Hawaii vs Portland State College Football Picks, Odds, Predictions 9/5/2021

The Portland State Vikings and the Hawaii Warriors meet in college football action from the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex on Saturday night.

The Portland State Vikings have some work to do having not played a full season since 2019, and for many players, not even a team workout or team lifting session was done until January 2021 before their lone game in a 48-7 beatdown loss to Montana. Davis Alexander is expected to lead the offense under center for Portland State as a dual-threat QB that racked up almost 3,500 yards of total offense and 30 total touchdowns in 2019. Alexander will have some solid targets to use that big arm to connect with, receivers like Beau Kelly, Mataio Talalemotu and Emmanuel Daigbe while George McCorley and Jerad Toman return as well. At running back, JoJo Siofele and Jobi Malary will form a tandem alongside returning Malik Walker to lead PSU’s ground attack. On defense, Anthony Adams leads the secondary as an all-American while Noah Yunker and Jake Porter lead the pass rush on defensive end. Nicolas Ah Sam and Robert Holt will be the marquee players in Portland State’s linebacking group.

The Hawaii Warriors will be out to rebound from a 44-10 loss at the hands of UCLA in their season opener last time out. Chevan Cordeiro threw for 220 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions on 25 of 47 passing while Dae Dae Hunter led an ineffective attack from Hawaii’s ground game, putting up 20 yards on 7 carries while Cordeiro had just 11 rushing yards on 9 carries. Calvin Turner Jr. led the Warriors with 50 receiving yards on 5 catches while Aaron Cephus had 49 receiving yards and Dior Scott and Nick Mardner each had 35 receiving yards. Hunter had a team-high 7 receptions out of Hawaii’s backfield while Caleb Phillips had the team’s lone touchdown catch. Defensively, Darius Muasau led the Bows with 10 total tackles including 5 solo tackles while Chima Azunna had 7 total tackles including 5 solo tackles of his own and Jonah Laulu had both of Hawaii’s sacks as a team in defeat.

Portland State is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games in September while the under is 4-2 in their last 6 games overall. Hawaii is 3-11 ATS in their last 14 Saturday games and 3-10 ATS in their last 13 home games played on Saturday while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall.

This. isa tricky game for me because I could make a case for either side and the line feels right on. Could I see Hawaii winning by a 31-7 score or something like that? Sure! Could I see Portland State sneaking in the backdoor and getting a cover by half a point? Sure. The difference for me is that as bad as Hawaii looked, the Vikings haven’t played really since 2019 and a lot of these guys weren’t even working out together until early this year. Hawaii had a game to shake off the rust and taking the step down may help Hawaii bounce back here. I’m not going near this one, but if forced to pick, I’d lay the points with Hawaii here.