No one expected the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors to be in first place of the West Division of the Mountain West Conference this season. Hawaii had what may have been the most brutal non-conference slate of any team in the country with a neutral site game against California in Australia, followed by road games against Michigan and Arizona before conference play started. Despite all that though, they are 2-0 in conference and will look to make it 3-0 before a brutal stretch when they face the UNLV Rebels in Week 7 College Football action.
This matchup in Week 7 will take place on Sunday, October 16, 2016, at 12 a.m. ET at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Hawaii -4.5
UNLV +4.5
Odds Analysis
Hawaii has been a fantastic team for college football bettors this year, with a sparkling 4-1 ATS record. Not only that, but in their two conference games the Rainbow Warriors won by at least two scores as an underdog, cashing in a nice return for moneyline bettors.
The Rebels haven’t been as sharp and sit at 2-4 SU and 3-3 ATS through the first half of their season. UNLV came into this season with some reasonable expectations and desperately needs to win this game in order to feel like it’s started to turn things around in Sin City.
Key Stat
What has gotten into Hawaii? The team that wasn’t able to run the ball at all over most of the last decade is on pace to have a 1000-yard runner and has had some solid success moving the ball on the ground.
The Rainbow Warriors have a solid 1-2 punch in Diocemy Saint Juste and Steven Lakalaka with Saint Just providing the speed and Lakalaka providing the power. They are highlighting an offense that is averaging 5.2 yards per carry this season and the new-found running game has completely changed this team’s fortunes.
Coaching Angle
Nick Rolovich has provided just the spark this team has needed. Even though Norm Chow was supposed to bring excitement back to Hawaii football with a wide-open offense, those promises failed to materialize. This team is back to being a dangerous offense under Rolovich though and although the defense still needs some work this team is vastly improved.
This was supposed to be when Tony Sanchez started to turn around the Rebels. He had a highly-prized quarterback in Johnny Stanton and there was buzz that he was creating a winning atmosphere. However, a loss to Idaho and a smothering at the hands of San Diego State has dampered a lot of that enthusiasm and now Sanchez really needs this one.
Free ATS Pick
These teams each made quarterback changes in the past few weeks for entirely different reasons, but while it’s worked great for Hawaii it’s been a mixed bag for UNLV.
Hawaii looks like it found a quarterback in Dru Brown. Ikaika Wollsey started the year for the Rainbow Warriors, but struggled to put up good numbers in his first four games and that led to Brown getting the start against Nevada. He lit up Nevada’s secondary and showed he has solid mobility in leading Hawaii to two straight wins.
UNLV is still trying to find a quarterback. Stanton has been underwhelming, completing just 46.7 percent of his passes and tossing as many interceptions as touchdowns, but gave way to Dalton Sneed after getting injured in the loss to Idaho. Sneed looked decent against Fresno State in his first game, but looked awful last week against San Diego State, completing just 2 of his 12 pass attempts and throwing an interception.
It’s tough for any team to travel to the island for a game, but UNLV is in disarray right now. Sneed is a good runner but an awful passer and Hawaii will be able to exploit his weakness. The Rainbow Warriors are going to get a win here and move to 3-0 in the conference.
College Football Odds: Rainbow Warriors 33, Rebels 21
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