SEC Football Week 0 Game Preview: Vanderbilt vs Hawaii
TV Schedule: CBS Sports Network
Game time: on August 27th, 2022 at 10:30 P.M EST
Location: Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex (Hawaii home stadium)
The Commodores try to begin their season off to the right start when they play the Rainbow Warriors in a week zero matchup. Can they upset a solid Hawaii Rainbow Warriors team behind a solid performance from Mike Wright?
The Vanderbilt Commodores kick off their season against Hawaii. In a season where not much is expected of the Commodores, they could upset the Rainbow Warriors on the road to start the season. Vanderbilt had a very poor year last season. The Commodores went 2-10 on the season.
If the Commodores want to win this game, they will need a very solid performance from Mike Wright. Wright threw for 1,042 yards and 8 touchdowns a year ago. He was very solid rushing the ball. The junior ran for 373 yards on 91 carries. That is an average of 4.1 YPC.
Their two wins on the season came against Colorado State and Uconn. The Commodores losses came against East Tennessee State, Stanford, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Tennessee. It’s clear the Commodores had a very poor record when they came to SEC play. In fact, every team in the SEC East made a bowl game except Vanderbilt.
The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors go into this season expecting to be competing for a bowl game. They finished last year with a 6-7 record. They won games against Portland State, New Mexico State (twice), Fresno State, Colorado State, and Wyoming. Their losses came against Oregon State, UCLA, San Jose State, Nevada, Utah State, San Diego State, and Nevada-Las Vegas.
The Rainbow Warriors did get into the Hawaii Bowl last year. They were slated to play against Memphis but the game got canceled because of Covid-related reasons. Hawaii has a couple of different options for who they play at QB during this game. Hawaii has yet to choose between Brayden Schager, Joey Yellen, and Cammon Cooper.
Look for all three to get playing time during this game as the Rainbow Warriors will be treating this game as a tryout game for their QBs. This game will most likely be a blowout for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. The Rainbow Warriors are more talented than Vanderbilt is. This is probably one of Vanderbilt’s better chances to get one of the six wins needed to be bowl-eligible.
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Prediction: Hawaii Rainbow Warriors 35, Vanderbilt Commodores 14
The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors are more talented than Vanderbilt is. The Rainbow Warriors will coast to an easy victory. I expect the Rainbow Warriors to use this game as more of a feel-out game to see who should be starting at QB.
