Hawaii at San Jose State: What Bettors Need to Know
Hawaii Warriors at San Jose State Spartans (+6, 55.5)
Can’t wait until Saturday’s full slate of college football action? The WAC comes to your rescue Friday night, when Hawaii (3-2 SU, 3-2 ATS) heads to the mainland to face San Jose State (2-4 SU, 4-2 ATS).
Line moves
The Warriors opened as touchdown favorites but have been bet down to -6. The total opened at 55 and has climbed half a point.
State of emergency
With an ankle injury to starting running back Brandon Rutley, San Jose State head coach Mike MacIntyre may have to hand his rushing attack over to freshman Tyler Ervin again Friday night.
Rutley, who is averaging 104 yards on the ground per game, was limited in practice this week after hurting himself against Colorado State two weeks ago. He sat out last weekend’s loss to BYU, in which Ervin and sophomore RB Jason Simpson combined for just 70 yards on 26 carries.
MacIntyre isn’t overly concerned with the production of the running game but rather the pass protection from his running backs. Ervin is only 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds in his first year of FBS action. Against the Cougars, the Spartans allowed only one sack for a loss of nine yards.
"If he goes the wrong way one time, the quarterback gets hit in the back," MacIntyre told the San Jose Mercury News. "He's a very bright young man, and he's picking it up pretty quick."
Despite those kind words, SJSU's head coach has his fingers crossed that Rutley can return to action this week.
Hawaiian punch
The Warriors are coming off the bye week following their first road win of the season – and 44-26 beating of Louisiana Tech two weeks ago.
Hawaii used the time off to fine tune its offense, which finally got up to speed in its last two wins. The Warriors have scored 100 points on 1,131 total yards in victories over UC Davis and LTU – most of those coming from the big arm of quarterback Bryant Moniz.
The senior is 10th in the country is passing per game, averaging 315.6 yards an outing. He’s totaled 11 touchdowns and 834 yards through the air in the past two games, and hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 2’s loss to Washington. Moniz also put his name in the record books with seven first-half TD passes versus UC Davis, tying the NCAA record.
Last season, Moniz lit up San Jose State for 560 passing yards and three touchdowns, but was picked off twice. The Warriors thumped the Spartans 41-7 as 30-point favorites.
Coaching connection
Friday night is homecoming for the San Jose State but also for coach McMackin and Hawaii special teams coach Dick Tomey.
McMackin was the Spartans’ secondary coach from 1979-83 and Tomey served as SJSU head coach from 2005-09, and is credited for the resurgence of the football program.
"There's a lot of players I'm very familiar with, but a lot of those players have really improved a ton," Tomey told reporters. "They're older (and) they're more mature; they were sophomores when I was there and now they're seniors. I think it just suffice to say, I have incredible respect for what they've done the last two years...and I have incredible respect for what they're doing on the field now.”
Spartan tough
While Hawaii holds a slight edge, 17-16-1, in the all-time series with San Jose State, the Warriors have owned the Spartans in recent years.
They’ve won nine of the past 10 meetings and four straight in San Jose, but have had to battle for those victories inside Spartan Stadium. The last five meetings at SJSU have been decided by a touchdown or less, including two overtime affairs in the two most recent collisions at Spartans Stadium.
"We've always won over there but they have been just battles," McMackin told the media.
Hawaii has covered in their last two meetings and is 4-2 ATS in the past six. The teams are 5-5 ATS in the last 10 head-to-head games, going back to 2001.
Trends
- Warriors are 9-1 ATS in their last 10 conference games.
- Spartans are 3-9 ATS in their last 12 home games.
- Over is 6-2 in Warriors last eight games overall.
- Over is 4-1 in Spartans last five home games.
Hawaii Warriors At San Jose State Spartans
By: Adam Markowitz
It should be a wacky night in the WAC on Friday, as NCAA football betting fans get to sink their teeth into a clash at Spartan Stadium between the San Jose State Spartans and the visiting Hawaii Warriors.
Kickoff from San Jose is slated for 9:00 p.m. (ET) on Friday night in this standalone game to be broadcast live on ESPN and ESPN3.com.
With the Boise State Broncos no longer in the conference, everyone in the WAC has to think that they have a shot of claiming the conference crown. Hawaii is off to a 1-0 start in conference play, having trumped the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs last week in Ruston. San Jose State has a win over the New Mexico State Aggies, but a loss to the Nevada Wolf Pack this year in conference.
All eyes are going to be on Bryant Moniz in this one. Last season, Moniz threw for 5,040 yards and 39 touchdowns. It's hard to believe, but he is on pace to put up even better numbers in his senior season.
Moniz has already tossed 15 TD passes against just one interception on the season, and he has thrown for 1,578 yards. As a result, the Warriors have the No. 8 ranked passing attack in the country at 343.4 YPG.
