Opponent’s travel difficulties give Warriors a head start

In pregame drama, there were adjustments ahead of tonight’s first football meeting between Hawaii and North Dakota State at the Ching Complex.

The original plan was for the Bison to depart on Thursday morning from Fargo’s Hector International Airport for the 3,806-mile chartered flight to Honolulu. But a mechanical problem forced what would become a 13-hour delay.

Instead of a travel day on Thursday, the Bison remained on campus for meetings and a football practice. They departed from Fargo about 1 a.m. Central time on Friday and arrived in Honolulu early that morning. The Bison had meetings but did not practice. They attended the Pearl Harbor tour.

The Rainbow Warriors went through their usual Friday routine of a walk-through session, lifting period and then meetings at a Waikiki hotel.

“It’s a big game,” UH coach Timmy Chang said. “There’s nothing like November football. November is when we want to be at our best.”

The 3-6 Warriors need to win their three remaining regular-season games to meet the bowl requirement of a .500 record or better. With a resurrected running game, the Warriors have won two road games in a row. This will be their first home game in 28 days.

“We’re clicking,” UH running back DeVon Rice said. “Hopefully, we can keep this momentum rolling, especially at home. Our backs are against the wall. We’re just going to keep fighting.”

The Bison, who are 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain West, already have secured bowl eligibility in their first FBS season. After winning 10 FCS titles in 15 years through 2025, the Bison made the move to the FBS as a football-only member of the Mountain West.

In the past, the NCAA imposed a two-year transition period during which teams that reclassified were ineligible for postseason play. But recent changes enable the Bison to play in a bowl as early as this year if they finish .500 or better.

The Bison also entered the weekend in third place in the Mountain West behind New Mexico (5-0) and Wyoming (5-1). The top two finishers are paired in the league’s title game on Dec. 4.

The Bison have complementary weapons with a physical offense, aggressive defense and opportunistic special teams. They are allowing 11.9 points and 248.8 yards per game.

“This program represents the state of North Dakota,” Bison offensive guard Griffin Empey said. North Dakotans are “blue collar, working with their hands. … a lunch-pail, hard-hat mentality. Come to work every day, chop wood, carry water is really what it boils down to.”

The Bison operate behind an offensive line nicknamed the “Rams.” The Bison will align in overloads with three receivers on one side and a tight end on the other, a tight end and fullback in the same lineup, or a jet-sweeping receiver sprinting across the formation.

“It’s going to be a real physical game,” said UH associate head coach Chris Brown, who oversees the linebackers. “We’re up for the challenge. We love exactly what they do — the way they run the ball, the toughness of their football team. They say, ‘We’re going to run here, (try to) stop us.’ We have to raise our physicality and get after them. We have to live in the backfield.”

In the past two games, both on the road, the Warriors have activated their running game. In the first seven games, the Warriors called for passes 66.1% of their plays. Even with sacks not counted as rushes, the Warriors’ pass plays accounted for 49.3% of their snaps the past two games.

With opponents dropping eight into coverage, the Warriors’ increased running attack forces teams to fill the tackle box with more gap defenders. That tactic has helped de-congest the passing lanes.

“If we’re one-dimensional, it’s easy to get you,” Chang said.

Against Northern Illinois and UTEP, the Warriors averaged 38 non-sack rushes and 148 yards, up from 25.4 carries and 77.4 rushing yards the previous seven games. The Warriors converted 56.7% of their third-down plays against NIU and UTEP; 36.3% against the other seven opponents.

For tonight’s game, the Warriors will honor former head coach June Jones, who died Oct. 28 in Portland. On Veterans Day, Jones’ close friend, retired Army Col. Trey Johnson, spoke to the Warriors about competing for each other.

“That was always Coach Jones’ message,” Brown said. “Col. Trey Johnson spoke about it from a military standpoint. That’s our mission mindset for this game.”

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