American College Football in Australia
Where: ANZ Stadium, Sydney, NSW
When: Saturday 27th August 2016
Who: California Golden Bears v Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
College Football is heading to Sydney. On the 27th of August ANZ Stadium will host the opening game of the 2016 NCAA college football championship.
Making the trip down under will be The University of California and the University of Hawaii. It has been almost 30 years since Australia has hosted a college football game. That game was played in Melbourne in 1987 between Brigham Young University and Colorado State.
The University of California (Berkeley Campus) are nicknamed the Golden Bears. The university is regarded as one of the best in the world (ranked 13th). Ever since head coach Sonny Dykes took over in 2013 the Golden Bears have improved significantly each year. Last season they went 8-5 overall and won the Armed Forces Bowl. The pressure will be on Dykes to improve again this season.
The Cal. Bears also have a rich history of sending players to the NFL. Current players include Aaron Rodgers, DeSean Jackson and C.J Anderson to name a few.
The opponents and big underdogs are the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. After the team slumped to 2-7 in the 2015 season head coach Norm Chow was fired. It wasn’t until November 27th when former Warriors player Nick Rolovich took over as head coach. This will be the first international game for the University of Hawaii and even though they are no strangers to travel, a win in Australia seems very unlikely.
This will be a spectacle like no other. It will include all the bells and whistles from Marching Bands to Cheerleaders. Make sure you are a part of the action at this historic event. Below are some helpful links.
Tickets at – Ticketek
Flights at – Flight Centre
Accommodation at – Booking.com
Information at – ANZ Stadium
In terms of betting. The line opened at -20.5 (Westgate Vegas) in favour of California and is up to -23 at some international books. There are currently no markets at the Australian sports books. However, CrownBet have a College Football Championship market. This will give you an idea of where these two teams rank. Here are their current odds for the 2016/17 season.
California - $101 at CrownBet
Hawaii - $501 at CrownBet
