooping fumbles and where to set up blocks on interception or fumble returns.

Dave Reardon has a gameday preview as well. Here's an excerpt about Northern Colorado's offense:

"We run a lot of different offenses. I've learned a lot of different checks. I think we'll get to trying a little bit of everything," Breazeale said. "The challenge (going against UH's defense) is mostly their speed on the field and they're very physical. The biggest challenge is to match up with their speed."

UH defensive tackle Mike Lafaele said the Warriors respect the Bears, who average right around 300 pounds across the offensive front.

"They look like big, tough guys," Lafaele said. "I know it will be a tough game for us. Their front line is a bunch of big guys."

As another self-imposed Herman Frazier deadline passes (this time for the 2008 schedule), Ferd Lewis laments the opponent we'll be playing tonight.

You'd like an opponent the players could be fired up about facing. Not one they say they play because it is what the school settled for. But, when you've dawdled in scheduling, falling hopelessly behind, trying to fill a September slot in March, you take what you can get. Which, in this case, is a union of convenience: UNC's availability and UH's cash. And this is what the Warriors ended up with.

Eh, I've come to accept that we sometimes need to play a I-AA (FCS) team early on, like how a lot of the powerhouses do. I think everyone is more pissed about the second I-AA (FCS) team on UH's schedule this year. I'm sure Ferd will say as much when that game rolls around.

And Kalani Simpson relives the sweetness that was last year's Hawaii Bowl victory over Arizona State, and compares it to the impending slaughter that is tonight's game.

Now Hawaii is facing a I-AA team coming off 1-10.

This won't feel like that Hawaii Bowl night, tonight's Northern Colorado game.

Sure, this will be like David and Goliath. If David had reached down for his sling and suddenly remembered he'd forgotten his rock back at home. If David's corner refused to throw in the towel and the ref made it go all 15 rounds.

This will be the kind of fight that made Howard Cosell quit.

I'm just glad the Warriors aren't overlooking the Bears. Even if the game isn't competitive, that will give a lot of players a chance to get on the field. I'm looking forward to watching the running backs go crazy, CJ Hawthorne catching a few long bombs, the offensive line working together for the first time, and the new defense blowing up a few unsuspecting fools. Should be a great game regardless of the score. It's the first game of what promises to be an amazing season, and I can't wait.

GO WARRIORS!!!!!