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UPDATE 11:19 a.m.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday for the football game between the University of Hawaii and San Jose State at Aloha Stadium.
It will be the earliest start for a Rainbow Warrior home game since the 11:05 a.m. start against Brigham Young on Dec. 8, 2001.
Spectrum Sports will produce the pay-per-view telecast.
The game initially was to played at San Jose’s CEFCU Stadium. But Santa Clara County’s newly implemented coronavirus-related restrictions forced the game to relocate. Several other sites were considering, including the two stadiums in Las Vegas, before an agreement was reached to move the game to Aloha Stadium.
The change of venue will not impact next year’s schedule rotation, meaning San Jose State also will travel to Hawaii in 2021.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
After a three-day search for a new site, the University of Hawaii football team announced its next game will be played 12 miles away at Aloha Stadium on Saturday.
The Mountain West Conference meeting between Hawaii and San Jose State was supposed to be played at CEFCU Stadium in Northern California. But Santa Clara County’s newly implemented coronavirus-related restrictions forced San Jose State to seek another location. The order prohibits contact-sport activities, such as practices and games, for the next three weeks.
On Monday, SJSU athletic director Marie Tuite indicated moving the Mountain West Conference game to Hawaii was not an immediate possibility. “As for whether or not we would play the game in Hawaii, at this point, we are not looking at that option,” she said.
Tuite did not elaborate, but it was believed there were concerns because the restrictions required incoming travelers from outside the Bay Area county’s 150-mile radius to quarantine for 14 days. An SJSU spokesman said the team has not yet decided where it will set up headquarters following their postgame return to the mainland.
After several discussions on Tuesday, the Warriors announced on their Twitter account the game would be moved to Aloha Stadium.
“We explored many venue and date options for this game over the last 48 hours,” Tuite said in a news release. “Moving the game from San Jose to Honolulu became the best option based on our county and the state’s current public health directives. We want to thank the many people who were involved in the decision-making process, and there were many — our university administration, the Mountain West office, and the conference schools that offered their support.”
A return to action is important for the Spartans, whose previous two games were canceled because of coronavirus-related circumstances involving Fresno State and then Boise State. At 4-0, the Spartans are in contention for a berth in the Mountain West’s title game on Dec. 19. The top two winning percentages in league play determine the participants. It is believed the Spartans would need to play at least five league games in the eight-week regular season to meet the threshold for title-game eligibility.
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The victor was the spoiler.
In its best effort of the season, the Hawaii football team withstood Nevada’s power running attack for a 24-21 victory at Aloha Stadium.
In evening their record at 3-3, the Rainbow Warriors shoved the previously unbeaten Wolf Pack from atop the Mountain West Conference standings. The Pack are now 5-1 and in third place in a race that awards title-game invitations only to the two teams with the best winning percentages.
“It was great knocking off the No. 1 seed in our league,” said slotback Melquise Stovall, who was granted the postgame honor of smashing a rock symbolizing another break-through moment for the Warriors.
The Warriors snapped together season-long puzzles. The Warriors did not have a turnover for the second consecutive game and committed only one penalty of significance. They also conquered their so-so production (38%) on third down this season.
“Third down had been a nightmare for us,” Stovall said. But on this night, the Warriors converted at 64.3% in such situations. Chevan Cordeiro completed four of five third-down passes in a drive that extended UH’s lead to 24-14 and the clock-draining possession that led to three victory-formation kneels.
Cordeiro displayed courage and grittiness as a dual-threat leader. He was 26 of 32 for 246 yards and a 7-yard scoring toss to Calvin Turner. Cordeiro also gained 76 yards on non-sack scrambles and keepers.
>> PHOTOS: Hawaii upsets Nevada
With UH trailing 7-3 in the second quarter, Cordeiro was struck late — and hard — at the end of a 12-yard dash. On the next play, Cordeiro sprinted to his right and fired a pass to Turner, who caught it at the 4 and raced into the end zone.
“All season we believed in Chev,” Turner said. “He’s a great quarterback. It gives us great confidence to (see Cordeiro) take a hit and keep fighting. We believed in him from day one. We’ll keep believing in him. Everybody stands behind Chevan. We know what Chev’s going to give us. He’s going to go out and play hard and and play smart and do the right things.”
Several times, Cordeiro found the escape hatch after appearing to be trapped by the Pack. On one play, Cordeiro was flushed to the right, then fired back to Turner. On another, he rolled to his left, then threw back to Rico Bussey running a slant across the field.
After the Pack closed to 17-14 on Toa Taua’s 1-yard run, Cordeiro led the Warrior on a 75-yard scoring drive. On second-and-goal from the 2, Cordeiro faked a handoff, then split two defenders in a sprint to the end zone.
