CFB Best Bets, Picks and Analysis For Vanderbilt vs. Hawaii on August 27, 2022

Real college football bettors know what it's like to stay up and watch the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, so it's only fitting that Timmy Chang's team will host the Vanderbilt Commodores on the first Saturday of the season. You'll want to make sure you tune in when these two clash at 10:30PM ET on Saturday, August 27. 

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For the most up to date live college football betting information, check out our interactive predictions for Vanderbilt vs. Hawaii. It's constantly updating based on hundreds of different data points.

Vanderbilt vs. Hawaii Best Bets, Predictions and Analysis

Spread Breakdown

Not many teams were hit harder by the transfer portal than Hawaii, with 19 total players having departed the program after all of the messy stuff that went down under former head coach Todd Graham — who was reportedly forced out after having established what was alleged to have been something of a borderline abusive culture. Now, the Rainbow Warriors are looking to rebuild with legendary Hawaii quarterback Timmy Chang, and it isn't hard to envision this team being solid a few years down the road.

Chang had been on staff at Nevada over the last five years, learning from a good head coach in Jay Norvell. Between having learned Norvell's version of the Air Raid offense and also being a prolific passer himself, you should expect a lot of high-flying shootouts in Hawaii's future. 

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The problem here is that the Rainbow Warriors just lack experience in a big way. Hawaii's offensive line is expected to be pretty solid, which should help talented running back Dedric Parson turn in a nice season. But even if Vanderbilt is weak for an SEC program, it's still an SEC program. There's a completely different type of athlete that commits to the Southeastern Conference, which means the Commodores should be bigger and nastier in the trenches. 

Having to play on the road, in a stranger environment than usual, is certainly going to impact Vanderbilt a bit. However, it's still hard to see how Hawaii finds a way to keep this game close. The Commodores just have the edge at nearly every position, and Mike Wright's fingerprints should be all over this game. Wright is a dual-threat quarterback that can be tough to bring down — he's 6-foot-4 and runs hard — and he should have a lot of room to make plays against a smaller, slower defensive unit than he is used to seeing. 

This line was mostly sitting at Vanderbilt -6.5 for a while, but it's clear there's some big money on the Commodores. They're now as high as -8 in this game, but we still like them to cover as 7.5-point favorites. This could be a game in which it makes sense to buy a point, but it's probably not completely necessary. 

It should also be noted that road favorites that return four or more starters than their opponents, while also having a returning starter at quarterback against a team with a new signal caller, are 100-53 against the spread over the last 10 seasons. 

Over/Under Breakdown

Last season, the Under was 4-1 in the five road games that Vanderbilt played. And when looking at this game, it isn't hard to see a scenario in which the Commodores go Under on the road again. While the team has a lot more talent than its opponent, Vanderbilt will likely look to do most of its damage on the ground offensively. That'll keep the clock moving, even when the Commodores are rolling. 

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It also helps that it could take Vanderbilt some time to get going, as this is the first week of the season and also happens to be a late game. On top of that, Clark Lea is a defensive-minded coach, as he went to Nashville after a few years as the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. With that said, he's had quite some time to break down film — he likely looked at a decent amount of Nevada's tape — and it's hard to see his defense not being somewhat ready to go here. 

Best Bet: Commodores vs. Rainbow Warriors

The difference in talent is going to be a lot for the home team to have to overcome here, especially with the Commodores having already had a year to get used to Lea's approach. We're going with Vanderbilt -7.5 and suggest using the DraftKings bet $5 to get $200 offer mentioned at the top of this article. You can claim it ➡️ here ⬅️.