The 2018 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team represented the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Rainbow Warriors played their home games at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. They competed in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference and were led by third-year head coach Nick Rolovich. They finished the season 8–6, 5–3 in Mountain West play to finish in a tie for second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Hawaii Bowl where they lost to Louisiana Tech. The Rainbow Warriors clinched their first winning season since 2010 with a 31-30 overtime win at San Diego State, while also clinching a winning conference record in the process.
Preseason
Award watch lists Listed in the order that they were released Fred Biletnikoff AwardJohn UrsuaWRJRButkus AwardJahlani TavaiLBSRBronko Nagurski TrophyJahlani TavaiLBSRWuerffel TrophyNoah BordenLSSR
Mountain West media days During the Mountain West media days held July 24–25 at the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip, the Rainbow Warriors were predicted to finish in fifth place in the West Division.
Media poll West Division 1 Fresno State 126 (16) 2 San Diego State 116 (6) 3 UNLV 78 4 Nevada 72 5 Hawaii 45 6 San Jose State 25
Preseason All-Mountain West Team The Rainbow Warriors had one player selected to the preseason all-Mountain West team.
Defense
Jahlani Tavai – LB
Schedule
Staff +NamePositionAlma materJoined StaffNick RolovichHead CoachHawaii (2004)2016Brian SmithAssociate head coach / offensive coordinator / running backsHawaii (2005)2016Mark BankerAssistant Head Coach / Inside LinebackersSpringfield (MA) (1978)2018Corey BatoonDefensive coordinator / SafetiesLong Beach State (1991)2018Michael GhobrialSpecial Teams CoordinatorUCLA (2011)2018Craig StutzmannPassing Game Coordinator / quarterbacksHawaii (2002)2016Mark WeberOffensive LineCal Lutheran (1980)2018Andre AllenWide ReceiversAshford (2014)2018Ricky LogoDefensive LineNorth Carolina State (1992)2018Abe ElimimianCornerbacksHawaii (2004)2015Jacob YoroOutside Linebackers / NickelbacksHawaii (2008)2017 Coaching Source
Game summaries
At Colorado State
Navy
Sophomore quarterback Cole McDonald was named Mountain West Offensive player of the week. He finished 30–41 for 428 yards and six touchdowns.
Rice
At Army
Duquesne
At San Jose State
Wyoming
At BYU
Nevada
At Fresno State
Utah State
UNLV
At San Diego State
Louisiana Tech–Hawaii Bowl
Players drafted into the NFL
2 43 Jahlani Tavai LB Detroit Lions 7 236 John Ursua WR Seattle Seahawks
References