College Football Betting News and Notes Friday, August 26th, 2016

College Football Game Of The Day: California vs Hawaii
By Covers.com

California Golden Bears vs Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (+20, 64.5)

California begins the post-Jared Goff era Friday as the Golden Bears kick off the college football season against Hawaii in Sydney, Australia. With Goff looking to fulfill expectations as the No. 1 overall pick of the Los Angeles Rams, Cal coach Sonny Dykes has turned to 6-foot-5 quarterback Davis Webb, a graduate transfer from Texas Tech.

While Cal boasts plenty of experience at offensive line and running back, the Golden Bears are replacing their top six receivers from last season, when they won their first five games but finished 8-5. Dykes’ high-scoring offense should put on a show for the Australian fans with Davis throwing to a talented new group of receivers, including freshmen Melquise Stovall and Demetris Robertson along with junior Chad Hansen. For the Golden Bears to contend in the Pac-12, they’ll need improved results from a defense that has to replace safety Damariay Drew (season-ending knee injury) and linebacker Hardy Nickerson, who transferred to Illinois after leading the team in tackles last season. Cal should face little resistance against a Hawaii team that was picked to finish last in the West Division of the Mountain West but hopes to rebuild under new coach Nick Rolovich, who started at quarterback for the Rainbow Warriors in 2000-01.

LINE HISTORY: Cal opened as 22.5-point favorites a month before the game but steady money on Hawaii has dropped the line down to -20 on Thursday evening. The total opened at 61 and has gradually been bet up to 64.5 at publication time of this preview. View complete line history here.

WEATHER: There is a chance of a morning shower in Sydney on Saturday morning (their time) but it is expected to clear up by afternoon kickoff. Temperatures should be perfect for football in the low 70's with not much wind to speak of.

WHAT SHARPS SAY: "California lost a lot of playmakers from an offense that averaged 38 points per game over the last two seasons. Quarterback Jared Goff (#1 NFL pick) will be extremely difficult to replace, and with only 4 returning starters, the Golden Bears’ offense is set to regress sharply in 2016."

"Hawaii is in their first year under head coach Nick Rolovich, but they return 15 starters, including 9 on the offensive side of the ball. The Rainbow Warriors should be much improved from their 3-10 SU team of a season ago, especially on offense where they only averaged 17.6 points and 316 yards per game last season." Covers Expert Steve Merril.

WHAT BOOKS SAY: “All the money is on Hawaii,” said Scott Shelton, shift manager at The Mirage. “There is almost zero interest in Cal at this point. And it’s all at (Hawaii +20). We’re low there, too. There are some 20.5s and 21s around town.”

ABOUT CALIFORNIA (2015: 8-5 SU, 6-7 ATS, 5-8 O/U): New offensive coordinator Jake Spavital steps into an enviable position with talent at every position including wide receiver, where Stovall is expected to make an immediate impact. “He’s a very electric, explosive guy. Very hard to tackle,” Dykes told the San Jose Mercury News. “He gives us a different dimension. We’ve had a lot of good receivers around here, but Melquise gives us something a little different. You can throw a slant and it turns into a 70-yard touchdown. You throw a screen and you have a 40- or 50-yard gain.” Cal continues to have question marks on defense, where junior cornerback Darius Allensworth leads an inexperienced unit that allowed 30.7 points per game last season.

ABOUT HAWAII (2015: 3-10 SU, 3-10 ATS, 7-6 O/U): Fifth-year senior quarterback Ikaika Woolsey, named the starter after throwing five touchdowns with six interceptions in part-time duty last year, needs to take care of the ball against a Cal defense that tied for 13th in the nation in turnovers recorded with 27. Hawaii figures to rely on its run game behind an impressive offensive line and a trio of quality running backs in senior Steven Lakalaka, junior Diocemy Saint Juste and senior Paul Harris, who last season became the team’s second back in the last 23 years to rush for 1,000 yards (1,132). The opener could be a rough introduction for new defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa, whose young and inexperienced group will be hard-pressed to slow down Cal’s explosive offense.

TRENDS:

Golden Bears are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games in August.
Rainbow Warriors are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 vs. Pac-12.
Rainbow Warriors are 1-10 ATS in their last 11 games overall.
Over is 8-2 in Golden Bears' last 10 neutral site games.
Over is 5-0 in Rainbow Warriors' last 5 games overall.

EXTRA POINTS

Cal and Hawaii have split four previous meetings with the Rainbow Warriors winning the last contest 21-7 in 1994 in Berkeley.

The Golden Bears are 7-2 in season openers since 2007.

Friday’s contest is the first college football game in Australia since BYU played Colorado State in Melbourne in 1987.

CONSENSUS: Hawaii is picking up the majority of the wagers on this game with 55 percent of the picks. Over is grabbing 69 percent of the totals selections.

California vs. Hawaii
By Brian Edwards
VegasInsider.com

Are you ready for the 2016 college football season? Good, because toe is poised to meet leather Friday night at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia, where California and Hawaii will collide.

As of Thursday, most books had Cal installed as a 20-point favorite with a total of 64 points for ‘over/under’ wagers. Sportsbook.ag has the Warriors with 15/1 odds to win outright (risk $100 to win $1,500). For first-half wagers, the Bears are favored by 12.5 points with a total of 33.

