Hawaii Bowl

December 24, 2010


The biggest surprise under the Christmas tree came during Christmas Eve football last year in the Hawaii Bowl. SMU shocked big favorite Nevada. This year Hawaii is a huge favorite over Tulsa with an overlooked 9-3 record. Two prolific offenses and a lot of points are going to be scored. Both teams like to pass. There's gonna be a lot of clock stoppages. it could be Christmas by the time this one's over.



Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii (10-3) vs. Tulsa (9-3), 8:00pm on ESPN
Matchup Advantage
Bowl Mania
Two great quarterbacks in this one: Hawaii’s Bryant Moniz and Tulsa’s GJ Kinne. Naturally, I’m a fan of Kinne as he started his career at the University of Texas before transferring to Tulsa and I’ve followed his career with the Golden Hurricane closely. As for Moniz, I’m being proven wrong about him, I never thought he would as good a quarterback as he is today leading that offense.
With two great quarterbacks comes two great offenses. Hawaii ranks 8th in the country in total offense while Tulsa is 5th. Hawaii’s got two great receivers in Greg Salas and Keoloha Pilares. In fact, I remember three years ago when Pilares was a freshman running back for Hawaii and they ran him out of the backfield as a receiver many times. Now look at him as one of the most prolific receivers in Hawaii history. Both Salas and Pilares have over 1,000 yards receiving for the nation’s best statistical passing attack. The surprise is that Hawaii has a 1,000 yard rusher in Alex Green, too.
Tulsa’s offense doesn’t have the elite go-to receiver, but they run a lot of misdirection and have the great all-purpose Damaris Johnson. Hard to believe he’s only a junior, feels like I’ve been watching him forever. But Tulsa has a very balanced attack. Charles Clay has been their primary runner but he’s also the team’s second leading receiver. Along with Clay, Tulsa mixes in Alex Singleton and two freshman in Trey Watts and Ja’Terian Douglas in the run game even though Kinne is the team’s leading rusher.
Last year’s Hawaii Bowl had freshman quarterback Kyle Padron of SMU break out. I would look for one of the Tulsa freshmen to break out tonight.
Naturally, with these two offenses it’s going to be a high-scoring game. We could have a good four hours of football tonight and it might be Christmas by the time this one’s over—on the east coast anyway.
Hawaii has the best defense in the WAC behind Boise State and held Nevada under 300 total yards. In most college football games, unlike the NFL, offense wins game, but when you have two prolific offenses it’s the defense that wins games. There’s stats that matter and stats that don’t. This stat matters: Tulsa has the nation 119th-ranked pass defense going against Hawaii’s No. 1 ranked passing offense.
Prediction:  Hawaii 49, Tulsa 37


Recapping last night's Poinsettia Bowl
Poinsettia Bowl Recap: 
Prediction: Navy 28, San Diego State 27
My undefeated bowl streak came to an end last night. It's true that the United States Naval Academy and I do not have a good relationship. When I pick Navy to lose, they win; when I pick Navy to win, they lose. There was no doubt that San Diego State is the better football team but I took a chance with Navy.
After a scoreless third quarter I thought Navy's defense would be able to hold, but San Diego State exploded for offense in the fourth quarter. Navy got worn down and couldn't stop Ronnie Hillman and couldn't tackle San Diego State's receivers in space. Keeping the Aztecs in front of you is only effective if you don't allow yards after the catch.
Navy had some failed 4th-down conversion attempts that cost them some points, but in retrospect, it wouldn't have been enough to win the game. Brady Hokes has done a great job with San Diego State in his second season and the Aztecs have won their first bowl game since 1969.
Result: San Diego State 35, Navy 14