Hawaii has had its fair share of poor seasons the past few years under head coach Norm Chow, and the Rainbow Warriors will enter Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday as underdogs by more than three touchdowns. Hawaii also began this season 2-1 and found itself down just 17-0 in the fourth quarter against Ohio State two weeks ago. In this week’s opponent film room, we’ll look at an impressive defensive performance from the Warriors and how Hawaii used an array of blitz packages to (mostly) contain Ohio State despite being completely overmatched from a talent perspective. The Warriors threw extra men at Cardale Jones early in that game and didn’t show any hesitation in trusting their defensive backfield, which has played well the entire season. Ohio State’s offensive line didn’t do a great job of handling it, and the unit had a number of miscommunications that led to plays like this: Hawaii did everything they could to confuse that offensive line. The Warriors blitzed corners off the edge, dropped defensive linemen into coverage and sent delayed rushers that often went untouched into the backfield. In that first video, Jones reads the corner blitz right away, throwing to the flat that Hawaii left open. But bringing pressure from different angles can make for a rushed, off-script decision, and Jones’ pass wasn’t accurate. The third video showed a defensive tackle — who ended up forcing the near-interception — dropping into coverage and becoming a quarterback spy while Hawaii sent pressure from elsewhere. The Warriors had three or four chances for interceptions that they didn’t convert and at least two that they flat-out dropped. Although a defensive touchdown and the Buckeyes’ running game helped them pull away in the fourth quarter for a 38-0 win, Hawaii truly flustered the offense of the No. 1 team in the country…
Continue Reading: Badgers football film room: How Hawaii could present major test for UW’s offensive line