California compiled an 8-5 straight-up record and a 6-7 against-the-spread mark in 2015. The Golden Bears return four starters on offense and five on defense for Sonny Dykes’s fourth team in Berkeley. The former Louisiana Tech coach has a 14-23 record at Cal, going 1-11 and 5-7 in his first two campaigns.

Dykes must rebuild a passing attack that lost its three-year starting quarterback Jared Goff, who was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. Goff destroyed the school’s record books by passing for 12,200 career yards, throwing for 4,074 more yards than the second-leading passer, Troy Taylor (8,126 from ’86-89).

During his junior campaign, Goff completed 64.5 percent of his passes for 4,719 yards with a 43/13 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He led Cal to a 5-0 record and a three-week stretch of appearances in the national rankings. However, the Bears lost four in a row before winning two of their last three regular-season contests.

This was good enough to earn the program’s first bowl bid since 2011. Goff threw for 467 yards to lead his team to a 55-36 win over Air Force as a seven-point favorite at the Armed Forces Bowl.

Cal brings back its three leading rushers, but it lost its six top pass catchers. RBs Khalfani Muhammad, Vic Enwere and Tre Watson each rushed for 504 yards or more in ’15. Muhammad averaged 6.7 yards per carry, while Enwere ran for eight TDs.

Texas Tech grad transfer Davis Webb is poised to take Goff’s place. Webb threw 46 TD passes compared to 22 interception in three seasons with the Red Raiders. During his collegiate career, he has completed 61.0 percent of his passes for 5,557 yards.

Webb will work under new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, who has spent the last thee years as the OC for Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M. Spavital previously spent time on the offensive staffs of Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State and Dana Holgersen at West Virginia. In other words, Cal’s offense will continue to play at a fast pace and lean on its aerial attack.

Although the WR group is inexperienced, there’s plenty of talent. Five-star recruit Demetris Robertson is ready to make an impact along with fellow true freshman Melquise Stovall, who turned heads in the spring after arriving early. There’s also Vic Wharton, a sophomore transfer who started a pair of games for Tennessee as a true freshman in 2014.

Phil Steele ranks Cal’s offensive line as the third-best in the Pac-12. All of the starters are upperclassmen, including three seniors. One of those seniors, offensive guard Chris Borrayo, was a third-team All Pac-12 selection last year.

Cal’s defense allowed 30.7 points per game last year. That unit lost its top six tacklers, including star LB Hardy Nickerson Jr., who opted to play his senior season at Illinois as a grad transfer. New Illinois coach Lovie Smith hired Nickerson’s father as his new defensive coordinator.

Hawaii finished last season with a 3-10 record both SU and ATS, prompting the dismissal of Norm Chow during his fourth year at the helm. The Warriors had home wins over Colorado (28-20), UC Davis (47-27) and ULM (28-26).

Since June Jones guided Hawaii to a 12-0 regular-season record and a trip to the Sugar Bowl with Colt Brennan as the team’s star in 2006, Hawaii has had only one winning record. That was the 10-4 squad in 2010 coached by Greg McMackin.

Nick Rolovich, who has spent the last four years as the OC at Nevada, is the new head coach. He played QB for two years at Hawaii and was the school’s OC under McMackin for two seasons (’10 & ’11).

Rolovich’s first squad brings back nine starters on offense and six on defense. The offense was deplorable last year, averaging a meager 17.6 PPG. This unit was a turnover machine, resulting in a -23 margin for the season.

USC transfer QB Max Wittek was an immense disappointment, throwing 15 interceptions compared to just seven TD passes. Senior QB Ikaika Woolsey will get the starting nod against Cal. He started five games in ’15, connecting on just 49.0 percent of his passes for 908 yards with a 5/6 TD-INT ratio. Woolsey was the full-time starter in ’14, throwing for 2,538 yards with a 13/13 TD-INT ratio.

Senior RB Paul Harris is coming off a strong year for the Warriors. Harris rushed for 1,132 yards and six TDs while averaging 5.7 YPC. There is plenty of depth and experience in both the backfield and among the WRs.

This is the seventh straight season that Hawaii has opened up against a Pac-12 foe. The Warriors are 2-4 in those six contests.

Hawaii arrived in Sydney on Sunday after a 10.5-hour flight, while Cal made it on Monday morning following a 14-hour trek from San Francisco.

Kickoff on ESPN is scheduled for Friday night at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Sydney is 14 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone, so this is actually a noon kick on Saturday in Australia. The weather is expected to be perfect, with sunny skies and temperatures in the low-to-mid 60s.

NCAAF Week 1

Cal vs Hawaii

Cal was 8-5 LY, its first winning season in four years, but 3-year QB Goff is in NFL now; last ten years, Cal is 25-36 vs spread away from Berkeley, but they have covered 5 of last 7 non-league games. Golden Bears lost 13 starters from LY, but their new QB Webb started 14 games at Texas Tech. Hawai’i is 11-40 the last 4 years, so they’ve got a new coach. Rainbows are 7-12 as underdogs the last two years- this is their first neutral field game since 2007. Hawai’i has 9 starters back o offense, 4 on OL, so that helps. Last three years, Pac-12 teams are 23-16-1 vs spread when playing Mountain West teams; they were 9-3-1 LY.

Armadillosports.com