Merry Christmas! We’ve got one more College Football Bowl game on tap for us before the big man makes his rounds. The Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl will feature the California Golden Bears taking on the home squad Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. Let’s preview the Hawai’i Bowl and place our best Bowl bets for Wednesday’s Christmas Eve College Football game.
Wednesday’s Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl will be held at Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. Kickoff is set for 8:00 ET on ESPN, 3:00 local time in Hawaii. The University of California Golden Bears finished their season 7-5 with a 4-4 record in the ACC. The Bears have two opt-outs, cornerback Hezekiah Masses and linebacker Cade Uluave. Their head coach, Justin Wilcox, was fired at the end of the year, and offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich will hold the job through this game.
The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors finished the year 8-4, going 5-3 overall in the Mountain West Conference. Hawaii has one opt-out of its own, wide receiver Jackson Harris. Harris accounted for 963 yards on 49 catches, while scoring 12 touchdowns.
College Football Bowl Best Bets: Wednesday, December 24th
Jacob De Jesus Over 95.5 Receiving Yards (-114)
Jacob De Jesus has been playing like Jesus here recently. De Jesus has averaged an astonishing 14 catches per game over Cal’s last three games of the year. In those games, he had 158, 96, and 98 yards receiving, respectively. This Rainbow Warriors defense has had trouble containing good wide receivers. In their game against San Jose State alone, they gave up 100+ receiving yards to three separate players. Including 215 yards to Danny Scudero. Look for De Jesus to get loose against this Hawaii secondary.
Jacob De Jesus : 16 catches for 158 yards on 23 targets & 1/2 passing for 27 yards (Career-highs in catches, receiving yards & targets. Game-winning 2-yard TD catch on 4th down in OT) pic.twitter.com/CHC2f7fbhi
— Lee Harvey (@Sayian_Warrior) November 9, 2025
California +2 (-114)
The key difference in this one for me is California quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. The stud quarterback for Cal has committed to staying with the team and the new head coach, Tosh Lupoi. Now Sapapolutele gets to return to his native Hawaii for a bowl game. The Ewa Beach native will show up big time back home in front of all his friends and family. With a stud like De Jesus to get the ball to, give me the Cal Bears to win this game outright and cover the +2.