When the Pack again cut the deficit to three points, at 24-21, Cordeiro directed the game’s final drive. On fourth-and-6 from the Nevada 26, head coach Todd Graham stuck with Cordeiro instead of summoning the field-goal unit.
“We look at analytics and all that stuff,” Graham said. “In that game, at
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After a big 24-21 win at Aloha Stadium against previously unbeaten Nevada, Hawaii athletic director David Matlin is scrambling this weekend to see if the Warriors can face another undefeated Mountain West team.
The Rainbow Warriors are slated to play at San Jose State (4-0) on Saturday.
But due to COVID-19 mandates, the Spartans cannot host the game because of Santa Clara County quarantine rules, according to a news release Saturday from the school.
Also, the Spartans had their game at Boise State canceled Saturday, hours before the scheduled kickoff at Boise’s Albertsons Stadium. The Broncos — who won at Hawaii last week despite 12 players out of uniform with virus concerns — have put football on pause.
It could also be problematic for San Jose State and UH to play somewhere else; the county rules require a 14-day quarantine for anyone who returns after a trip anywhere 150 miles away.
Taken at face value, this would mean the Spartans now can’t play at all for two weeks following the road trip to Boise.
As positive tests for COVID-19 have spiked this fall, college football games nationwide have been canceled — often on short notice, as various jurisdictions and conferences enforce various emergency rules.
Other than all of its nonconference games (like the rest of the Mountain West), Hawaii has yet to have any of its eight-game abbreviated schedule affected. This would be the first.
Matlin met with his San Jose State counterpart, Mary Tuite, and Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson on Saturday. But nothing was resolved.
“I don’t expect an update until (Sunday),” he said via text message a few minutes after the start of the Nevada game.
“But who knows? This is 2020,” Matlin said.
Some of the burning questions:
>> If the Spartans are allowed to play the Rainbow Warriors could the game be held at Aloha Stadium?
>> Could it take place in Las Vegas where other Mountain West games that had to be played at a different venue were held?
>> Or would it just go down as another “no contest” for both teams?
>> How do missing games, with “no contest” results affect teams contending to play in the postseason conference championship game?
San Jose State is 4-0 this season, so the situation is especially frustrating for the Spartans. The game against defending conference champion and perennial power Boise State (4-1, 4-0 in conference) would have been one of the Spartans’ most significant opportunities in recent years.
Boise State beat Hawaii 40-32 on Nov. 21 at Aloha Stadium.
The Nevada Wolf Pack and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors will face off in a Mountain West clash at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium. Hawaii is 2-3 overall and 1-1 at home, while the Wolf Pack are 5-0 overall and 2-0 on the road. Nevada has a 4-1 record against the spread and Hawaii is 2-3 against the number.
The Wolf Pack are favored by seven points in the latest Hawaii vs. Nevada odds from William Hill Sportsbook. The over-under, or total number of points Vegas thinks will be scored, is set at 60.5. Before entering any Nevada vs. Hawaii picks, you’ll want to see the college football predictions from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past four-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of over $3,600 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It is also a sizzling 44-23 on all top-rated picks through 12 weeks of the 2020 college football schedule, returning over $1,200 in profit already. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Hawaii vs. Nevada. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college football odds for Nevada vs. Hawaii:
Hawaii vs. Nevada spread: Hawaii +7
Hawaii vs. Nevada over-under: 60.5 points
Hawaii vs. Nevada money line: Hawaii +220, Nevada -270
Latest Odds:
Wolf Pack
-7
What you need to know about Hawaii
Hawaii came up short against the Boise State Broncos last Saturday, falling 40-32. The Rainbow Warriors were down 40-17 at the end of the third quarter, which was too much to recover from.
Hawaii’s loss came about despite a quality game from quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, who passed for three TDs and 253 yards on 48 attempts in addition to picking up 90 yards on the ground. After winning its opener against Fresno State, Hawaii has now lost three of its last four.
What you need to know about Nevada
Meanwhile, even if it wasn’t a dominant performance, Nevada beat the San Diego State Aztecs 26-21 last Saturday. Among those leading the charge for Nevada was receiver Romeo Doubs, who caught five passes for one TD and 133 yards. One of the most thrilling moments was Doubs’ 50-yard TD reception in the third quarter.
Nevada also one of the best quarterbacks in the Mountain West in Carson Strong. The sophomore is completing over 70 percent of passes for for 1,805 yards, 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions this season.
