Cal vs. Hawaii College Football Preview
Where: ANZ Stadium – Sydney, Australia
When: Friday, August 26, 2016, 10:00 PM ET
Line: California Golden Bears (-20.5) vs. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (+20.5); total: 63.0 – view all NCAA football lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Writer’s Pick: Cal (-20.5)
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Betting on the California Golden Bears (-20.5)
However, there should still be enough talent to get the better of a struggling Hawaii program. The Bears return three of their top running backs, who each rushed for over 500 yards last season. Don’t be surprised if they get some joy on the ground against a Hawaii defense which gave up 240 rushing yards per game last season, 120th out of 128 FBS teams.
Their new starting quarterback, Davis Webb, is a graduate transfer out of Texas Tech, which means he should be familiar with the Air Raid system Cal’s Sonny Dykes likes to employ. He’ll be protected by an offensive line which returns four starters from last season.
And while their receiving corps is inexperienced, it’s got a lot of potential. Five-star true freshman Demetris Robinson, in particular, has garnered significant hype during the offseason.
Cal’s defense still wasn’t good last season, as it gave up 30.7 points per game. It has continued to show signs of improvement, though. Despite lacking any huge defensive stars, they do have the depth to compensate. They’ll struggle to cope against better teams, but Hawaii’s offense should be right at their level.
Betting on the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (+20.5)
Hawaii is going back to square one. After another disappointing 3-10 campaign last season, the Rainbow Warriors have turned to Nick Rolovich to be their new head coach. The former Hawaii quarterback won’t really have too much talent to work with in his debut season, though.
Fifth-year senior Ikaika Woosley is set to start at quarterback. He threw for 2,538 yards with a 13:13 touchdown-to-interception ratio as the primary starter in 2014, but had just 908 yards with five TDs and six picks playing behind Max Wittek last season.
The offense, though, will largely revolve around the running game, led by Paul Harris. The senior rushed for 1,132 yards and six touchdowns last season. Steven Lakalaka and Melvin Davis will also provide some power to the running back rotation. The Rainbow Warriors should be able to move the ball a bit against a mediocre Cal run defense, but are they really good enough on the ground to go toe-to-toe with Cal’s explosive offense? Doubtful.
Kevin Lempa returns to coordinate the defense, but he will be without arguably the team’s best defensive player, tackle Kennedy Tulimasealii, who was dismissed from the team after an off-field incident during the offseason. They are also pretty thin along the secondary, which is hardly ideal against a Cal’s aerial attack.
Writer’s Prediction
Cal (-20.5) carves Hawaii’s defense up as it covers quite easily in Australia.
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