GAME 2: OHIO STATE v HAWAII

GAME 2       OHIO STATE v HAWAII

September 12, 2015               Ohio Stadium                          Columbus, OH

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

Location: Honolulu, HI

Stadium: Aloha Stadium (50,000)

Coach: Norm Chow (4^th year): 9-29 at Hawaii/overall, 0-0 v B1G, 0-0 v OSU

Series: first meeting

Coach Meyer (4^th year): 39-3 at OSU/143-26 overall, 28-2 v B1G, 0-0 v Hawaii

2014 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (4-9)(3-5)MWC      2014 Ohio State Buckeyes (14-1)(9-0) B1G

16        Washington                 17                                34        at Navy (Baltimore)                 17

30        Oregon State               38                                21        Virginia Tech                            35

27        Northern Iowa             24                                66        Kent State                                  0

12        at Colorado                 21                                50        Cincinnati                                  28

14        at Rice                         28                                52        at Maryland                              24

38        Wyoming                     28                                56        Rutgers                                    17

10        at San Diego State      20                                31        at Penn State   (2OT)                24

18        Nevada                        26                                55        Illinois                                      14

14        Utah State                   35                                49        at Michigan State                     37

22        at Colorado State        49                                31        at Minnesota                            24

13        at San Jose State           0                                42        Indiana                                      27

37        UNLV                           35                                42        Michigan                                 28

21        at Fresno State             28                                59        Wisconsin                                  0

                                                                                                (B1G Championship)

                                                                                    42        Alabama                                  35       

                                                                                                (Sugar Bowl)

                                                                                    42        Oregon                                    20

                                                                                                (National Championship)

2015 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (1-0)                       2015 Ohio State Buckeyes (1-0)

28        Colorado                     20                                42        at Virginia Tech                      24

S12      at Ohio State                                                               Hawaii

S19      UC Davis                                                                      Northern Illinois

S26      at Wisconsin                                                                Western Michigan

O3       at Boise State                                                              at Indiana

O10     San Diego State                                                           Maryland

O17     at New Mexico                                                            Penn State

O24     at Nevada                                                                    at Rutgers

O31     Air Force

N7        at UNLV                                                                       Minnesota

N14      Fresno State                                                                at Illinois

N21      San Jose State                                                             Michigan State

N28      Louisiana-Monroe                                                       at Michigan

The Ohio State Buckeyes opened the season with a solid win on the road against Virginia Tech, 42-24 and now have the 2015 home opener against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.  Hawaii will travel over 9000 miles to The ‘Shoe.

OHIO STATE OFFENSE v HAWAII DEFENSE: Last week, the Ohio State offense overcame a stalled second quarter to roll up 572 yards of total offense against a decent Virginia Tech defense and they will look to do the same this week with the return of Dontre Wilson, Jalin Marshall, and Corey Smith from their one-game suspensions.  They’ll be going against a quick, if rather undersized 3-4 look from the Warrior defense.  Led up front by senior DE Luke Shawley, a former Navy SEAL, this unit showed quickness and was able to pressure the QB in their win last week against Colorado.  Shawley had 35 tackles last year as a backup and led the Warriors in tackles last week with 14 while also contributing two sacks.  Kennedy Tulimasealii moved over to the other DE spot from NT during pre-season workouts to add some size to the outside and he did not disappoint last week with five tackles and a sack.  This allowed Penitito Falologo to move to the NT position to start his first game and the Hawaii coaching staff is confident his size will make it difficult for teams to run up the middle.  The four Hawaii linebackers all showed quickness last week.  Lance Williams is the returning starter with this group, which was the major factor to Hawaii’s success on that side of the ball last year.  Last year, he contributed 25 tackles in the seven games he started and picked up where he left off against Colorado, with seven tackles, a sack, and he also forced a fumble.  At the other outside linebacker, the Warriors made a switch, with Jerrol Garcia-Williams moving to the inside and bringing in Jahlani Tavai, who was in on four tackles last week while Garcia-Williams also pitched in four stops and a sack.  Julian Gener had five tackles a week ago and an interception from the other inside linebacker position.  The Hawaii secondary has the most experience on this side of the ball, with three returning starters from 2014.  Senior Ne’Quan Phillips leads the way from his corner position.  With 54 tackles and three sacks last year, he looks to have an even better year this year, as he started off 2015 with six tackles and two tackles for loss.  Sophomore Nick Nelson is a good shut-down corner on the other side as he garnered 11 tackles last week to go with 1.5 sacks.  Juniors Trayvon Henderson and Daniel Lewis will share time at the FS spot, while at SS, the Warriors will feature hard-hitting senior Marrell Jackson. 

