HONOLULU — The last time the Hawaii football team visited Michigan Stadium, more than 110,000 people were announced on hand to see the Wolverines play the Rainbow Warriors.
It was a record crowd to take in a UH game, and it was as noisy as you'd expect at the Big House while seventh-ranked UM ran away with a 63-3 victory in Nick Rolovich’s first true road game leading his alma mater in 2016.
UH, in its first road game under first-year coach Timmy Chang, expects a similar mass of maize-clad humans in the stands Saturday when his massive underdog of an 0-2 team takes on the No. 4 squad in the land out of the Big Ten Conference.
“These are the games you really live for,” right guard Micah Vanterpool said. “If you’re a college football fan, and you get to play in the Big House, come on now.”
In its season opener, Michigan thumped another Mountain West team, Colorado State, 51-7. The Wolverines opened as 48.5-point favorites over UH, a 49-17 loser to Western Kentucky on Saturday. The line had grown to 51 by Tuesday, the largest spread in the history of college football’s winningest program.
The UH staff had artificial noise pumped in over the Cooke Field loudspeakers at practice Tuesday morning, a feature that figures to continue over the course of the week as the team prepares for UM.
“It’ll be kind of loud, I guess,” Chang said. “We watched the Colorado State game and we’re putting in silent count, we’re putting in certain things to help us function.
“We gotta have great communication,” he added. “Definitely exciting, and really, this is why you play college football, is to play in venues like this.”
Chang was asked if he spoke to his former boss at Nevada, Jay Norvell, with whom Chang temporarily relocated to Colorado State before he took the UH job in January.
“Yeah, you know I talked to a couple other guys and asked what presented problems and how we can better execute as a team,” he replied. “So, watching the film and talking to those guys helped.”
The list of areas in which UH needs to improve is extensive. It does not yet have a declared No. 1 quarterback. It has not recorded a sack yet this season. It is 9-for-32 on third-down conversions (28%). Its average turnover margin is minus-three per game. It recorded over 100 yards of penalties in its last outing. It has been outscored 70-7 in second halves, including the season-opening 63-10 loss to Vanderbilt.
UPDATE: Chang announced Wednesday that Joey Yellen will start against Michigan while Jake Farrell and Armani Edden will serve as the backups. Brayden Schager and Cammon Cooper are dealing with injuries.
Chang said some factors of a successful trip will include discipline from his players, whom he wants to see focus on winning their 1-on-1 matchups.
Linebacker Isaiah Tufaga, a Saint Louis School product, was a freshman at Oregon State when the Beavers traveled to Ohio State in 2018. There were over 100,000 people at the Horseshoe for that game.
“It comes down to just focus. You have to be focused on your job,” Tufaga said. “You can’t be focused on what the crowd is doing and all the noise going on. You’ve gotta lock into your keys and you’ve got to communicate. You gotta be loud. That’s the main thing we gotta do; especially as a linebacker, we’ve got to talk to the D-line, we’ve got to talk to the DBs. So, we’ve been preparing that all week, especially with the speaker being out there. It’ll be good for us.”
After the team watched film on Monday, Tufaga said stopping the run is paramount.
“They’ve got good size all around, they’ve got good speed at every position, and they play super disciplined football,” Tufaga said. “It shows up on tape in every game and pretty much every play.”
At multiple positions, including quarterback, Chang has elected to continue splitting reps at practice instead of naming a starter and giving them the lion’s share of reps.
Yellen got the start at QB against WKU but was ineffective in lasting just the first quarter. Brayden Schager came on in relief and had four interceptions and no touchdowns. Cammon Cooper played as a red zone option quarterback; his pitch to Dedrick Parson resulted in UH’s first touchdown against Hilltoppers.
Michigan, meanwhile, ihas its own quarterback controvery. It is expected to start five-star recruit J.J. McCarthy at quarterback in a predetermined arrangement by Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh. Incumbent Cade McNamara got the nod in the CSU game, but Harbaugh has been determined to give both players a chance.
UH’s two lopsided losses have taken their toll. First-string receiver Zion Bowens remained out of practice Tuesday, and was joined on the sidelines by safety Leonard Lee, the team’s leading tackler through two games.
Vanterpool was asked if team morale has remained intact.
“The last two games have been rough,” he replied. “It was just, we’ve got a lot of younger guys, so the old guys like me, Penei (Pavihi), Bless (Ta’ala), we’re just trying to keep everybody’s spirits up. Because, believe it or not, we lost five games and still went to the Mountain West championship when I was here in 2019. … (There’s a) lot of, lot of football left. We can always turn this ship around.”
UH has a sendoff at the Stan Sheriff Center scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.