The 6-2 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team continues its season today with a matchup against San Diego State University on the road. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. HST. See Monday’s paper to read the results.

Here’s how both teams match up.

Hawaii offense

Ahead of the Sept. 27 road game against Air Force, coach Timmy Chang implored unity, discipline and calmness.

The Warriors wore the same travel clothes and ate at the same time and place. For a walk-through session last week, every Warrior wore a plain white shirt. They wore plain black shirts for Thursday’s pre-travel workout. The drills emphasized repetition. Slotback Pofele Ashlock said previous mistakes had been made from obsessing about making mistakes.

“Now it’s a calm setting,” Ashlock said.

As a result, the Warriors’ offense has cut down pre-snap penalties, from 11 in the first five games to two in the past three (including one by an O-lineman).

“Staying calm, not too anxious,” center Ethan Spencer said. Left guard Zhen Sotelo said the pre-snap efficiency is from “discipline, and discipline comes from preparation.”

In the first five games, the running backs averaged 3.4 yards per carry and converted 37.7% on third down, Since then, without the down-and-distance deficits on early downs, the backs average 6.3 yard per rush. In that span, the Warriors have a third-down conversion rate of 53.1% while scoring on all 13 of their red-zone drives.

Sotelo is having a breakout season on pulls, stoning inside blitzers and re-directing 3-tech defenders. On Cam Barfield’s decisive 35-yard TD run against Colorado State, Sotelo and Landon Sims, aligned as a fullback, collaborated on a double block.

“Zhen brings that energy and that dog mindset, that grit mentality,” Spencer said. Sotelo has matured into a leader who plays with controlled aggression.

“If somebody punches you in the face, you can’t punch ’em back,” Sotelo said. “We have to have that fine line of balancing aggression and discipline.”

While Sotelo is a co-captain, he said Spencer is “the law. Whatever Ethan calls, we roll with it. Ethan sets the tone for us.”

Hawaii defense

Defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman has employed a simple formula: 1/11×11=1.

‘”It’s not about, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this and then I’m going to play hero ball,’” Thurman said, “Hero ball is no good in football. It’s not about one person or two people. Basketball, baseball, other sports, you can do that. But it takes all 11 of you working together on the football field and you doing your job in order for it to work and be successful.”

This season, the Warriors have intensified the pressure with defenders excelling in their craft — De’Jon Benton creating chaos and Jackie Johnson III attacking the backfield. Benton transferred from New Mexico, where he received a medical redshirt last season after injuring his right biceps. After he entered the portal, the UH coaches did a deep dive on Benton’s background, from his high school career in Pittsburg, Calif., through four years at USC.

“Every day he comes to work,” D-tackles coach Jeff Reinebold said. “He practices harder than anybody. He has that short-burst quickness and relentlessness.”

Utah State linemen twice were penalized for holding Benton to prevent sacks. Johnson, who has six sacks, also has drawn extra blocking because of quickness out of a low stance and hunger for gaps.

“They don’t make ’em like Jackie anymore,” D-ends coach Jordan Pu‘u-Robinson said.

After transferring to UH in 2023, Johnson was powering past the first-team blockers as a scout rush end.

“We moved him up (into the playing rotation) and he stayed diligent and hard working.”

Johnson often sets up in a 4-point stance, emulating the below-pad-level bursts of New York Giants pass rusher Brian Burns.

“He has an elite get-off,” Pu‘u-Robinson said. “He does a great job of getting vertical knock-backs. He has great power at the point of attack, great strike, great knock-back.”

Johnson credits his flexibility — with his legs straight, he can place his palms on the ground — and recovery, which includes acupuncture.

“I hate needles,” Johnson said. “At first, I didn’t want to go. It’s actually the only thing helping me right now.”

Hawaii specialists

In the “carousel” drill similar to a crazy-bat race, coverage players will run around a hoop, then sprint toward a punt returner. The intent is to reclaim bearings and then storm downfield with three layers of would-be tacklers.

“There are things you can’t control,” said Thomas Sheffield, who coaches special teams. “I can control how we tackle.”

Misfortune led to the two longest punt returns this season — 41 yards by Arizona’s Jeremiah Patterson and 91 for a TD by Colorado State’s Javion Kinnard. Dino Heimuli and Alika Cavaco-Amoy were poised to make tackles on those returns when they crumpled with non-contact, season-ending knee injuries.

