Reasons SMU will win

[MustangFan]

Hawaii is without QB Timmy Chang, and his backup ain't that good

Supposed to rain - SMU running game will fare better than UH passing attack

SMU o-line now has confidence and momentum, and UH has a small d-line

SMU linebackers have yet to have a break-out game - that comes this week

UH receiver Leslie Lalie (sp?) is a stud - with muddy field, KG and Jonas R will have no trouble staying with him (not sure they would on a dry field, either)

Comet and Cardwell, in particular, are good wet-field route runners

Kelan Luker has confidence he can do the job (assuming Cavan plays him)

[tanuki01]

Reason Hawaii will win:

Mike Cavan

[tanuki01]

I'm not just being flip. I saw the game tapes of last year's game with SMU. The Hawaii coaches pointed out that SMU was not lined up correctly to defend the R&S for the ENTIRE first quarter. Hawaii won because of that. I never saw a team so slow to adjust. You'll notice that Rice made some fine adjustments at half time. If SMU's coaches are equally slow this year, a crippled Hawaii wins.

[graypony]

One major difference is that SMU actually has a good defensive backfield coach. Pat Henderson was the defensive coordinator at Purdue not too long ago. There has been a major difference in the effectiveness in the DB because of him and because everyone back there played a lot last year. The DB is the most improved part of our team that is even better when we have pressure on the QB, which has happened some this year, never last year. Is it enough to win? It depends on how many TD's the offense gives up.