GameDay: UH vs SJSU

Stephen Tsai's gameday preview breaks down the offense, defense and specialists for both teams.

Jason Kaneshiro's gameday preview has stats and probable starting lineups, breakdowns of both teams' offense, defense and special teams, and highlights this key matchup:

Hawaii tackles vs. San Jose State defensive ends
Holding the edge at the line of scrimmage could be the key to the Warriors maintaining their streak against the Spartans.

Hawaii's top three tackles have worked through various injuries lately and will be tested by SJSU ends Carl Ihenacho and Jeff Schweiger.

"They're fast, they're athletic, they've been playing with this group for the last two years and they added a transfer from USC (Schweiger), so they're better up front than they were last year," UH offensive line coach Brian Smith said.

Kaneshiro writes that several streaks are on the line tonight, but Coach Mack is not focusing on such streaks.

"All we're thinking about is doing everything we can as a team to beat San Jose State," Hawaii head coach Greg McMackin said. "All the rest of it doesn't matter. When you start thinking about all that stuff, it all gets bogged down. All we want to do is win one game a week."

Tsai writes about UH starting the defense of their WAC title.

"It's very important," cornerback Ryan Mouton said. "We have to come out and play like we're WAC champs. We'd better defend (the title) because everybody wants it."

He also writes about Tyler Graunke's hand, the return of Rocky Savaiigaea and David Farmer, and new starters on special teams.

Ferd Lewis writes about the gamesmanship between Dick Tomey and Greg McMackin, and how important this game is to both teams.

Laurence Miedema of the Mercury News writes about San Jose State's struggles on the road.

SJSU has established one of the biggest home-field advantages in the Western Athletic Conference since Dick Tomey arrived four years ago and has won 14 of its past 16 games at Spartan Stadium. But the Spartans are just 3-17 on the road — including 0-2 this season — heading into tonight's conference opener at Hawaii.

"You have to learn to win on the road to be a champion,'' Tomey said. "Whether it's a matter of confidence or being tough enough to make a trip and break through, we're not (that far away).''

"We're a team that plays with a lot of emotion, and playing at home brings a lot more positive emotions out,'' defensive tackle Jarron Gilbert said. "We have to learn how to let our emotion help us instead of hurt us on the road.''

Miedema has some game notes as well.

Matchups to watch: SJSU offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo vs. UH defensive coordinator Cal Lee. Arroyo's play-calling came under fire after SJSU's second-half meltdown at Stanford (minus-24 yards in the fourth quarter). He'll look to revive the offense against Lee's veteran defense, which was provided a blueprint to stop the Spartans by Stanford and had two weeks to prepare for SJSU because of a bye last week.

And Dave Reardon looks back at his preseason optimism, the reality of the season so far, and how special teams misses Guyton Galdeira.

"We have a lot of the same guys, but losing Guyton hurt," senior long snapper Jake Ingram said. "He inspired people, and he hit people."

And he did it while listed at 5-feet-7 and 155 pounds. He may have been 155, but the 5-7 was Bill Gates generous.

The Warriors have a player now, Richard Torres, whom they call "Little Guyton," for his ferocity on kickoff coverage and attention to detail. Torres is listed at 5-7 and 170, so the term "little" is figurative here in comparison to the gargantuan Galdeira, who left a void much larger than his physical presence.