Bowl Preview: Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl

(24) Hawai’i (10-3) vs. Tulsa (9-3) (+10.5)

How about a little recognition for the other other team to win the Western Athletic Conference this year, along with Nevada and Boise State?

It didn’t look like we’d ever hear from Hawai’i again when June Jones left after the 2007 season. It seemed crazy that he’d leave at all, but then there were immediately stories about how there was no money for football from the university, the facilities were a joke, and that flame out in the Sugar Bowl made the program look ridiculous.

So you have to respect the job Greg McMackin has done these past three years at Hawai’i. That’s a program facing more obstacles than most, and it’s still winning and throwing the ball everywhere. He’s even kept on taking advantage of a pretty impressive pool of talent on the islands, where playing for the home-state school is a badge of honor even if it’s a little beneath some of the quality recruits.

Anyway, the (Rainbow) Warriors should blow Tulsa away, since the Golden Hurricane is the 119th-ranked pass defense in the country. That’s really the only matchup that matters since this was going to be a shootout anyway. Now Hawai’i has a much better chance of being shot at rather than keeping up unless Hawai’i completely melts down defensively.

Should be an entertaining bowl, though there’s pretty much no chance anyone watches it on television with the 8pm Eastern start on Christmas Eve.

Pick: Hawai’i