First Look at Wildcats Football First Opponent: Hawaii

Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Alejado looked exceptional in the 23-20 victory, going 27-for-39, 210 yards and two touchdowns.

Hawaii is one of four teams to play in week 0 that Arizona has on its schedule, giving it an early look at what it will be dealing with. The other three teams that took the field are Iowa State, Kansas State and Kansas.

Brennan believes that Hawaii playing before the regular season begins is both a negative and a positive thing.

"I think them having a chance to play and get the kinks out and do some of that stuff, and just the procedure stuff, and get hit and get tackled and play some real football, I think there's value in that," Brennan said. "I think there's also value in us getting to see them play. So I think, I think it's, you know, both things can be true."

We took a look at Hawaii after the game and assessed some things that Arizona will be expecting on Saturday's game.

On offense

• Alejado showed strength and mobility in the pocket; however, his injury may prevent him from being as dynamic as he was against Stanford. The edge rushing attack of Tre Smith, Dominic Lolesio and others should prove a lot to handle for Hawaii, as it gave up four sacks to the Cardinal.

• The connection between Pofele Ashlock and Alejado will be something to watch for. The junior wide receiver snagged nine catches for 69 yards and a touchdown.

• Jackson Harris also proved to be a lot to handle for the Cardinal secondary. He was second in receiving with six catches, 59 yards and a touchdown.

• Timmy Chang's run & shoot offense will be an interesting matchup with defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales' 3-3-5 defense that utilizes a lot of disguised coverages and blitz packages.

On defense

• Hawaii was able to limit Stanford to just 286 yards of total offense throughout the game, showing its strength mostly against the pass as quarterback Ben Gulbranson went 15-for-30, 109 yards and an interception.

• The pass rush of the defense was not all there, as Hawaii was able to get to Gulbranson just once the entire game. Defensive back Peter Manuma was the one credited with the lone sack.

• The rushing defense was a completely different story. Running back Micah Ford carried the ball 26 times for 113 yards and a touchdown. The revamped running back room of Arizona should be able to rack up major yards under the uptempo Seth Doege offense.

On special teams

• Hawaii runs a very unconventional special teams scheme, to say the least. Both the kicker and punter have unique stories on how they made it to the Warriors' roster.

• Kansei Matsuzawa, out of Tokyo, Japan, taught himself how to kick through YouTube tutorial videos while 29-year-old freshman punter Billy Gowers played five seasons of professional Australian Rules football before punting under Chang.

• Matsuzawa went 3-for-3 on his field goals on Saturday, his longest marked at 40 yards. Gowers averaged 55.3 yards per punt on four, while three of those landed within the 20-yard line.

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