“There’s some bad luck involved with that,” Sheffield said. “That’s just football.”

SDSU offense

The seeds of SJSU offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann’s spread-and-shred offense were planted when he played in the Saint Louis School’s run-and-shoot offense in the 1990s.

Stutzmann then mastered the four-wide schemes as a UH slotback and assistant coach. As OC at Emory &Henry, Stutzmann added run concepts learned from head coach Curt Newsome.

In a second stint at UH and then at Washington State, he added zone and gap blocking to complement the trap game on rushes. At Texas State, the Air Raid was incorporated. SJSU assistant Mike Judge, who was with the Miami Dolphins for five years, was brought in to coach the tight ends.

Stutzmann’s evolving offense employs the run-and-shoot; Air Raid; run-pass options; motion and in-line tight ends; three-, four-and five-receiver sets; and overload packages. The Spartans also play at three different tempos. The call sheet is a single sheet, with plays taught in practices and video sessions.

All of it is centered on quarterback Walker Eget, who meets with Stutzmann an hour a day in the afternoon and contributes to the offensive menu.

“He’s a stud,” Stutzmann said of Eget, who was named after Chuck Norris’ “Walker, Texas Ranger” character. “He’s a big dude with a big arm.”

Eget runs only when necessary (averages 3.5 yards on 14 non-sack rushes) and relies on backs as only occasional receivers. Eget has not been intercepted since the first half against Texas on Sept. 6, a span of 228 throws. Eget is third nationally with an average of 40 passes per contest. He has targeted Danny Scudero 107 times in seven games.

“It’s not enough,” Stutzmann said of the national leader with 870 receiving yards and 124.3 receiving yards per game. “We have to get to him more.”

In football parlance, Scudero is “twitchy” in changing directions quickly, “In the quarterback room,” Stutzmann said, “we always say: ‘You can’t overthrow Danny Scudero. Just put it out there and let him go.”

Kyri Shoels is a blazer, and 6-4 Leland Smith, according to Stutzman, is a “big, friggin’ target out there.”

Matthew Coleman, the Spartans’ star of the 2024 Hawaii Bowl, has recovered from an injury and has caught 11 of the 16 passes thrown his way the last two weeks.

SDSU defense

In January 2008, June Jones left UH to become SMU’s head coach. The ensuing UH coach, Greg McMackin, recommended Derrick Odum to Jones. Odum then coached the Mustangs’ secondary for seven seasons, the final two when Timmy Chang was an SMU graduate assistant.

As UH’s head coach and play-caller, Chang will face off against Odum, who coordinates SJSU’s defense. Both Jones and Chang praised Odum’s innovative pressure packages. In the past three games, the Spartans amassed nine sacks and five picks. The Spartans’ base is a 3-3-5, but Taniela Latu can align as a stand-up end in a four-man front.

Latu, who has four backfield tackles and two pass breakups, has to temper his competitive drive in non-football activities.

“I love pickleball,” Latu said. “I can play it at least five hours. I try to play with younger people so I don’t feel bad when I slam it down.”

In Odum’s choreography, when Latu moves up to the line, nickelback Ethan Powell can join linebackers Noah McNeal-Franklin and Jordan Powell at the second level. Although listed as a middle backer, McNeal-Franklin can set up on the edge or sprint into the inside gaps.

Pollard prefers to stay put, 5 yards off the line of scrimmage, then make a zero-to-smack sprint toward the ballcarrier. Pollard leads with 56 tackles, with most rated PG-13 for violent content. When a corner zone-blitzes, a two- or three-umbrella zone is formed to prevent deep catches. Odum understands the wide-ranging coverage of the free safety — Odum was a DB in football and centerfielder in baseball.

The Spartans blitz on nearly a third of total snaps and more than 50% on third down.

SDSU specialists

Point-scoring kicker Denis Lynch finally found his groove, connecting on both FG attempts against Utah State. But the USC transfer had been inconsistent from near (0-for-2 from inside 29 yards) and far (missed both 50-plus-yard attempts).

Lynch missed two FG attempts in the final 90 seconds of the season-opening loss to Central Michigan. Lynch was USC’s main kicker in 2023, but he did not have an attempt last season, prompting his move into the portal.

Long snapper AJ Campos was at Sacramento State for three seasons before transferring.