This defense as a whole would appear to have little chance to stop or even slow down very much the high-powered Ohio State offense, but the Buckeyes will have to be ever watchful of an outside backer like Tavai or Phillips blitzing and causing problems on the perimeter.  The Warriors will rely on quickness and figure to blitz quite a bit to disrupt blocking schemes up front and force bad throws from Jones and Barrett.  But, they will be hard-pressed to handle any kind of power runs between the tackles with Jones and Elliott.

                                             CB Nick Nelson

OHIO STATE DEFENSE v HAWAII OFFENSE: Senior Max Wittek transferred from USC and figures to improve the Warriors downfield passing game, which averaged a paltry 214 yards per game in 2014.  After a slow start last week, Wittek recovered enough to complete 50% of his throws a week ago (19/38) for 202 yards and three scores against two interceptions.  One of his scoring tosses went for 79 yards, showing he has the arm to throw deep, accurate passes.  Wittek will try to hit a bevy of receivers, including senior Quinton Pedroza and junior Marcus Kemp.  Kemp led the Warriors in receiving yards last year with 797 and Pedroza led in receptions with 59.  Both picked up last week where they left off with Kemp making six catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, while Pedroza chipped in five receptions for 41 yards and another score.  True freshman Dylan Collie will also be a target, as he chipped in two catches for 21 yards in his first collegiate game.  Columbus native Paul Harris got the nod at RB last week, picking up 68 yards and also returning kicks.  He will be joined in the backfield by redshirt freshman Steven Lakalaka as the Warriors will attempt to utilize both to try to have some semblance of a ground attack.  The Warriors have experienced senior tackle Ben Clarke returning and junior RJ Hollis on the other side also provides experience.  But, this unit was hurt by graduation losses in the middle, as two sophomores, Elijah Tupaiand Dejon Allen at the guards and true freshman Asotui Eli at center will have to try to hold the line against Ohio State’s defense front. 

Hawaii’s best chance at moving the ball would appear to be mixing up deep throws with short dump-off routes to the backs and TE Metuisela Unga to try to confuse the linebackers.  Their chances of mounting any kind of ground attack are slim to none, now with a full-strength Ohio State defensive line facing them.  Kemp and Pedroza, however, are very capable receivers and can make plays.  That is, if Wittek has any time to throw.

                                             RB Paul Harris

SPECIAL TEAMS: Rigoberto Sanchez will handle both the punting and placekicking chores for Hawaii and last week performed those duties quite well.  He averaged over 44 yards on his nine punts and was 2 for 2 on his field goal attempts last week and could end up being Hawaii’s most effective weapon in this game.  Jack Willoughby missed his only field goal attempt at Virginia Tech last week, so it remains to be seen if Coach Urban Meyer will stick with him or turn over the placekicking duties to Sean Nurenberger.  Cameron Johnston averaged over 38 yards on his three punts Monday Night.

SUMMARY: Needless to say, Ohio State’s home opener this year will not be as dicey or ballyhooed as last year’s.  (Virginia Tech).  The OSU Alumni Band with their quadruple Script Ohio will add a flare and festivities to what will otherwise be a snooze fest of a game, particularly in the second half.  No disrespect to Hawaii, but if there is a “gimmie” on the Buckeyes’ schedule this year, it is here. 

OHIO STATE 52, HAWAII 10