Colorado Buffaloes at Hawaii Warriors
Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii
Saturday, September 3, 2011, 10:15 pm Eastern, TV: ESPN2
Opening Line: Hawaii -8
Current Line: Hawaii -6 1/2
Opening Total: 56 1/2
Current Total: 55 1/2
Opening Money Line: Hawaii -290 / Colorado +240
Current Money Line: Hawaii -245 / Colorado +205

It is a year of transition for Colorado as they not only hired a new coach in Jon Embree, but also moved from the Big 12 to the now Pac 12 along with Utah from the Mountain West. Coach Dan Hawkins was fired late in the season and Colorado finished 5-7 missing out on a bowl game. Colorado opens the season with a trip to Hawaii to take on the Warriors. Hawaii finished 10-4 last year under coach Greg McMackin. Hawaii tied for the WAC title with Boise St and Nevada but ended the season getting crushed by Tulsa 62-35 in the Hawaii Bowl. The series between Colorado and Hawaii is tied at 1-1. Last season in Boulder, Hawaii led 10-0 at halftime but Colorado came back to win 31-13. Before that the teams hadn’t played since 1925.

Colorado returns 8 starters on offense. Colorado averaged 360 yards and 24.2 points a game last season. Senior Tyler Hansen is the quarterback after he split time with Cody Hawkins at the position last year. Hansen completed 68.3% of his passes for 1,102 yards, for 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He had 51 carries for 41 yards and 4 touchdowns as well last year. Senior running back Rodney Stewart had 290 carries for 1,318 yards and 10 touchdowns, along with 29 catches for 290 yards. He had almost 3 times as many carries as the rest of the team combined. Sophomore Paul Richardson is the top returning receiver. He had 34 catches 514 yards and 6 touchdowns. Senior Toney Clemons had 43 catches, 482 yards, and 3 touchdowns last year. Senior tight end Ryan Deehan had 25 catches, 249 yards, and a touchdown last year.

Colorado gave up 400 yards and 31 points a game. Colorado returns 8 starters from that unit. The defense will be led by inside linebacker Jon Major, DE Josh Hartigan, and DT Will Pericak.

Hawaii averaged 509 yards a game including just under 400 yards passing and 40 points a game. The offense was led by quarterback Bryant Moniz who completed 65% of his 555 passes last year for 5,040 yards, 39 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He was also the team’s third leading rusher with 81 carries, 102 yards, and 4 touchdowns. Junior Sterling Jackson sat out last year after transferring from Mendecino College. Jackson will replace Alex Green who rushed for just under 1,200 yards and 18 touchdowns last season. He is now with the Packers. Jackson needs to work on his pass catching as throwing to the running backs is an important part of the Warrior offense. The Warriors lose 4 of their top 5 receivers including Green. Junior Royce Pollard is the top returning receiver with 64 catches, 901 yards, and 7 touchdowns last year. JUCO transfers Darius Bright and Chris Grant will be in the rotation. this year. Moniz threw almost 600 passes last year so their will eb plenty of targets to go around.

Hawaii’s defense wasn’t awful last year giving up 359 yards a game and 26 points a game. They return 6 starters from that unit including linebackers Corey Paredes and Aaron Brown.

Hawaii was 11-3 against the spread last year, including 7-0 at home. Colorado is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 against WAC teams. The Buffaloes are 0-6 in their last 6 games as a road underdog of between 3.5 and 10 points. Hawaii is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games as a favorite, and 9-2 ATS in their last 11 overall. The over is 7-1 in Colorado’s last 8 on field turf. The over is 5-1 in Hawaii’s last 6 non-conference games.

Hawaii is much better at home, just because of the travel involved and the distractions the beautiful Islands provide. Colorado will be better this year, but Hawaii should win this game rather comfortably. You usually can’t go wrong taking the over in Hawaii games. The Warriors could score 56 points by themselves, and are perfectly capable of giving up 30 points or more.

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