Louisiana Tech (7-5) and Hawaii (8-5) will compete in the SoFi Hawaii Bowl Saturday in Aloha Stadium.
Kickoff is set for 9:30pm Central Time as the Bulldogs look for their fifth consecutive bowl win.
Lets check out two X-Factors for each team.
Louisiana Tech:
J’Mar Smith: J’Mar will be facing a Hawaii defense this week that is 111th in the nation in yards allowed per game giving up an average of 461 yards per game. Hawaii ranks 95th in passing defense specifically, which looks promising for the Junior QB. J’Mar completed 59% of his throws in the final three games of the regular season. Hopefully Smith can get comfortable early and capitalize on the Hawaii defenders mistakes to put up some big numbers.
Jaylon Ferguson: All eyes are on #SackDaddy this week as he looks to break the NCAA all time sack record. The Senior edge rusher is only two sacks shy of breaking Terrell Suggs’ record of 44. This is a Hawaii offense that has favored the pass slightly more than the run throughout the course of the year, passing the ball 511 times and running the ball 386 times, so Ferguson will have plenty of opportunity to get to the quarterback. Rainbow Warrior head coach Nick Rolovich has already made comments about how he plans to stop Ferguson, so Blake Baker and the Tech defensive staff will have to get creative in finding ways to get 45 in the backfield.
Hawaii
Penei Payihi: At 6’3 240 pounds this middle linebacker has had a phenomenal season. With 83 total tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss, Payihi has been the lifeblood of a Rainbow Warrior defense that has struggled through the year. Louisiana Tech will have to find a way to work around this defensive stud to have an opportunity at moving the ball on the ground.
John Ursua: If there were one word to describe Ursua it would be “dangerous”. It is clear that Ursua is the WR1 for this Rainbow Warrior offense. With 1,343 receiving yards on the season and 89 receptions, Ursua is dynamic out of the slot similar to what Tech fans saw in Trent Taylor back in 2016. Ursua leads the Mountain West Conference with 16 touchdowns and is only two yards short of most receiving yards. Limiting the big plays of Ursua Saturday night will go a long way in the Bulldogs finding success defensively.
