Hawaii

Are you ready for some haka?  

The Rainbows come to Ohio Stadium Saturday to play on national television (Big Ten Network) and collect a check for $1.2 million.  With a round trip being 9,020 miles, that’s $133/mile (in case you were curious).  Hawai’i needs that sizeable check because the athletic department ran a $2.1 million deficit in 2013.   Hawai’i will play Wisconsin at Camp Randall in 2 weeks and should receive another $1 million.

There is no real risk of Ohio State losing Saturday.  The Rainbows are 1-6 in games played in the Eastern Time Zone (it will be a 9:30 a.m. local time start for them).   Hawai’i is 0-3 v. No. 1 ranked teams – losing by an average of 53-10, and are a pathetic 19-52-2 in nationally televised games.  Recent history has not been kind as they have lost 9 straight non-conference road games.

They do have Max Wittek at QB though.   I know what you are thinking.   Wittek was a 5-star recruit who won the backup job at USC behind Matt Barkley.  However, Wittek eventually got beat out by Cody Kessler during his Sophomore year and decided to transfer.   So, while he has talent, he still plays for Hawai’i. 

The line started at -38 but is now up to -40, with the over/under being 59.5.  We all remember the 2^nd game blues under the Tressel/Fickell years (2003 – San Diego State; 2004 – Marshall; 2007 – Akron; 2008 – Ohio; and 2011 – Toledo).  In each the Buckeyes were favored by huge margins, but instead had to eek out victories.   Tressel was 7-7 ATS v. Non-conference opponents when Ohio State was a 25+ favorite.   Meyer is already 4-2.  However, with the big game Monday night, the late return to Columbus (Cardale tweeted at 3:41 a.m. that they were back) and the short turnaround, this sets up to be a game that is closer than anticipated.

Don’t.  You. Believe. It.

While the Tech win was great, there was plenty to improve upon.  The coaches will be all over the players this week to make that improvement.  If this was a sleepy Noon kickoff, I might feel differently, but it’s at 3:30.  Oh, did I mention that Bosa, Wilson, Marshall, and Smith finally get to play?  Think they are itching to get out there?   And I think there was a steeper talent drop off in the Tressel years than now.  When Cardale exits and Barrett comes on, J.T. is not going to just hand the ball off.  We are going to run the same offense whether its Cardale, Zeke, Marshall, Braxton, and Thomas, or it Barrett, Samuel, Dunn/Ball/Weber, Smith, and Wilson.  How are we not going to score?  And often?

I had a vision that the next several weeks [read: Nine] the AVERAGE score was going to be 56-14.   Too many weapons on offense against a defense that Phil Steele has rated as one of the worst in the Mountain West Conference.  Big days all around. “You get a touchdown!  You get a touchdown!  Everybody gets a touchdown!”   Give the points and Ohio State takes care of the over/under by itself.

Schaef says:  Ohio State 66, Hawai’i 7.