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 movesThe 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 punchThe
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 connectionFriday 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 toughWhile 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.
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