Official New Mexico Bowl Pregame Thread

[Irse]

The main beat writer, Stephen Tsai is on furlough.

[My3Cats]

I see Houston's ranks nationally 115 in penalty yardage, around 70+ a game, and think the weak spot of Houston's OL is the center, #75, whom has given up 3 sacks, 3 hits on the QB, 5 hurries, 11 QB pressures and has 4 penalties. Jack Freeman grades a 59.7 according to pff.com while the other four Houston linemen grade between 65-72. I can see Murasau blitzing straight up the middle.

In the UNLV game I thought Laulu played with a little more inspiration, and was in on 59 snaps (the most he's played in one game in his UH career) , grading a 60; and I can actually see him getting better.

I think with Hawaii having a 12 day break ahead of the bowl game is a much needed recharge that the players need. And I can see the team coming out energized and ready to play.

One concern I have is the grass field. I don't know if this is a plus or minus for Hawaii. We will see

The game time temperature should be in the 60's.

Let see Hawaii win.

Hawaii typically practices on their grass field in the quarry, so this may not be a factor.

[WarriorTyme]

This is a bad match up for Hawaii, Houston is practically playing a home game (3 hour drive to Dallas, TX area from Houston, TX). I'm hoping the Hawaii Road Warriors show up to play in this road bowl game.

[SundayJam]

BYU and Nevada both killed the spread today. I hope this bodes well for Hawaii.

[dakineguy]

I don't know about you guys but it seemed to me that the season just started and then it's over and we are in a bowl game. I hope they have fun over there.

[kapakahi]

https://twitter.com/WSN_247Sports/status/1341587655490846723

https://twitter.com/MWCConnection/status/1341820916997742592

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1341497499014619139

[sarvicdar]

The key to Hawaii's success against Houston is the play of Cordeiro. How he goes is how the team ends up. This season he's 4-1 when completing 60% of his passes and 0-3 when he doesn't. Cordeiro needs to step it up. He needs to complete a higher percentage of his season average of midrange and long passes. On the season he's 10-52 of completing passes of 20+ yards and 14-33 between 10-20 yards. The times he stretches the field it opens up the running game and short passes. In his last three games he's completed 81%/Nevada, 65%/San Jose, 60%/UNLV. This trend is good but he needs to be better. For Hawaii to win he needs to find his hot hand and lead the offense in gaining positive yards on first downs (where the opponent's scouting reports suggest that if you can stop Hawaii on first downs the defense has the upper hand at stopping Hawaii's offense). In this game Cordeiro needs to use all of his weapons and find Bowens (on the season 10 targets/5 receptions) and Mardner (19 targets/11 receptions) .The template for Cordeiro in achieving success against Houston is well within his grasp. He just needs to be on his game.

[shrek2]

I don't know if this is in the 15-20 players missing according to the tweet but it looks like they will be missing three of their stars who opt'ed out of the Bowl due to preparation for the NFL.

University of Houston wide receiver Marquez Stevenson plans to skip the Cougars’ bowl game to begin preparation for the NFL draft. Stevenson joins defensive end Payton Turner and linebacker Grant Stuard to opt out of playing in Thursday’s New Mexico Bowl against Hawaii in Frisco.

https://www.newsbreak.com/texas/houston ... exico-bowl

Houston pregame notes.
https://www.newsbreak.com/texas/houston ... exico-bowl

Battles against Hawai'i head coach Todd Graham are nothing new for Houston. The Cougars are 4-1 when Graham is on the opposing staff and 3-1 with Graham as the head coach (1-0 vs. Rice; 2-1 vs. Tulsa).

[st808]

houston without 15-20 players due to grades as well as seniors who declared for the draft and those who entered the portal is sounding more and more like a money line bet.

golden nugget has hawaii +330 for the money line.

[couz808]

Green and red. I love Xmas colors.

https://twitter.com/hawaiifootball/status/1341823430270853120