How to make Hawaii vs. Nevada picks
The model has simulated Hawaii vs. Nevada 10,000 times and the results are in. It is leaning over on the total, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in over 50 percent of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
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Even before Baylor linebacker Solomon Turner decided to transfer to the University of Hawaii, the connection to his new football program already had been established.
Turner, a Texas native who will sign a scholarship agreement on Dec. 16 and join the Rainbow Warriors in January, noted these ties:
>> Turner’s pastor, Jack Graham, has served as UH coach Todd Graham’s mentor for several years. (Jack Graham and Todd Graham are not related). It was Jack Graham who made the recommendation to UH after Turner entered the NCAA’s transfer portal two weeks ago. Turner said Todd Graham, who began his coaching career at nearby Allen High in Texas, has “a ton of respect down here. When I posted that commitment down here, it was pretty rocking.”
>> Baylor’s head coach is Dave Aranda, a former UH defensive coordinator. When Turner began his recovery from shoulder surgery 11 months ago, he was placed on the inactive roster for the 2020 season while remaining on full scholarship. “Coach Aranda has showed me nothing but love,” Turner said. “He cared for me, like I was one of his own, from the first day I met him. I know he’s very pleased with me going to Hawaii. He’s looking out for my success on and off the field in the future.”
>> Turner will be reunited with three Prestonwood Christian Academy alumni. UH tight end Riley Wilson and wideout Dayton Toney were teammates when Prestonwood won a state football championship three years ago. Turner and Justin Webster, a guard on the UH basketball team, have been best friends since the fifth grade.
>> Turner’s father, Scott Turner, was an Illinois defensive back who played against UH in the 1992 Holiday Bowl in San Diego. “I remember that week of preparation that we had,” Scott Turner said. “Hawaii had that (triple-option) offense we hadn’t seen in the Big Ten. The Big Ten had a lot of pro-style offense and 4-3 defense. Then you go to the Holiday Bowl and play against that offense. It was very exciting but pretty difficult to defend.” UH won,
27-17. Scott Turner played nine NFL seasons.
Scott Turner said his son was a multi-sport athlete, but eventually focused on football, partly because of the game’s analytics and cerebral aspects. The younger Turner often made suggestions on strategy and personnel to his father, who coached youth teams. “He just had this innate ability to see talent in such a way and put people in the right positions,” Scott Turner said.
After his sophomore season at Prestonwood, Turner attended IMG Academy, a football powerhouse in Bradenton, Fla. Although he attended only the 2017 spring semester, Turner credited the experience with his personal development. “My roommate was from China, my next-door neighbor was from Italy,” Turner said. “Different languages were spoken, different cultures. It really prepared me for when I got to Baylor.”
After Turner returned to Prestonwood, he began to receive scholarship offers. The
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This football season, Hawaii offensive lineman Micah Vanterpool has emerged in a featured role.
Vanterpool is host and producer of the “Big Mik Show,” a vlog on YouTube that chronicles his experience with the Rainbow Warriors.
Vanterpool has released 12 videos, including the road trips to Fresno State and Wyoming, with two more in post production.
The idea emerged during a conversation between Vanterpool and his roommate, defensive tackle Doug Russell. “Let’s start vlogging our day,” Vanterpool suggested to Russell. From there, workout videos expanded to behind-the-scene views of UH road trips. An upcoming episode will show this past weekend’s game against Boise State, Vanterpool’s first collegiate start.
“One thing I learned about the island is it’s a very special place,” said Vanterpool, who grew up in Arizona. “I think back to the day I was on my official visit. I walked off the plane and the air just felt different. I never felt air like that. I was like, ‘this place is special.’ I wanted to record my time here.”
A fan told Vanterpool the videos have been helpful. “Fans don’t get to come to the games this year,” Vanterpool said. “I thought it would be a good thing for the fans to come along (virtually) and be with the team.”
Crusader connection
It was a familiar scene when quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and wideout Jonah Panoke connected on three passes against Boise State. Cordeiro and Panoke have been teammates since Pop Warner, and then at Saint Louis School. It was Cordeiro who encouraged Panoke and defensive back Kai Kaneshiro to accept UH offers. Kaneshiro is now UH’s starting safety.
Panoke has been busy as a receiver, student, and father of two. (Cordeiro is godfather to Panoke’s youngest son,) Panoke said his mother and fiance’s mother have been helpful in taking care of the children during the day. “Being a father is the best thing,” Panoke said. “I come home looking forward to playing with the kids.”
Panoke and Cordeiro are linked in Saint Louis lore. Panoke soared to seize the game-winning, 53-yard touchdown throw from Cordeiro to beat Kahuku in the Open Division state title game in 2017.
