ANZ Stadium – Sydney, Australia
Kickoff: Friday, 10:00 p.m. ET
Line: California -20.0, Total: N/A

The 2016 college football season starts a week early, as two rebuilding teams travel across the globe to face off in Sydney, Australia’s ANZ Stadium.

After suffering through three-straight losing seasons, Cal’s 2015 team won a bowl game (the Armed Forces Bowl vs. Air Force) for the first time since 2008. They finished with an 8-5 record (4-5 in the Pac-12), highlighted by wins at Texas and Washington. Star QB Jared Goff was the top pick in the NFL Draft, and the Golden Bears also lost their top six receivers from last season. Their defense struggled last year, and lost a good deal of talent, as well. A bowl game appearance will be hard to come by this season. Hawaii is coming off a fifth-consecutive losing season, during which head coach Norm Chow was fired in November. A Week 1 victory over Colorado was the high point of last season, as the only other Hawaii wins were against FCS UC-Davis and 2-11 Louisiana-Monroe. New head coach Nick Rolovich inherits a team in need of better quarterback play and more defensive toughness. 1,000-yard rusher RB Paul Harris was a lone bright spot for the Rainbow Warriors last season, and he’ll be asked to carry the offense again. Cal and Hawaii haven’t played since the road team won both games of a home-and-home in 1993 and ’94. Both teams are 4-0 ATS in the first two weeks of the season since 2014 (Hawaii is 1-3 SU, Cal 4-0 SU). Over the past two seasons, Cal is 5-2 ATS (6-1 SU) in non-conference games, including ATS & SU wins over two MWC teams (San Diego St. and Air Force) last season.

With Goff and nearly 3,900 yards worth of receivers gone, Cal can’t expected another 376 passing YPG (3rd in the nation). QB Davis Webb is the new starter. He posted 5,557 passing yards, 46 TD, 22 INT and a 61.4% completion in 23 games with Texas Tech, but was relegated to backup duties before coming to Berkeley as a graduate transfer. Junior WR Chad Hansen is the top returning receiver, totaling 249 yards on 19 catches last year, and could be a go-to target on the outside. The running game will use a committee approach, as RBs Khalfani Muhammad, Tre Watson and Vic Enwere all gained over 500 yards from scrimmage in 2015. The offensive line returns four starters, which should improve Cal’s 4.53 yards per rush average (55th in the nation) from last season. Defensive coordinator Art Kaufman inherited an atrocious defense two years ago, and has seen improvements each year. 2016 might be a setback, as star LB and leading tackler Hardy Nickerson, Jr. transferred to Illinois (where his former NFL All-Pro dad is now defensive coordinator), starting SS Damariay Drew won’t be ready for the start of the season following knee surgery and Griffin Piatt, Drew’s potential backup, retired from football after a plethora of injuries. There’s depth on the defensive line, but leading-sacker DL Kyle Kragen graduated. A defense that finished 109th in yards allowed (454 per game), 95th in yards per rush (4.8) and 99th in yards per pass attempt (7.9) is trending downward.

New Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich was previously offensive coordinator at Nevada, and was Hawaii’s starting QB in 2001 (ending his playing career with 20 TD passes in three wins). The Rainbow Warriors finished 118th in the nation in points (17.6 PPG) and 121st in yards (316 YPG) last season. RB Paul Harris is the star of the team, coming off a season in which he amassed 1,294 yards from scrimmage and six TD. He has four returning offensive line starters in front of him, but no talent behind him on the depth chart. After QB Max Wittek’s awful showing last year (7 TD, 15 INT), senior QB Ikaika Woolsey is the leader in a four-way quarterback competition. Woolsey has started 19 games at Hawaii, posting a 49.5% completion rate, 3,589 passing yards, 18 passing TD, 22 INT, 360 rushing yards and three rushing TD. Nine of last year’s top ten receivers are back, led by WRs Marcus Kemp (36 receptions, 563 yards), Devan Stubblefield (30 receptions, 352 yards, 4 TD) and Dylan Collie (29 receptions, 342 yards). The promising TE duo of Metuisela ’Unga and Dakota Torres could see an increased role. The Warriors’ defense ranked 105th in both points and yards allowed last season, largely because of the offense’s inability to stay on the field. DL Kennedy Tulimasealii, last year’s leader in sacks (3.5) and tackles for loss (18.5), and UH’s only First Team All-MWC player, was dismissed from the team after two offseason arrests. After intercepting only three passes last year, the secondary should be better with junior safety Trayvon Henderson returning from a torn ACL. There’s plenty of size up front in their 4-3 scheme, and Hawaii needs play-makers to emerge to avoid another embarrassing season.