Star Advertiser's UH Preview, UHAD's USC Preview, etc.

The Star Advertiser published one of their cool-looking parody / UH football previews today. This one is patterned after a Madden game. Here's the link. It may take a while to load.

HawaiiAthletics.com previews the USC game, which mere days away. The press release also includes a link to a media guide.

David Wharton of the Los Angeles Times writes about why this is an important season for Coach McMackin.

Losing has become an issue with McMackin, whose record hovers just south of .500. To say he is on the hot seat might be an overstatement, but the man could use a break.

Such as a strong showing against heavily favored USC in the season opener at Aloha Stadium on Thursday night.

"It's not him personally; people just want to win," said Chris Hart, a sports radio host in Honolulu. "A lot depends on how it starts this season."

McMackin needs to make something good happen, something to offset a string of miscues and bad luck that has made the last two years at Hawaii anything but a walk on the beach.

And Lane Kiffin talks about Bryant Moniz.

"It's hard to get to him," Kiffin said Sunday. "It's hard to get a lot of sacks on these guys for as much as they throw the ball.

"You get so spread out too that once a guy starts to move around there's a lot of space there. So we're going to have to do a phenomenal job of tackling in space."

That might prove difficult for a Trojans team that has not tackled for weeks in trying to avoid injuries.

The article also has more bad news for USC (seems like a daily thing) as backup center Abe Markowitz is out with a broken foot and safety Patrick Hall got suspended.