The Hawaii Warriors and UNLV Rebels clash Saturday in week 12 MWC college football action from the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
The UNLV Rebels will look to snap a five-game losing streak after a 37-30 loss to Fresno State last time out. Doug Brumfield has thrown for 1,610 yards, 9 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on 65.6% passing while Aidan Robbins leads the Rebels with 850 rushing yards and 9 scores this season. Ricky White has a team-high 46 catches for 560 yards and 4 touchdowns while Kyle Williams has 354 receiving yards with 4 scores and Nick Williams has 351 receiving yards. Three other UNLV players have 100+ receiving yards as well. On defense, Austin Ajiake has a team-high 97 total tackles while UNLV’s defense as a whole has 24 sacks and 13 interceptions this season.
The Hawaii Warriors will hope to snap a four-game losing skid after a 41-34 loss to Utah State last time out. Brayden Schager has thrown for 1,916 yards, 9 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on 54.9% passing while Dedrick Parson has a team-high 687 rushing yards and 10 rushing TDs while Tylan Hines has 558 rushing yards as well this season. Zion Bowens leads all Hawaii receivers with 386 receiving yards while Hawaii has four more receivers with at least 200 receiving yards and another three receivers have 100+ receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Penei Pavihi has a team-high 68 total tackles including 40 solo tackles while John Tuitupou has 3 of Hawaii’s 14 sacks this season. Malik Hausman has a team-high 3 interceptions and Virdel Edwards II and Peter Manuma each have a pair of interceptions as well this season.
UNLV is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games in November and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following an ATS win while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 road games. Hawaii is 4-0 Ats in their last 4 home games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 November games.
I get the reasoning to be made for a home underdog in spots, especially one like Hawaii that has such a significant home field edge. However, this game means too much to UNLV as they’ve got to win out to have a shot at bowl eligibility, and any slip up will derail that. I think UNLV doesn’t leave it to fate here and throws it all at Hawaii who hasn’t been able to shut stuff down defensively in recent games. I’ll side with UNLV by two scores.