The Delaware State football team is preparing for two challenges when it plays Hawaii in Saturday’s season opener at the Ching Complex.

The Hornets, who were 1-10 last season, are facing an opponent with two new coaches on offense and a new defensive coordinator. Because the game is on Week Zero, the teams did not exchange videos.

“That first quarter is going to be a feel-out (segment),” DSU coach Lee Hull said, “trying to figure out what they’re going to do, what their style is, and what their (modus operandi) is going to be. … It’s probably the same for them, too.”

During Monday’s Zoom call with reporters, Hull warned of the “travel monster” the Hornets must overcome.

The Hornets will depart their Dover campus early today, make the three-hour drive to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, N.Y., then take a 10 1/2-hour, non-stop flight to Honolulu. “We want to go there and, obviously, win the game,” Hull said, but “it’ll be two wins for us with the ‘travel monster.’”

Hull said the trip will include a mix of practices, meetings, a tour of Pearl Harbor, and a luau. Hull told his players: “culturally the food is going to be different. Try new things while you’re there because everything is going to be different as far as atmosphere. … Try to embrace that, and understand, we’re there to win a game. We’re on a business trip, but have some fun. We’re there for five days, so obviously we can’t practice and meet all the time. You’re going to be able to have some free time.”

Hull added: “We’re going to do some stuff because it’s probably a once-in-a-lifetime (experience) for most of our players.”

Delaware State will be the first HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) football program to play UH since 1979, a 65-0 Rainbows win over Prairie View A&M at Aloha Stadium.

“This is a great experience,” Hull said. “I told the guys in a team meeting you’re not only representing yourself and Delaware State University, you’re representing the whole HBCU community. It’s a big responsibility for us.”

Hull said the focus of training camp was to cut down on penalties and become more efficient on third down and in the red zone. Last year, opponents converted on 45.1% of third downs compared to the Hornets’ 35.3%. In the red zone, DSU scored nine touchdowns, opponents had 29. “Those things we really stressed,” said Hull, who conducted two full-contact scrimmages in training camp to work on schemes and techniques.