HONOLULU — The players and coaches took their seats, their backs to the choppy waters of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head. Media members pointed their cameras, sports information directors delegated questions and VIPs paced in the background.
Tuesday morning’s presser for San Diego State and Middle Tennessee at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel made it official: The EasyPost Hawaii Bowl is back on – again.
The Aztecs and the Blue Raiders are primed to play at 3 p.m. at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex on Christmas Eve, just as Hawaii and Memphis were in 2021 before a surge of COVID-19 cases among the Rainbow Warriors upended the game at the 11th hour.
Hawaii Bowl Executive Director Daryl Garvin expects a disruption-free Saturday and the game to go off for the first time in three years. The 2020 game was canceled outright in the first year of the pandemic.
“I think ESPN Events has stood behind the game,” Garvin told Spectrum News of the event's owner and operator at the presser. “We’ve been able to withstand it. We’re here for the long term. Just being able to get back to playing is so good, not only for the state, but even for Hawaii football, having this game maintained.
“We can’t forget the history of why we started,” he added, referring to the 2001 UH football team that went 9-3 and had no bowl game in which to play. “So, it’s just an awesome opportunity … to be back with Hawaii in the spotlight on Christmas Eve, prime time on ESPN.”
Through Tuesday, the Hawaii Bowl had distributed 5,600 tickets for the game, Garvin said. ESPN Events, which runs the game and the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic basketball tournament that’s set to begin Thursday, was hopeful to increase that total in the coming days.
ESPN Events staff are in the process of painting the field and installing other signage at the 9,300-seat Ching Complex to transform it into a neutral venue.
San Diego State, the Mountain West’s representative in lieu of non-qualifier Hawaii, is well represented with six local players on the roster. Two of them, linebacker Seyddrick Lakalaka and center Alama Uluave, appeared at Tuesday’s presser.
It will be the final college game for both Punahou School alums.
“It’s really special, capping off not just our season, but my career at San Diego State here,” said Uluave, a first-team All-MWC center. “I get to play in front of my family and friends. That’s a really big deal for me; I’m really close with my family.”
Said Lakalaka, a sixth-year player who began his college career in 2017, “It’s great to finish our season off to where it (all) started, and it’s great to show our teammates where we came from and what we were like.”
Given SDSU’s local ties – the others are linebacker Darrell Masaniai (Saint Louis), offensive lineman Laakea Kapoi (Saint Louis), offensive lineman Rambo Mageo (Laie native) and tight ends coach Savai’i Eselu, the former Moanalua High coach – and the lack thereof for MTSU, the Aztecs could have the edge in crowd support on Saturday.
Lakalaka alone expects “at least 60” friends and family members at the game, he said.
SDSU coach Brady Hoke said the game was a reward for the whole team, but especially the six local families on the roster. Hoke led defensive-minded SDSU to five wins in its last seven games after shaking up his staff at midseason and installing a converted safety, Jalen Mayden, at quarterback.
"We’ve got pretty good weather in San Diego, but you’ve got awfully good weather here also," Hoke said. "To go someplace where it’s warm … I think we’ll all take warm."
Middle Tennessee of Conference USA is 7-5 overall, the same record as SDSU, which it has never faced. Blue Raiders coach Rick Stockstill took his team here for the Hawaii Bowl in 2016 and lost to UH, 52-35, at Aloha Stadium.
He said he didn’t think it was an advantage or disadvantage to play another mainland team here as opposed to the home school.
“I thought we handled the trip really well the last time,” Stockstill said. “I thought we did a good job on the plane, did a good job preparing for the trip from a hydration standpoint and all those things. I thought we practiced well. Hawaii was just the better team that day and they beat us.”
It’s the second straight year that MTSU is playing a bowl game in the tropics; it beat Toledo in the 2021 Bahamas Bowl, 31-24.
Blue Raiders defensive end Jordan Ferguson was an incoming recruit the last time MTSU was in the Hawaii Bowl. The co-captain from Atlanta has compiled 22 sacks for his six-year career and is just one shy of setting the program record.
“To get to go to these places and try food out, see this beach and this weather, it’s a blessing, man,” said Ferguson. “We thank you guys for allowing us to be here. It’s going to be a fun week. Thank you.”
San Diego State, which is in its 100th season of football, is also a past Hawaii Bowl participant; the Aztecs, under then-coach Rocky Long, beat Cincinnati 42-7 in 2015.
“Both teams wanted to be here, and I think that says a lot about what our executive committee and our volunteers do,” Garvin said. “They put on a great show for these teams all week, and it’s the ultimate compliment for us when a team that’s been here before makes a point of saying, hey, we want to go back to the Hawaii Bowl.”
Also Tuesday, the Hawaii Bowl unveiled a new, singular “Hugh Yoshida Most Valuable Player Award” to replace the dual team MVPs of previous editions. Yoshida, the former UH athletic director, serves as secretary of the Hawaii Bowl Foundation and chair of the Hawaii Bowl Executive Committee.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.