Colorado at Hawaii Line
Written by Jack Jones - Google +
The Colorado Buffaloes and Hawaii Warriors kick off their season Saturday in a rematch from last year’s 31-13 victory by the Buffaloes. Colorado won at home behind 470 yards of total offense, but will have to visit Hawaii this time around. The start time is set for 10:15 EST and this game will be nationally televised on ESPN 2.
Taking a look at the odds, I find a line of Hawaii -7 over Colorado with a total set of 55 points.
Hawaii
It’s easy to see why the Warriors are the favorite in this one. Hawaii is coming off a 10-4 seasons in Greg McCMackin’s third year on the job. They have just nine starters back this year, but they do return 49 lettermen. The Warriors went 6-1 at home last year, outscoring opponents by 25.6 points/game.
Only three starters are back from an offense that put up 39.6 points and 500.6 total yards/game. They at least have a chance to match last year’s numbers with senior QB Bryant Moniz returning. Moniz threw for 5,040 yards and 39 touchdowns to 15 interceptions in 2010. He does lose all of his top playmakers, but Hawaii has a knack for bringing more in.
Hawaii featured one of their better defensive units in recent memory last season. They gave up a respectable 25.5 points and 358 total yards/game. The Warriors bring back six starters from that unit, including leading tackler Corey Paredes. The senior earned first-team All-WAC last year after registering 151 tackles, five pass break-ups and four interceptions.
Colorado
The Colorado Buffaloes just couldn’t get things turned around under head coach Dan Hawkins. He was fired after a 3-6 start last year, and Colorado went on to win two of their next three to finish 5-7. The Buffaloes now welcome in Jon Embree, who was a CU assistant for 10 seasons from 1993 to 2002. Embree inherits a veteran team with 16 returning starters and 51 lettermen coming back.
The offense is led by QB Tyler Hansen and RB Rodney Stewart. Hansen threw for 1,102 yards and six touchdowns to six interceptions while completing 68.3 percent of his passes last year. Stewart earned second-team All-Big 12 honors after rushing for 1,318 yards and 10 scores.
The defense has seven starters back from a unit that gave up 30.8 points and 400 total yards/game. They lose CB Jimmy Smith, who was selected in the first round by the Baltimore Ravengs. Also gone is CB Jalil Brown, a fourth-round pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. Their secondary is a question mark, and it will certainly be tested by Hawaii’s aerial assault.
Betting Trends
Hawaii went a perfect 7-0 against the spread at home last year. The Warriors are riding an 8-1 ATS run as a favorite as well. The only trend going against them in this one is the fact that they are just 4-9 ATS in their last 13 against Pac-12 opponents. Odds makers didn’t have much of a choice here by listing them as a favorite.
Colorado has gone 4-0 ATS in their last 4 meetings with WAC opponents, which is the only solid trend working in their favor. The Buffaloes are 7-21 ATS in their last 28 games as a road underdog, including 0-6 ATS in their last 6 as a road dog of 3.5 to 10 points.
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