“I still see people, ‘oh, you’re the guy from Saint Louis who caught that pass,’” Panoke said.
Don’t sleep on Turner
Here’s the “rest” of Calvin Turner’s story:
“Actually, on the way to the game, every game, I take a nap on the bus,” Turner said. “You can’t sit together. So I stretch across two seats, put my headphones on, throw the hood over my head, and just fall asleep for about 15 minutes, and I’ll be good to go.”
Turner has been used as a running back, wideout, slotback and wildcat quarterback. He has scored 46 of the Warriors’ 122 points this season.
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Never was Bruce O’Neil’s connection with people as apparent as during his basketball-related trips to China.
In a less-demonstrative culture, Eileen O’Neil said of her husband, a global basketball ambassador, “he taught people to hug. He embraced people. The biggest (basketball officials in China) would run to him for his hug. It was his custom to love people. … His legacy in life is loyalty, love and friendship. Bruce never burned bridges. He always built bridges to relationships. I don’t care how anybody treated him. He would never talk badly about them. He loved his friends.”
Bruce O’Neil, a former University of Hawaii basketball player and head coach, died of heart failure this past Saturday in Eugene, Ore. He was 75.
O’Neil was one of the first UH basketball players to be offered a Division I scholarship. As a young UH assistant coach and then 27-year-old head coach, O’Neil recruited three of what would be known as “The Fabulous Five” — Jerome Freeman, Dwight Holiday and Al Davis. While head coach Red Rocha was the overseer, it was O’Neil, with his youthful enthusiasm and relatability to the players, who handled the details of practices.
O’Neil also signed Tom Henderson, an Olympian who went on to a successful NBA career, Artie Wilson, Melton Werts, Rod Aldridge, Boyd Batts, George Lett, Henry Hollingsworth and Reggie Carter. O’Neil even brought Moses Malone, a future Hall of Fame center, to UH on a recruiting visit.
“He was one of the best recruiters in Hawaii history in basketball,” Wilson said. “In my opinion, nobody was better.”
O’Neil was 42-32 in three UH seasons as head coach but was forced out in 1976 after the NCAA ruled the Rainbows committed several infractions, including subsidizing a player’s mother to travel to a game, offering McDonald’s coupons as an incentive in practices and the players’ appearance in an infamous Cutter Ford television commercial.
After 16 years in Hawaii, the O’Neils moved to Eugene. O’Neil and Hall-of-Famer Wilt Chamberlain founded the United States Basketball Academy. The 46-acre facility was used to house and train basketball prospects from around the world. Eventually, O’Neil expanded his practice to serving as China’s chief basketball consultant ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. O’Neil was helpful in creating China’s pro league, as well as expanding that country’s impact globally. O’Neil worked with Yao Ming, the NBA’s overall No. 1 pick in 2002. He also helped Ji Xiang sign with UH in 2008. O’Neil was instrumental in former UH player Bobby Nash landing a job in Japan.
“Anytime he could help, anytime we reached out for help, he was there for us,” said Bob Nash, a member of the Fabulous Five, a No. 1 draft pick by the Detroit Pistons and a former UH head coach and long-time associate coach. Nash said O’Neil was “a super guy,” and they kept in touch the past five decades.
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The University of Hawaii football team was in the midst of a comeback so rousing Saturday night that it appeared that even the cardboard fan cutouts were gyrating.
OK, maybe it was the wind gusts that stirred them in the Aloha Stadium seats while the suddenly energized Rainbow Warriors sideline whooped it up in front of them.
But for all except the waning moments of the fourth quarter, the Rainbow Warriors looked ready to finally topple their long-time tormentor, Boise State. Right up until the Broncos managed to withstand a barrage of 15 unanswered points in the tense finish of an eventual 40-32 victory.
The rally begged these questions: Why can’t the Warriors mount this kind of a flurry earlier? Why are they perpetually late to seizing the initiative and when are they going to come from ahead for a change?
There was hope that what had been the tale of the first half of this truncated season had changed Saturday night when UH jumped out to a milestone 3-0 start in the first quarter, their only opening lead in five games.
But, alas, the offense went punt-punt-punt, the defense got dinged for some big plays and the special teams whiffed on a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Before you knew it, the Warriors were staring at a 33-9 deficit in the third quarter that, as it turned out, not even the brilliance of Calvin Turner’s three touchdowns and a pair of 2-point conversions could overcome.
It was an all-too-familiar situation reminiscent of how they trailed 10-0 at Wyoming, 20-7 against New
Mexico and 28-0 to San Diego State.
