Hawaii at Nevada (11/16/2007)

No. 13 Hawaii at Nevada, Friday at 8 p.m. (ESPN2)

For me, rarely ever does a game like this take place... a game on which I've been waiting to wager since I began examining the college football schedule in the middle of the summer. Well, here it is and the line is even better than I expected.

The Hawaii Warriors come into this game, not surprisingly, undefeated and with a legitimate Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback, Colt Brennan, in tow. Hawaii is coming off a physical, non-covering, win last week vs. Fresno St. while Nevada comes in off a bye, giving them an extra week to prepare and more time to watch film of the Warriors' complex passing schemes.

Having moved from Hawaii, where I lived for eight years, directly to the Reno area, let me tell you the first two things the Warrior football players will notice... the altitude and the weather.

Both of those factors will be of great value to a Nevada team accustomed to both, and that faces a Hawaii team in off a long plane ride and with little time to acclimate. Nevada has been a very solid home team recently and the home team in this series has won the last eight meetings. Brennan suffered a concussion in last week's game and he has struggled in his trips to the mainland this year (9 INTs last two road games).

Nevada is a better team since the rise of quarterback Colin Kaepernick and has an offense, the pistol, that can use running back Luke Lippincott (5.5 yards per carry) to keep the potent Warrior offense on the sideline.

The Wolf Pack will win the battle in the running game and home dogs that out-rush their opponents by fewer than 100 yards are excellent bets. Hawaii is still undefeated, but needed last-minute comebacks to force OT in wins at Louisiana Tech and San Jose State.

This is a tougher road trip, and this Wolf Pack team is better than both of those opponents. Here, we have a two TD underdog with a legitimate shot at winning the game outright, making this an excellent wager.