Nevada at Hawaii 11/28/20 - College Football Picks & Predictions

The Nevada Wolfpack continued their win streak last week with a 26-21 win over San Diego State, their fifth straight win to start the season. Hawaii battled late against a stingy Boise State team but inevitably fell short 40-32 and dropped to 2-3 on the season. Now with Nevada heading out to the island to Aloha Stadium to take on the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, Nevada will be looking to extend their win streak to six and Hawaii will be looking to cover the spread as a home underdog for the second straight week. 

The Hawaii offense has taken a big step back this season with the loss of dominant QB Cole McDonald and the reigns being handed over to Chevan Corderio. Corderio just isn’t on the same level as a passer completing 57.9% of his passes for 1,211 yards for 8 touchdowns and throwing 4 interceptions. If there is one thing that Corderio has that McDonald didn’t, it’s his ability to run the ball.

The Rainbow Warriors average just 149.2 yards per game on the ground and leading the way is Corderio, he’s averaging 3.8 yards per carry and has totaled 266 yards, finding the endzone three times. Junior running back Miles Reed has totaled 208 yards on the ground but has yet to find the endzone. 

The Nevada Wolfpack have been one of the best teams in the Mountain West so far this season on both sides of the ball, averaging 460.6 yards of total offense and averaging 32.2 points per game. The offense is led by flourishing sophomore quarterback Carson Strong, he’s completing 70.2% of his passes throwing for 14 touchdowns and 1800 yards to just two interceptions. 

Strong has found a star in junior Romeo Doubs who has already broken his career-high for receiving yards and touchdowns in a season with 778 and 9 TDs through five games. Doubs is a star with breakaway speed and is averaging 21.6 yards per catch. Nevada hasn’t been successful in running the ball to this point in the year, ranking last in the Mountain West with only 96.8 rushing yards per game. 

Nevada is second in the Mountain West in total defense allowing 312.8 yards per game and have held opponents to 20.6 points per game which ranks them 4th in the MWC. Hawaii has struggled to stop anyone, especially rushing attacks allowing 226.6 rush yards per game. In total, Hawaii is allowing 413 points per game and opposing teams are averaging 31.4 points per game.