HONOLULU — Through his regular interactions with teammates and coaches in his role as a co-captain, Tylan Hines felt he needed to put on a brave face over the first six weeks of the 2023 Hawaii football season.

It wasn’t so much for himself, but for everyone else.

What You Need To Know

  • The Hawaii football team looks to even its Mountain West Conference record against San Diego State in a 5 p.m. contest at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex

  • UH (2-4, 0-1 MWC), coming off a bye week, has consistently struggled to start games and has trailed in five of six games this year

  • SDSU (2-4), a participant in last year's EasyPost Hawaii Bowl, has struggled to generate offense, topping 10 points in a game only once during its current four-game losing streak

  • The Rainbow Warriors need a win in the CBS Sports Network-televised game to keep their major season goals alive, but they have lost nine of 11 Mountain West meetings against SDSU

A nagging injury kept the co-captain and explosive sophomore back sidelined for most of the team’s 2-4 start. Hines showed signs of life in the Rainbow Warriors’ 44-20 loss at UNLV two weeks ago, carrying the ball nine times for a team-high 43 rushing yards. It was his highest output of the season.

“What don’t kill me make me stronger, as well as keeping the team up too, not letting it show on my face,” Hines said this week. “Having a positive energy, because we’ve got to keep the team going. That was the biggest thing — not letting it show, for real, because it’ll have a negative impact on the team. We still got games to win.”

Hines was one of several ‘Bows accorded extra time to recover with a bye date last week.

As unlikely as it might seem given UH’s struggles to generate consistent offense, especially to start games — it has trailed at halftime in five of six games this year — the Rainbow Warriors’ major season goals are still in play.

Unfortunately for coach Timmy Chang’s group, they’ll have to be basically perfect the rest of the way to make a run to the Mountain West title game, starting with Saturday’s 5 p.m. contest against San Diego State at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. A 5-2 record in the last seven games would be required to guarantee a bowl appearance.

However, beyond this week, a three-week stretch of New Mexico, San Jose State and Nevada offers a tantalizing opportunity; those teams are a combined 3-13.

“Every day we see it. We’re working towards that goal, getting better at one thing a day,” sophomore safety Peter Manuma said. “Everything is right in front of us — we still can go to the Mountain West, we still are eligible for a bowl game. We just gotta win out. It’s just us finishing, staying together and finishing.”

UH struggled mightily to stop the run against UNLV, allowing 307 yards on the ground. SDSU (2-4) is expected to present a threat there with its power running game, though it has struggled mightily to generate offense over its four-game losing streak, having scored more than 10 points just once over that span.

Chang called it “one of the big-boy games.”

“It starts with the run game and everything kind of builds from there,” he said. “So, defense will have to be in our gaps. We’ll have to be sound with our hands, eyes. Leverage will have to be correct. Tackling’s gotta be good.”

SDSU has won nine of 11 meetings between the teams as Mountain West members, including 16-14 last year at Snapdragon Stadium in which newly inserted quarterback Jalen Mayden guided the team to a game-winning field goal in the final seconds.

Mayden is still at the controls and has five touchdowns to five interceptions with a 61% completion rate this season, but has bolstered those numbers with a team-high 295 rushing yards with three scores on the ground. Running back Jaylon Armstead supplements that with 4.5 yards per carry and has found the end zone four times.

UH quarterback Brayden Schager, meanwhile, has 14 touchdowns to seven interceptions and a 64% completion percentage, up from 55% last season. Former UH quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison was a guest at practice this week and offered pointers to clean up Schager’s process, as he did in the preseason.

After Chang shifted the run-and-shoot offense to a more traditional four-wide approach two games ago, starting tight end Greyson Morgan announced he would enter the NCAA transfer portal. Morgan had seven catches for 42 yards in three games.

Chang said the tight end is still in play in the offense. Redshirt freshman Devon Tauaefa, converted senior running back Solo Vaipulu and senior Kila Kamakawiwoole are options there, Chang said.

Brady Hoke’s Aztecs were the Mountain West’s participant in the 2022 EasyPost Hawaii Bowl. SDSU lost 25-23 on a late field goal to Middle Tennessee on Christmas Eve to cap a 7-6 season.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.