Hawai'i head coach Norm Chow's had great success as an offensive mind both in the collegiate and professional ranks of football.
Chow's only 9-29 in his three-plus seasons at the head of the Rainbow Warrior program, but has his squad coming off a big win against Colorado in their home opener as a date with No. 1 Ohio State looms Saturday. Hawai'i topped the Buffaloes, 28-20, last Thursday, getting essentially a four-day head start on game planning for Ohio State since the Buckeyes didn't play until Monday night at Virginia Tech.
Monday, Chow said the extra time to prepare might not even matter, especially because he's getting his troops ready to face the defending College Football Playoff national champions.
From the University of Hawai'i Athletic Department's YouTube page:
"We probably could have taken two months, but I don't know if we would ever be prepared for those guys," Chow said. "It helps, obviously, and it gives us another day and a half to put a game plan in."
This is not a poor stance to hold for a game such as the one that is heading down the pipe Saturday at Hawai'i, who currently sits as a 41-point underdog to Ohio State.
However, Chow did go on to add he and his staff are trying to preach to their players that "it's an honor" to play at Ohio Stadium Saturday, but is ultimately just another game on the schedule.
"It's just another game. It's one game. That's what we told our players," Chow said. "Colorado was one game. We won a game, now we have another game to play. After that, we'll have another game. We'll see where we are."
Sophomore cornerback Nick Nelson, who recorded 11 tackles and three pass breakups against Colorado, remains confident despite the great size and skill of Ohio State.
"I feel like our team is good enough to play with anybody. It doesn't matter how big the stadium, how small the stadium is, we're going to go out there and play."
The same goes for Marcus Kemp, a junior wide receiver who led Hawai'i with 116 receiving yards and a touchdown in Week 1.
"We look at every teams as equals. We feel that any team could beat anybody on any day. We're not preparing any harder than we did for Colorado or any less. We're going out there to win."
Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
