Warriors walloped by the Wolverines, cover spread!

Six years ago, Hawaii traveled to Ann Arbor for a pay-day game and lost 63-3. The check cleared, but man was that hard to watch. Fastforward to 2022, and this edition was also brutal, but featured some small victories.

The evening started with patience being required for onlookers as lightning in the are delayed the game by one hour. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was kind of enough to greet the Warriors during the delay.

...and then the pummeling started at 3 pm Hawaii Time.

Harbaugh was in the mood for some sentimentality, targeting Saint Louis school graduate Roman Wilson on two big plays that led to early touchdowns for the Wolverines. Michigan, as expected, destroyed the Wolverines in the trenches, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy dazzled throwing the football for an astounding 19.3 yards per completion.

Michigan averaged 15.9 yards per completion and 10 yards per carry on the ground in route to leading 42-0 at halftime. I’d love to talk about what Hawaii did in the first half, but really it was just a landslide of dominance from Michigan. Hawaii had 47 yards of total offense in the first half.

Defensive tackle Blessman Ta’ala had a sack! There was that!

In the second half, Hawaii found some small victories to take with them back to Oahu. A heavy dose of running back Dedrick Parson and short passes from quarterback Joey Yellen put Hawaii in the redzone, and led to a Matthew Shipley field goal. No shutout in Ann Arbor, the Warriors cracked the goose egg at 42-3.

Later in the half, the highlight of the game for the Warriors: freshman running back Tylan Hines ran for 54-yard touchdown. Hawaii scored double-digit points! Few gave the Warriors the chance to accomplish that.

When the Wolverines appeared to be making a late run at covering the vaunted 50-point spread, Joey Yellen staged a 14-play, 73-yard drive that ultimately led to no points when Hawaii turned it over on downs. Michigan would run out the clock and win 56-10.

Other positives:

-John Tuitupou recorded a sack

-Virdell Edwards had an interception off quarterback Cade McNamara

-Hawaii’ defensive line started to get a little pressure on the quarterback in the second half

-Both freshmen running backs Tylan Hines and Jordan Johnson impressed

The Warriors lost 56-10 to Michigan, but reportedly collect $1.9 million for their trouble.

Needless to say, the first three weeks of the Timmy Chang era could not have started in worse fashion. Three consecutive blowout losses. One of them expected, the first two losses very much a surprise.

...but there were positives to take away from the second half. Yes, it came against the Wolverines’ reserves, but it doesn’t matter. Hawaii was north of a 50-point underdog this week, and ultimately covered that spread. Timmy Chang will take these small positives and hope it translates next weekend.

It’s officially homecoming week, Hawaii will play Duquesne next Saturday the 17th at 6 pm HT. The game will be televised for Hawaii residents (PPV) and streamed via Spectrum Sports on the mainland.