Hawaii’s best season since 2010 began with the schedule from hell

From 2012-15, Hawaii went 11-39, averaging not even three wins per season.

In 2016, Nick Rolovich’s first season began with a set of road trips unlike anything college football has seen: a Week 0 trip to Australia to play Cal, followed by Week 1 in Michigan, Week 2 at home against UT-Martin, and Week 3 at Arizona before, finally, a bye week. The Warriors were 1-3 when the road trip from hell ended, and it appeared this was going to be a customary three-win Hawaii season.

But Rolovich’s team had other ideas. They won three of four, knocking off Nevada and San Jose State before upsetting Air Force in Colorado Springs. They finished the season beating Fresno State and UMass to finish bowl eligible.

It was drastically improbable. Equally improbable: spotting MTSU a 14-point lead in the opening stages of the Hawaii Bowl, then erupting for an easy win.

The Warriors gained 500 yards and took the ball away from a turnover-stingy Blue Raiders offense on three occasions. Those three takeaways created two short-field touchdowns and a pick six; down 14-0 after five minutes, Hawaii led 35-21 at halftime and cruised, 52-35.

Written off in September, Hawaii finished with its first bowl win since 2006.

Rolovich made one key change during Hawaii’s late-September bye week that gave the offense a shot in the arm: he replaced Ikaika Woolsey with sophomore Dru Brown at starting quarterback. In his first two starts against Nevada and SJSU, Brown completed 39 of 51 passes for 509 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions, and while he wasn’t able to maintain that pace, he finished strong against MTSU.

Brown completed 20 of 30 Hawaii Bowl passes for 274 yards and four touchdowns; the product of Monte Sereno, Cal., finishes the season with 2,488 passing yards and 457 non-sack rushing yards.

Best of all: he’s got two seasons of eligibility remaining. Leading rusher Diocemy Saint Juste (170 rushing yards on Saturday, 1,006 for the season) is a junior. Receiver John Ursua (10 targets, six catches, 120 yards against MTSU) is a redshirt freshman. Dynamic defender Jahlani Tavai (19.5 tackles for loss, two on Saturday) is a sophomore. Half of the top 14 leading tacklers are seniors, but a lot of playmakers are back in 2017.

And thanks to the way 2016 ended, Hawaii will face genuine expectations next fall. Rolovich’s reward for pulling off one of the nation’s better coaching jobs is a much higher bar.

By any reasonable definition, MTSU’s 2016 was a solid one. Rick Stockstill’s Blue Raiders won eight games, beat an SEC team (Missouri) and averaged more than 550 yards and nearly 40 points per game. This was the sixth bowl bid and fourth season of at least eight wins in 11 seasons under Stockstill. Good things, all.

Still, the season will always have some what-ifs. Quarterback Brent Stockstill broke his collar bone after the win over Missouri, and the Blue Raiders fell into a brief funk (20-point loss to UTSA, 25-point loss to an awful Marshall team) before rebounding. And while the QB was back on Saturday, he seemed to be avoiding contact a bit (a problem, considering Hawaii’s attacking linebackers) and rushed some inaccurate throws.

This was pretty great for a bad game -- Stockstill still went 30-for-51 for 432 yards and four touchdowns -- but two picks and a sack-and-strip fumble turned the game around, and after gaining 144 yards and scoring twice in their first two possessions, the Raiders scored only three more times in their final 12 drives.

Still, he’s a sophomore. All-world receiver Richie James (162 receiving yards, 39 rushing yards on Saturday) is, too. Ty Lee (10 catches for 100 yards) is a freshman. MTSU lost a good portion of its receiving corps to injury for the season and still thrived. And plenty of weapons will return next fall, as will most of a sophomore- and junior-dependent defense.

MTSU probably had bigger goals than “eight wins and a Hawaii Bowl loss” following a 6-2 start and the win in Columbia. But there’s still a chance for the Blue Raiders to top themselves next fall.