A week from now, Arizona will be kicking off its 2025 season with plenty of opening night jitters and anticipation. The same won’t be said for Arizona’s Week 1 opponent Hawaii, which already got its season underway Saturday with a Week 0 victory over Stanford.
The Rainbow Warriors defeated the Cardinal 23-20 at home in a dramatic affair that came down to a walkoff field goal as time expired in regulation. Hawaii was one of four teams on Arizona’s 2025 schedule to play in Week 0, along with Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas.
Because Hawaii is allowed to play 13 regular season games, the Rainbow Warriors regularly play on Week 0, giving their Week 1 opponents an opportunity to scout them out. The scheduling hasn’t worked to Hawaii’s favor for fourth-year coach Timmy Chang; Hawaii is 2-2 in Week 0 games under Chang but 0-3 in Week 1.
Arizona will enter Week 1 with a good idea of Hawaii’s personnel formations and tendencies based on the Rainbow Warriors’ first game. Whether Arizona can use that information to its advantage will be determined.
Here are some observations from Hawaii’s season opener.
Freshman quarterback Micah Alejado will be nursing an injury
Hawaii’s redshirt freshman quarterback Micah Alejado showed off impressive passing accuracy and mobility in UH’s win over Stanford, but it didn’t come without a cost.
Alejado suffered an injury to his left lower leg in the third quarter and briefly left the game. While Alejado soon returned to the game, he played with a noticeable limp that weakened his mobility and caused him to misfire on some throws. To Alejado’s credit, he fought through the injury and led Hawaii to back-to-back field goal drives that won the Rainbow Warriors the game.
The 5-foot-10 quarterback out of Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas) completed 27 of 39 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 36 yards.
Alejado has a similar stature and presence as former Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura (both are from Honolulu). He is capable of improvising out of the pocket and has a dart of an arm. He threw for 469 yards in a game against New Mexico in 2024 as a true freshman.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear Alejado will be at full strength when he suits up to play Arizona.
Pofele Ashlock is Hawaii’s favorite receiving target
Ashlock, a 6-foot-2 junior receiver, recorded nine receptions for 69 yards and a touchdown in the Hawaii victory. Ashlock is one of two preseason All-Mountain West receivers on Hawaii’s roster, joining senior Nick Cenacle.
Ashlock displayed some serious athleticism with a big catch on a second-and-long completion late in the fourth quarter. Alejado and Ashlock have great chemistry, and their confidence should be sky-high after the Stanford game.
As for Hawaii’s other receivers, Jackson Harris, a transfer from Stanford, lit up his old team with six catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. Cenacle, meanwhile, had a quiet game with two catches for 12 yards.
Hawaii’s rush defense has question marks
Hawaii conceded 177 rushing yards to Stanford, almost double as many yards on the ground as the Rainbow Warriors allowed per game last season (97.7). Stanford running back Micah Ford ran for 113 yards on 26 carries, while two other halfbacks had at least 26 yards.
In a remarkable stat, a Stanford running back scored a rushing touchdown for the first time since the Cardinal’s September 23, 2023 loss to Arizona (the game Noah Fifita replaced de Laura).
For as effective as Hawaii was at stopping Stanford’s underwhelming passing game, the Rainbow Warriors clearly have some areas to work on as for as protecting against the rush.
Hawaii has an unusual special teams unit
Casual observers of Hawaii football who tuned in to Saturday night’s game learned that the UH’s kicker and punter both took the road less traveled to Honolulu.
Hawaii kicker Kansei Matsuzawa is a Tokyo native who learned how to kick footballs by way of YouTube. In Matsuzawa’s native Japan, he had no way of finding a football kicking instructor, so he took it upon himself to learn the trade.
Matsuzawa is in his second season with Hawaii. Last year he went 12 for 16 on field goal attempts. On Saturday he made all three attempts including a long of 40 yards.
Hawaii’s punter is Billy Gowers, a freshman from Melbourne, Australia who is 29 years old. Yes, he’s 29.
Gowers played five seasons of professional Australian Rules Football before transitioning to punting. He was also a barbershop owner.
Gowers has an enormous leg. He had four punts for an average 55.3 yards vs. Stanford, including a long of 67 yards. Three of Gowers’ punts landed inside the 20-yard line.
It’s not a stretch to say that Hawaii’s most impactful player might be its punter.