The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors and Vanderbilt Commodores clash Saturday night in week 0 of college football action at Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. The Vanderbilt Commodores are coming off a 2-10 season and enter the second year under coach Clark Lea. The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors were 6-7 last year, and Timmy Chang will make his head coaching debut.
The Vanderbilt Commodores averaged 15.8 points and 312.8 yards per game last season. Vanderbilt allowed an average of 35.8 points and 457.3 yards per game last season. Ken Seals returns at quarterback, and he threw for 1,200 yards, 5 touchdowns and 8 interceptions last season. Will Sheppard and Devin Boddie Jr. are a receiving duo that combined for 800 yards and 5 touchdowns. Rocko Griffin returns as Vandy’s leading rusher with 500 yards and 4 touchdowns. Defensively, Anfernee Orji returns after leading Vanderbilt with 92 tackles, Jaylen Mahoney had 2 sacks and Ethan Barr had 3 interceptions. Vanderbilt is loaded with returning experience everywhere but the offensive line as it said goodbye to 55 percent of the production. Still, there’s more than enough here for Vandy to be vastly improved from a year ago. With 5 combined wins in the last 3 years, the Commodores should have their best season since 2018 when they won 6 games.
The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors averaged 28.8 points and 405 yards per game last season. Hawai’i allowed an average of 31.4 points and 446 yards per game last season. Brayden Schager had 108 pass attempts last season, but Pitt transfer Joey Yellen and Washington State transfer Cammon Cooper provide depth at the QB position. Hawaii lost its top three receivers last season, but running back Dedrick Parson returns after 300 receiving yards, 600 rushing yards and 9 total touchdowns. Unfortunately, there’s going to be a lot of new faces on this Hawaii offense. Defensively, Penei Pavihi returns after producing 47 tackles with Hawai’i, Isaiah Tufaga had 2 sacks and Hugh Nelson II had 2 interceptions. The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors are starting from scratch, from the roster to the coaching staff. In fact, with a 33 percent returning production percentage, only Nevada is returning fewer players from a year ago. Chang is a Hawaii guy, and he’s known for offensive success, so the program may have found a long term solution at head coach, but there’s sure to be growing pains this season with so much roster turnover.
The Commodores are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 road games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The Rainbow Warriors are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 home games and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games in August. The under is 5-2 in Commodores last 7 games overall. The over is 4-1 in Rainbow Warriors last 5 games in August.
I usually find value with the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors in the home underdog role, as the travel for opponents usually does a number on them and Hawaii usually competes more times than not. Vanderbilt isn’t exactly a world beater, and losses like this would surprise nobody. With that said, Hawaii is pretty much a brand-new team from the roster to the coaching staff, and it typically takes time to figure things out with that many new faces. Vanderbilt has far and away more in place from a year ago to kind of hit the ground running. We’re getting just under a full touchdown, I’ll lay the points with the Commodores given their returning production.