Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Preview
December 21st, 2009 by John Huss
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl – Nevada (8-4) vs SMU (7-5)
Aloha Stadium December 24th 8pm
June Jones and Chris Ault have faced each other before and there might be fireworks this Christmas Eve when SMU faces Nevada in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. Neither team is known for their defense, finishing 92nd and 88th in Total Defense respectively. Nevada does bring a strong offense to Aloha Stadium, finishing #2 in Total Offense and #5 in Scoring Offense on the regular season. SMU’s offense wasn’t up to that caliber but the team is greatly improved in 2009.
If not for the letdown loss versus Marshall, the team would have won the C-USA West Division. Then again, things happen for a reason and now June Jones get to return “home” to Hawaii. The big question…will he be well received by the family that loved him during his reign coaching Hawaii or will be vilified for leaving them for the mainland?
On paper, Nevada appears to have all the edge. However, the offense was dealt a blow when leading rusher RB Vai Taua was ruled academically ineligible. The Pistol offense will still be loaded with dual threat QB Colin Kaepernick and RB Luke Lipponcott. Kaepernick finished 5th in Fantasy Player of the Year voting, which should be an indication of the impact he brings to the field.
On the other side of the ball, SMU will utilize a balanced offense RB Shawnbrey McNeal finished the year strong with 121.5 yards per game and 6 TDs over his last 4 games. This type of strong running game only helps to relieve the pressure on Freshman QB Kyle Padron. Padron needs time to find his most explosive target, WR Emmanuel Sanders who tallied 1,215 yards and 6 TDs.
Nevada comes into this game heavily favored by as much as two TDs. Everything on paper screams that the Wolfpack will tear apart SMU. So far this season my acumen at picking winners should be severely questioned after selecting UCF over Rutgers. However, I suspect that the magic of being back on the islands will give Jones a spark. The game goes much closer than anyone expected…Nevada 41 SMU 35
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Tags: Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Wow…June Jones came back to the Islands and must have sent Chris Ault the Greg Brady ancient taboo idol with all its bad luck.