I heard that there's some singing at the beginning of Hawaii games, which is great! I love songs about rainbows!
Muppet Movie - The Rainbow Connection (via darknesskaho)
Wait, that's not the version they use? It's more aggressive?
Haka by Hawaii Warriors (HD) (via uhFILMproductions)
Little did you guys know, I'm actually pretty conversant in your various Polynesian languages, so I can provide a translation here, even though they changed the tune a bit:
Why aren't there many songs about the Warrior Rainbows
Even though we're not the Crimson Tide
Sure there's problems on offense
And also on defense
But we're looking to get the Trojans' hiiiiiiide!
Huh.
Well, oddly for a Norm Chow team, 2012 was a bit of a debacle for Hawaii on offense, which made their defense look worse than they actually are - SBN's Bill Connelly had a comprehensive write-up here. Coming into this season, Hawaii has a new-look quarter back (transfer Taylor Graham) who's better suited to Chow's offense, and has some real talent at linebacker and in the secondary, even though line strength means they're a little suspect against the run. (See updates from SBN's Michael Gooding on offense here, and on defense here.)
My pessimistic snap prognostication - SC is down Silas Redd and D.J. Morgan for running plays, and there are still questions about the offensive line after last year. It's not hard to imagine Hawaii using their linebackers to bring the heat on both Cody Kessler and Max Wittek, and dare them to make ill-judged throws against a motivated secondary. I know we have Marqise Lee, but he can't do everything... And this year's defense is an unknown quantity, to say the least, between personnel and formation changes. I am hoping that the line issues for Hawaii mean a good outing for Morgan Breslin and the rest of the defense.
Anyway, the line on this is USC by around 3 touchdowns. SBN's Michael Gooding thinks that Hawaii could, with motivation and a little luck, at least keep it respectable and beat the spread. Even that would be enough to get people asking questions.
Previews:
From Gary Klein and... Gary Klein? Man, that press total exclusion zone* really is working against us.
Broadcast and other information:
When: Thursday, Aug. 29 at 11 p.m. ET
Where: Aloha Stadium, Halawa (Honolulu), Hawaii
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: ESPN 1420 AM
USC 2012 Record: 7-6, 5-4 in Pac-12.
Hawaii All Time Record vs USC: 0-8
Last Meeting: Week 1 2012, USC 49-10
By the way: if you're a Time Warner Cable customer, looks like you're out of luck tonight, as the game is on CBS Sports. UPDATE: According to SC's email to alumni, apparently the game is available on CBS Sports on TWC.
Until tonight's game thread, aloha!
* Nothing says "contemporary joke" like a reference to the Falkland Islands War!