Hawaii Bowl Preview and Pick

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Hawaii Bowl Preview and Pick: Arizona State Sun Devils vs. Hawaii Rainbows ]]> include($base_url . “/includes/header.htm”); ?>

Arizona State Sun Devils (7-5) +7, o/u 74 vs. Hawaii Rainbows (10-3) on Saturday, December 24, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff

The Arizona State Sun Devils come into the game struggling as they have lost 5 of their final 9 games. These struggles have led to the firing of head coach Dirk Koetter who will be coaching his final Sun Devil game.

The Hawaii Rainbows come into this game playing well as they had a 9 game winning streak before dropping their season finale to Oregon State by a score of 32-35.

The Sun Devils, tied for 5th place in the Pacific 10 conference, are looking for their 3rd straight bowl win.

The Rainbows, 2nd place finishers in the Western Athletic Conference, are playing in their 4th bowl game in 5 years. They are 3-1 in bowl games under Head Coach June Jones.

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These two teams have no recent matchups against each other. They had 2 common opponents this year. Arizona State beat Nevada 52-21 and lost to Oregon State 10-44. Hawaii beat Nevada 41-34 and lost to Oregon State 32-35.

Arizona State was 7-4 against the spread this year; Hawaii was 8-3 against the number this season.

The Sun Devils are led by Sophomore QB Rudy Carpenter who is completing 55.9% of his passes and thrown for 2,332 yards this season. He has thrown for 21 touchdowns and has 14 interceptions this season.

The Rainbows are led by Junior QB Colt Brennan who has a 72.1% completion rate and has thrown for 4,990 yards this season. He has 53 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on the season.

Arizona State averages 166 yards rushing per game and their defense allows 117 yards rushing per game. Hawaii is being outrushed by their opponents by a margin of 118-131. It must be noted that Hawaii focusing mainly on throwing the ball as they average 432 yards per game passing.

The Sun Devils rank 42nd in scoring offense in Division 1 (out of 119 teams) by averaging 27 points per game. Hawaii is ranked 1st in scoring offense by averaging 47.3 points per game.

Arizona State is ranked 43rd in total yards per game with 365.3 yards per game. Hawaii is ranked 1st with an average of 549.9 yards per game.

The Sun Devil defense is ranked 68th giving up an average 23.8 points per game. The Rainbow defense is ranked 70th giving up an average 24.1 points per game.

Arizona State’s defense is ranked 27th in total yards by giving up an average of 298.6 yards per game. Hawaii is ranked 93rd giving up 376.8 yards per game.

Arizona State averages 5.6 yards per play while giving up an average of 4.8 yards per play. Hawaii averages 8.5 YPP while giving up 5.6 YPP.

The Over/Under is 4-6 in Arizona State games this season, 8-4 in Hawaii games.

The Sagarin PREDICTOR ratings at USAToday.com rank the Sun Devils #27 at 81.22. Hawaii ranks #28 at 80.26.

The opening line on this game was Hawaii -10 with a total of 75. The line has been bet down to Hawaii -7 and the total has dropped to 74. At the time of this writing the betting public was slightly supporting Hawaii by a margin of 56%-44%.

The Ultimatecapper Prediction: We suggest a wager on Hawaii. Arizona State comes into this game with a lame duck coach and will probably be enjoying their time in the sun. We look for Hawaii to roll in this game.

Hawaii 45 Arizona State 28

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Jay has been watching and following sports since he could walk and turned to betting in his late teens. His favorite sport is MLB and has been producing winners on UltimateCapper for almost 20 years. Follow Jay's free sports picks and enjoy the winners.