Arizona Football: 5 reasons Wildcats will beat Hawaii in Week 0

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TUCSON, AZ – NOVEMBER 24: Quarterback Khalil Tate #14 of the Arizona Wildcats looks to hand the ball off to running back J.J. Taylor #21 of the Wildcats during the first half of the college football game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Arizona Stadium on November 24, 2018 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images) /

4. It should be a long night for the Hawaii defense

Hawaii has never been known as a juggernaut. Over the last three years, the Rainbow Warriors have finished 113th, 107th and 109th, respectively, in scoring defense. K

evin Summlin and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone should have a field day game planning for a defense that surrendered 235 yards passing and 204 yards rushing per game. In fact, the Warriors opponents had a higher completion percentage (61.4 percent) than they did (58.7 percent).

Arizona has the horses to score on this defense. First is the ground game. The Wildcats’ diminutive dynamo JJ Taylor proves that it isn’t the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. He led Arizona in rushing with over 1,400 yards and six touchdowns. He’ll be part of a one-two punch at running back with second leading rusher Gary Brightwell who had 525 yards on the ground. Oh, and Khalil Tate is healthy — more on him a bit later.

They have an aerial attack that will go through a retool this season, but they are facing a secondary without a much punch. They had only five interceptions last season. They have size, but they don’t take the ball away. The Wildcats have size and some burst on the perimeter with Cedric Peterson, Stanley Berryhill III, and redshirt freshmen Tre Adams and Zach Williams.

And Tate is healthy.

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