Two teams looking to turn the page on poor starts to the season are set to collide in the desert in Week 3 when the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors lock horns with the Arizona Wildcats. Rich Rodriguez’s squad almost went down in historical fashion last week against Grambling State whom he was a 44 point favorite against. It’s likely the Wildcats come out stronger this week, but do they have the firepower to tackle such a hefty impost?
Watch this regular season Week 3 matchup live on Saturday, September 17, 2016, at 10:45 p.m. ET at Arizona Stadium.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Hawaii +24.5
Arizona -24.5
Over/Under 60.5
Odds Analysis
Sophomore quarterback Brandon Dawkins got the starting nod for Anu Solomon and struggled early before finishing up with 223 yards and 1 touchdown. Solomon is still listed as questionable, but that didn’t prevent linemakers from tabbing the Wildcats as 24.5 point favorites in this contest. Hawaii was only able to stick within the spread versus Cal because of its horrendous run defense. It has a limited passing attack to fall back on, and the Wildcats have been better against the run (No. 62 at 136.5 yards per game) than the pass (No. 113 at 302 yards per game). It’s likely this line goes a bit higher if Solomon is given the green light.
Under bettors hit the low side of the 63 point opener immediately to push it down to 60.5. With each squad owners of offensive yard per point averages ranked amongst the bottom third of the country, the total likely isn’t finished bottoming out.
Key Stats
If not for four turnovers acquired early in the second half of last week’s game, the Wildcats likely would have suffered the worst defeat of the Rich Rod regime. Two more late in the fourth quarter allowed for Arizona to get out of dodge with the win.
Hawaii has turned the ball over an average of 2.5 times per game. If Zona is able to build off of last week’s game and force the Rainbow Warriors into a bevy of miscues, it will have an excellent shot of covering the spread.
Matchup to Watch
Hawaii simply doesn’t have the offensive makeup to take advantage of Arizona’s weak passing defense. With that the case, the matchup to keep a close eye on will be Nick Wilson against Hawaii’s front seven. The Rainbow Warriors have been ripped apart to the tune of 236.3 rushing yards per game and allowed a Michigan rushing attack to have its best game of the year against it.
Wilson’s ability to take advantage of the plus matchup will go a long way in allowing the home team to control the pace of the game from the outset. If he excels as expected, Hawaii will have a limited amount of opportunities to put points on the board with it likely losing the time of possession battle by a comfortable margin.
Free ATS Pick
This is the game Arizona is going to flex its muscles. After incurring a mighty big scare and tackling like garbage last week, you know darn well Rodriguez is going to work his kids extra hard throughout practice. With a showdown with Pac-12 favorite Washington on deck, this team must get itself into better form and into the right mindset to start taking on conference opposition. Hawaii will play the part of sacrificial lamb perfectly.
The Wildcats failed to score a touchdown in the first half of their first two games. Look for that nonsense to come to a screeching halt in this one as they get out to a commanding first half lead and coast the rest of the way en route to putting forth their most complete effort on both sides of the ball. Hit the Wildcats up in the first half and for the game.
College Football Odds: Arizona 45, Hawaii 11
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