Hawaii (3-3, 2-1 WAC) vs. Boise St. (5-0, 1-0)
Could there be two non-BCS conference teams in the BCS bowls this year? The Mountain West has two candidates in unbeaten BYU and Utah, while the WAC, which has supplied the BCS buster the past two seasons, again has Boise State in the mix with the big boys.
The No. 15 Broncos face Hawaii on the blue turf Friday night in a matchup of the WAC’s past two champions. Last year, the Warriors beat Boise State 39-27 to end the Broncos’ five-year reign as WAC champs. However, this game isn’t expected to be very close, and Boise is a 24.5-point favorite on WagerWeb.com.
Boise State’s defense is ranked seventh in the country, allowing an average of just 10.2 points per game. Except for then 17th-ranked Oregon, no team has scored more than one touchdown on the Broncos this year.
Oh, but Boise can still rack up the points, too, averaging nearly 34 per game and ranking 24th in the country in total offense and 13th in passing behind redshirt freshman Kellen Moore, who has completed 71.5 percent of his passes for 1,335 yards and 10 touchdowns with only three interceptions. And the Broncos still have RB Ian Johnson, who has been in college, it seems, since the 1960s.
The Warriors looked lost early this season but have played much better of late. They upset Fresno State on the road two weeks ago, then handled Louisiana Tech at home last Saturday. The win over Fresno State was Hawaii’s first in 11 tries all-time against ranked opponents on the road.
A big reason for the better play is junior quarterback Inoke Funaki. He’s eighth in the league in total offense per game despite not having grabbed the starting role full-time until recently.
“Funaki isn’t a true run-and-shoot quarterback,” Hawaii head coach Greg McMackin said. “We’re doing some different things with him. He was an option quarterback in high school, so we are having him do a few more things. He’s been throwing the ball with more velocity. The more he plays, the better. Our quarterback situation was up in the air early because of injury and academics.”
Overall, Boise State has taken six of the previous nine games against Hawaii, dating back to 1996. In addition, the Broncos are tied with BYU for the second-longest home winning streak at 16 games.
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