By BJ Querubin— Staff Writer
The San Jose State Spartans (4-5, 1-4 MW) and the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors are both looking to avenge themselves after tough-conference losses in front of their home crowds.
The Spartans lost a close outing against No. 22 Boise State in a 52-42 shootout, while the Rainbow Warriors (5-4, 2-3 MW) lost a nail biter to Fresno State 41-38.
The scene is set for both of the squads’ offenses to light up the scoreboard Saturday night, as these two high-powered offenses will be led by two of the nation’s top five leaders in passing yards this season.
Hawaii quarterback Cole McDonald is ranked third in the nation in passing yards, while Spartan quarterback Josh Love sits at fourth—a total of three yards separating the two QBs.
McDonald epitomizes the gunslinger-type quarterback that has taken over the football era these days— throwing for nearly 2,800 yards and 25 touchdowns in nine games.
As scary as his numbers would indicate, he has also thrown 12 picks this season, which should fall into the hands of the Spartans’ greedy secondary.
SJSU is tied at fourth in the country with Illinois in turnover margin, the Spartans’ bread-and-butter this season.
Junior wideout Tre Walker should look forward to having a big day, as he is ranked 10th in the nation in total receptions.
Despite the Spartans’ recent loss, their offense has been clicking on all cylinders. In the past two weeks, SJSU’s offense has averaged 38 points per game and 449.5 yards of total offense.
The Spartans are more than capable of achieving the same feat against Hawaii’s below-average defense.
The Rainbow Warriors and the Spartans’ defenses parallel each other statistically.
Both defenses concede an average of 445 yards per game. Although this is a statline neither team should be proud of, it gives an indicator of what kind of game the fans should be expecting.
Consequently, SJSU and Hawaii also parallel each other in a philosophical sense.
Both of the teams’ success is predicated on their offenses producing video game-like numbers every game in order to stay competitive, due to their unreliable defenses that are unable to shut anyone down.
The Rainbow Warriors are -7.5 point favorites to win this game, though most betters in Las Vegas should consider picking the Spartans to at least cover that wide spread.
However, the Spartans may be without freshman running back Kairee Robinson, who has been their workhorse and playmaker in the backfield for the past three games.
Robinson left last week’s game against Boise State with an apparent leg injury in the third quarter, and his return to the gridiron for Saturday’s game is uncertain at the moment.
SJSU is 2-2 on the road, but has only notched one conference win this season.
With only three games left in the season, the Spartans will need to run the table against all of their opponents if they have any bowl-aspirations.
This team is ranked third-to-last in the Mountain West. With Hawaii one spot above them, a win against the Rainbow Warriors could start a streak that would help their case to make a bowl game.
This game has the potential to break all kinds of offensive records, where the receivers from both teams are in for a track meet against one another.
Kickoff is 8 p.m. PT Saturday in Honolulu.
Follow BJ on Twitter @beejaycue