Full name: The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. ca-ching.
This game features a match of two teams Oregon State has already played, and beat, this season. The Beavers destroyed Arizona State, something that hasn't happened very often, on a wet and rainy day early in November by a final score of 44-10. The Last time the Beavers took to the field was December 2nd in Hawaii, where they beat a very talented and explosive Hawaii team lead by Colt Brennan. The Beavs won 35-32.
The first thoughts that come to my mind when trying to pick the winner of this game are the games where I have seen both of these teams play the Beavers. Hawaii is no doubt the better team, but when comparing the two teams schedules side by side, neither schedule is that impressive. Arizona State has had some success this year, but their six wins have been against sub-par teams. Hawaii is from the WAC, so right off the bat, we know they aren't going to be playing that great of competition. However, any time your offense is ranked at the top of the NCAA for most of the season, you know you're doing something right. Lets take a look at these two team's victories throughout this year:
Hawaii Warriors :: Victories |
|
Opponent | Score |
UNLV | 42-13 |
E Illinois | 44-9 |
Nevada | 41-34 |
at Fresno State | 68-37 |
at New Mexico St. | 49-30 |
Idaho | 68-10 |
at Utah St. | 63-10 |
La Tech | 61-17 |
San Jose State | 54-17 |
Purdue | 42-35 |
Arizona State Sun Devils :: Victories |
|
Opponent | Score |
Northern Arizona | 34-14 |
Nevada | 51-21 |
at Colorado | 21-3 |
Stanford | 38-3 |
at Washington | 26-23 (OT) |
Washington State | 47-14 |
at Arizona | 28-14 |
The first thing you notice, is that Hawaii obviously has the better record. The Warriors have 10 wins, compared to the Sun Devils, who have 7. The second thing you notice, is that in a victory, Hawaii has scored 40 or more points. They've had 4 games in which they scored over 60 points. That explains their killer offense- Their QB Colt Brennan averages 383 yards a game, and has 53 touchdowns on the year. There's a 27 touchdown differance between him and his nearest competition, Graham Harrell of Texas Tech.
So, now, the predictions:
BTD |
XBox |
Coin |
I'm taking the Warriors tonight.
--JB--