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Posted at 12:00 PM EST 

10:30 PM EST. The Hawaii Golden Warriors have one of the most unique home field advantages in all of college football. As Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said in the Democratic Party Debate, the Hawaiian Islands are the most remote enclave in all of the United States. As a result, the visiting Arizona Wildcats will have to travel over 2,750 miles and across four time zones to play this game. While many may be quick to pull the trigger on Desert Swarm given their Power Five pedigree, the prospects of jet-lag, travel fatigue, and airing out the opening game kinks in a notably hostile environment make the ‘Cats a very dicey proposition to be laying this kind of lumber on the road.

Outside of these intangibles working against the Wildcats, there are several other ingredients that make them not only prone to not covering, but perhaps vulnerable to an outright Week One upset. While most of the market will be salivating over Wildcat dual-threat quarterback Khalil Tate, who is nothing short of a Heisman-esque juggernaut when he brings his A-Game, we want to focus on the opposite. You see, Tate’s efforts can be easily undermined by Arizona’s notoriously porous defense that returns only six starters and finished 98th in the nation in scoring (32.6 points per game) in 2018. Most significantly, Desert Swarm’s passing defense was more comparable to a cloud of gnats, as they could easily be swatted away, giving up a bottom-of-the barrel 269.5 yards per game (121st in the FBS) in the preceding campaign. The Wildcats won one game on the road last year, against a horrible Oregon State squad. In its other four road games, Arizona was smoked by 28, 32 and 41 points in three of them.

The Warriors return gunslinger quarterback Cole McDonald, who threw for nearly 4,000 yards last season on 36 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions. McDonald spearheads a Hawaii aerial attack that finished ninth in the country in passing (310.9 passing yards per game) in 2018 that also returns two key contributors and starters in wide receivers Jojo Ward and Cedric Byrd. This is a duo of wideouts that could both easily eclipse the 1,000-yard threshold in 2019. In 2018, Byrd and Ward combined for 130 receptions, 1835 receiving yards, and 18 touchdowns. This trio of terror along with the rest of the Warriors offense figure to counterpunch every time Arizona scores and then some. Hawaii is a seasoned lot whose older players experienced a 6-1 start last year with wins over Navy and Colorado State along with a near-miss against Army. Ironically, that 59-41 win over Navy last year saw the Alohas as an 11-point dog also. Hawaii is a Mountain West contender with some serious offensive weapons at every position group. This team won't feel out of place trying to get inside 11 points against an Arizona that is not worthy of being an out-of-conference road favorite priced in this range.

One side note to this game is University of Hawaii linebacker Scheyenne Sanitoa died on July 4th. Sanitoa was 21 and no cause of death was released. University spokesman Derek Inouchi said the death did not happen on campus and that Sanitoa was not involved in any athletic department activities at the time of his death. According to Matlin, the football team met at the time to discuss Sanitoa's death. Campus counselors were present at the meeting and were available to the team at that time. This is a hugely motivating factor. The team will dedicate the game to their fallen teammate and that means a highly intense and emotional performance. Big overlay here.

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