Hawaii vs UMass: 3 things to watch

In an matchup of two programs that rarely receive national attention, Hawaii football takes on UMass in their college football season opener on Saturday.

With one program maintaining a slow crawl towards football relevance and the other remaining quite stagnant, this game may not be on the forefront of everyone’s radar for week one. However, with Hawaii gaining traction over the last few seasons, it is certainly possible that this game garners at least some national attention.

With both Nick Rolovich and Mark Whipple returning to coach their respective squads, we should see more of the same from the two teams come Saturday. While Hawaii will be looking to build off their first .500 finish in half a decade, UMass will be hoping to break a lengthy streak of disappointing seasons. Here are three things to watch as the two face off.

1. How much will distance effect Hawaii’s performance?

Speaking of rolling into town, Hawaii will certainly take a while to do so. A flight from Honolulu to Boston takes about eleven hours at the very least, usually longer depending on layovers. This is likely the farthest Hawaii would ever have to travel for a domestic game, setting quite the stage for a week one game.

A few grumbles were likely uttered when the team first saw their schedule, as a 6:00pm start time doesn’t give a whole lot of time to settle in after such a long flight. To put things in perspective, Hawaii will be traveling over 5,000 miles for the game, and it’s not yet known just when they will arrive.

More from Saturday Blitz

• Michigan State vs. Maryland: Location, time, prediction, and more
• ACC Power Rankings: Can #4 FSU overthrow Clemson at Death Valley East?
• Most heartwarming social media reactions to Nick Chubb’s injury
• Ranking college football’s top 10 quarterbacks after Week 3
• Things are going to get much darker for the Houston Cougars

Road warriors

Believe it or not, the Warriors fared fairly well on the road last season in terms of record. The team went 3-3 with their farthest game being played in Michigan against the Wolverines. Other than that, Hawaii, benefiting from playing in the Mountain West, “only” had to travel to Arizona, San Jose State, Air Force, San Diego State, and Fresno State.

While a 3-3 record looks good all things considered, two of their losses to the Wolverines and San Diego State ended with scores of 63-3 and 55-0, respectively.

We did get a glimpse of what may be in store for the two teams last year when UMass traveled to Hawaii for their last game of the regular season. While Hawaii held onto the win, a six point differential was likely less than desirable for the coaching staff.

It will be interesting to see if a similar story plays out with Hawaii flying out to face the Minutemen this year, or if the Warriors will manage to fight off the infamous jet-lag.