Life as the hunted is different than life as the hunter. After slaying Colorado State and Navy as heavy underdogs, the 2-0 Hawaii Warriors were in an unfamiliar position going into Saturday: heavy favorites. After struggling to put away Prairie View A&M and losing to Houston, some fans showed up to Aloha Stadium expecting a beat down of the Rice Owls. Rice had other intentions.
Hawaii opened the football game in what is now typical fashion for the Rolo run-and-shoot Warriors: by taking a quick 14-0 lead off of a pair of Cole McDonald touchdowns. After those touchdown passes to John Ursua and Cedric Byrd, it appeared that maybe the rout was on.