Only against the Lobos, a team that has won none of its four games so far, did the Warriors finally prevail,
39-33.
If this keeps up this week against unbeaten Nevada
(5-0), it could be a recipe for a long night and assure something less than a winning season.
At 2-3 with three games remaining — pandemic permitting, of course — the Warriors are running out of time to put things together. It figures to be a challenging handful the next two weeks with the Wolf Pack and 4-0 San Jose State before the Warriors get the prospect of a soft landing with Nevada-Las Vegas (0-4) to close out the season.
Nevada, in particular, is not an adversary that you want to spot a lead — early or otherwise. The Wolf Pack are off to their best start in a decade and come packing a quick-strike ability with an offense that ranks fourth (363.8) in passing yards
per game and is putting up
32.2 points per game.
Wide receiver Romeo Doubs leads the nation in receiving yards per game (155.6) and is sixth in receiving touchdowns (nine) and receptions per game (7.2) as Nevada has two other receivers, Cole Turner and Justin Lockhart, who are in the Top 65 in the country. And in Carson Strong, Nevada has a quarterback who
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As a history enthusiast, Todd Graham is well versed in the football rivalry between Hawaii and Boise State.
As the first-year head coach of the Rainbow Warriors, Graham is focused solely on today’s meeting between the Mountain West teams at Aloha Stadium.
“Other years don’t matter,” Graham said. “Obviously, you have to have respect and reverence for someone that’s earned it. … We’re playing, hands down, the best team in the league, the one that’s set the standard in this league. … But right now, it’s about us. You’re wasting your time focusing on anything else until we get things right and we’re a disciplined football team. I’m telling you, we’re not far off.”
In practices this week, the UH coaches have reiterated the season’s theme: cut down on turnovers, penalties and self-inflicted mistakes.
This season, opponents parlayed nine UH turnovers into 44 points. Last week, the Warriors forced San Diego State into zero or negative yards on 45.3% of the plays. But the Warriors lost fumbles at their 10 and 13 that were redeemed for 10 points, threw a pick-six, and whiffed four times each on touchdown dashes of 51 and 62 yards.
“That’s the worst thing we’re doing now — on special teams and offense — is we’re turning the ball over,” Graham said. “If we go out and take care of the ball and we have 100% ball security, we have a chance to win every game we’re in. … Secondly, it’s stupid penalties and negative plays. If we eliminate that — and we can, that’s what discipline is — that was the whole deal this week. We’re focusing on us.”
Without spring practice and a regular training camp, the UH coaches have had to extend evaluations and adjustments into the season. For last week’s game, defensive end Penei Pavihi moved back to middle linebacker and hybrid back Khoury Bethley went to bandit safety. The Warriors, who are thin in the secondary because of injuries and other circumstances, are rotating Cortez Davis, Cameron Lockridge and Michael Washington at the two corner spots.
“I think you have to adapt,” Graham said. “We’re trying to get the best people we have on the field. Sometimes you have to be adaptive.”
Graham said the Warriors are embracing a culture of selflessness and determination, a motto written in stone. TTH — “tougher than hell” — is inscribed on a rock the Warriors bring to games.
“I know what our identity is,” Graham said. “It’s the culture we’re trying to develop.”
Boise State has established a reputation as one of college football’s elite. They have the NCAA’s third-best winning percentage (.730), and are 142-17 in conference games since 2000. The Broncos have won eight in a row against the Warriors.
Injuries and pandemic-related circumstances have impacted the Broncos this fall. Two weeks ago, 14 players were held out of a game because of infection or contact tracing. Starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier told Boise
Two of the Mountain West’s three teams that are undefeated in conference play will be in action this weekend on CBS Sports Network against quality foes as the league’s schedule surpasses the midway point and the conference title races blow wide open. Those contests are among a loaded slate of games scheduled for CBS Sports Network as the college football season reaches Week 12.
After a busy week of games on the network, things are set to wrap up late on Saturday night when Boise State (3-1) travels to Hawaii (2-2) as the Broncos seek to continue proving that their nonconference loss to BYU earlier this month was merely an aberration resulting from the absence of their top two quarterbacks.
Hawaii vs. Boise State
Date: Saturday, Nov. 21 | Time: 11 p.m. ET Location: Aloha Stadium — Honolulu, Hawaii TV: CBS Sports Network [Channel finder] Live stream: CBSSports.com | Mobile: CBS Sports App
Storylines: With starting quarterback Hank Bachmeier back after missing two games, Boise State recovered from its loss to BYU with a convincing 52-21 win over Colorado State last week. Hawaii is off to a 2-2 start under former Arizona State coach Todd Graham, who is in his first season.
