Hawaii Will Want To Say ‘Aloha’ Quickly To OSU In 2015

“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.” ~ Ulysses S. Grant

Leave it to a native Ohioan to spell it out what needs to be done in order to win. West Point graduate, Civil War general, and former United State President, I am willing to bet Ulysses S. Grant would have given football coaching a shot if it had been around in his day.

While counting down the days until the 2015 college football season begins, I thought I would pass the time by ranking and reviewing the upcoming 2015 Ohio State opponents, from least difficult to most difficult. This ranking system of mine will be highly subjective, prone to possibilities of injuries, transfers, or other unforeseen events that could dramatically impact its accuracy. As always, I encourage comments and critique about what I have projected.

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Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (Game 2)

2015 OSU Opponent Ranking: 12 out of 12

Players Recruited By Ohio State: N/A. Former Buckeye QB Taylor Graham, who transferred to Hawaii in 2012, has used up his eligibility.

Game Date: September 12, 2015

Kickoff Time: TBD

Location: Ohio Stadium

Rationale For The Ranking: Hawaii went 4-9 in 2014 under Norm Chow, with wins over Northern Iowa, Wyoming, at San Jose State, and UNLV. All of those teams except Northern Iowa had losing records; Northern Iowa is a FCS school. Even the Northern Iowa victory was close, with Hawaii winning 27-24. The best team Hawaii played in 2014 was Colorado State; Colorado State defeated Hawaii 49-22.

Prediction: Norm Chow is one of the most respected offensive minds in college football, with legendary accomplishments as an assistant at Brigham Young and USC. While an accomplished offensive coordinator, the results as a head coach have not been favorable, lending credence to the old football adage that sometimes the best assistants do not necessarily make the best head coaches. Chow is on the hot seat at Hawaii, entering the 2015 season with a 8-29 record after three seasons. Considering this is Ohio State’s home opener, the significant travel distance Hawaii has to make, and the simple talent discrepancy between the two teams, let me just state that this will probably get out of hand very quickly.

Hawaii opens up the 2015 season with a home game versus Colorado, while Ohio State opens up on the road at Virginia Tech. As I stated up above, this is Ohio State’s home opener. It is difficult to see Ohio State coming out flat in Ohio Stadium, in front of its home crowd, in the first home game of the season.

How bad do I think it might be? I am going to allow Travis Scarangello (@ElChibo), a Hawaii native, to give you an idea as to what he believes may happen…

Look for Coach Meyer to begin substituting liberally before the half. This is the kind of game where Ohio State can and should rest its starters once the sizable lead has been gained, and give the backups considerable playing time experience that will be of benefit for the future. This is also the kind of game that Ohio State critics will point to as the 2015 season progresses, with accusations that Ohio State does not play enough quality opponents.

In Hawaiian culture, ‘aloha’ means both hello and goodbye. My prediction is Hawaii will be wanting to say ‘aloha’ to Ohio State very quickly on September 12, 2015.