Royce Pollard, who was the third receiver last year behind Kealoha Pilares and Greg Salas, has taken over as the top target in this offense. He has 33 receptions for 550 yards and six TDs thus far on the campaign, and he'll be a tough matchup for whichever defensive back is on him.
This is all terrible news for a San Jose State defense which ranks No. 92 in the country both in terms of total defense (414.7 YPG) and scoring defense (30.8 PPG).
The Spartans have only had one game this year in which they have allowed fewer than 24 points, and there's no reason to think that will change with the Warriors coming to town.
Offensively, there are question marks as well. This is most certainly an improved unit from ones that have struggled to reach even 300 YPG in the past, but there is nothing overly impressive about 347.5 YPG and 20.3 PPG, both numbers which rank No. 90 or worse in the country.
To make matters worse, the Spartans' leading rusher, Brandon Rutley has an ankle injury that could keep him out of this one. Rutley, who has 519 rushing yards and six TDs this year, missed last week's 29-16 loss at the BYU Cougars, and he is considered day-to-day for this week's clash as well.
Historically, this is a series that belongs to the Warriors. They have only lost once since 2000, and they have gone 4-2 ATS over the last six meetings.
Last year, Moniz threw for a whopping 560 yards en route to a 41-7 victory for the Warriors. However, as is well documented, Hawaii is a significantly different team at home than it is on the road, and San Jose has to feel like it has a shot at the upset.
The Warriors opened this week favored by seven points on the Week 7 college football odds.
The weather is expected to be beautiful on Friday night, as the forecast is calling for high temperatures in the mid-70s with virtually no chance of rain.
Hawaii at San Jose St.
By Brian Edwards
This week’s edition of Friday Night Lights takes us to San Jose where Hawaii (3-2 straight up, 3-2 against the spread) will take on the Spartans at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
Most betting shops opened the Warriors as seven-point favorites with a total of 55. As of late Thursday afternoon, however, the number was down to six and the total was up to 56.
Greg McMackin’s team is coming off an open date that was preceded by a 44-26 win at Louisiana Tech. Senior quarterback Bryant Moniz connected on 34-of-55 throws for 410 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. On back-to-back plays midway through the third quarter, Hawaii got a pair of touchdowns on a pick-six by Richard Torres and a scoop and score from Tank Hopkins.
Hawaii won outright in Ruston as a four-point underdog, hooking up money-line backers with a payout in the plus-160 range.
For the season, Moniz has a 15/1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and has also rushed for four TDs. He is completing 64.6 percent of his passes for 1,578 yards. Moniz’s favorite target is senior WR Royce Pollard, who has 33 receptions for 550 yards and six TDs.
San Jose St. (2-4 SU, 4-2 ATS) has been a steady money maker since its disastrous Week 1 performance. The Spartans got spanked at Stanford 57-3 in the opener but since then, they have covered the spread in four of their last five games.
Mike MacIntyre’s squad picked up a pair of wins vs. New Mexico St. (34-24) and at Colorado St. (38-31), but it came up on the short end of a 29-16 decision last week at BYU. The Spartans did take the cash, though, as 14½-point underdogs.
San Jose St. faced the Cougars without a pair of its best offensive players, running back Brandon Rutley and offensive guard Fred Koloto. While Koloto remained ‘questionable’ as of early Thursday night, Rutley was upgraded to ‘probable’ and is expected to start. Rutley has rushed for 519 yards and six touchdowns on 91 carries.
San Jose St. QB Matt Faulkner threw for 255 yards against BYU but was intercepted twice. For the year, Faulkner has a 4/4 TD-INT ratio. Faulkner has a pair of excellent weapons in TE Ryan Otten and WR Noel Grigsby.
Grigsby has a team-high 39 receptions for 336 yards, while Otten has 24 catches for a team-high 372 yards and three TD grabs.
During McMackin’s four-year tenure, Hawaii owns a 5 -2 spread record as a road favorite. Meanwhile, San Jose St. has gone 3-2 ATS in five games as a home underdog on MacIntyre’s watch.
The ‘over’ is 3-3 overall for the Spartans, 1-1 in their home games. The ‘over’ is 3-2 overall for the Warriors, 2-1 in their road assignments.
When these WAC rivals met last year, Hawaii cruised to a 41-7 win as a 30-point home favorite. Moniz threw for 560 yards and three TDs.
B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets
Wake Forest owns a 16-7-1 spread record as a home underdog during Jim Grobe’s 11-year tenure. As of late Thursday afternoon, the Demon Deacons were 6 1/2-point underdogs for Saturday’s crucial ACC showdown vs. Va. Tech.
The ‘over’ is 5-1 for Ga. Tech, but the ‘under’ is 4-1 for Virginia. The Cavs host the Yellow Jackets on Saturday as seven-point home underdogs. The total is 55½.
Oklahoma St. has covered the spread in eight straight road favorite roles. The Cowboys are laying 7½ points Saturday at Texas. The Longhorns are home underdogs for just the third time since 2001. They are 0-2 ATS in the two previous spots.