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HONOLULU — Aloha Stadium is just over 9 miles away from the University of Hawaii’s campus in Manoa.
Given the short distance for the Rainbow Warriors, you might expect the 2019 SoFi Hawaii Bowl to be a home game. Hawaii will be playing in the ESPN-owned event for the ninth time since the game’s inception in 2002, a year after the Warriors were left out of the Football Bowl Subdivision’s postseason with a bowl-eligible record.
In that time, head coach Nick Rolovich’s squad is 4-4 while playing a “neutral-site” game at its home stadium. And while that may seem like a distinct disadvantage to most visiting teams, consider that the Rainbow Warriors have lost to Louisiana Tech, Tulsa and Notre Dame in three of the past four meetings.
That's because the Hawaii Bowl isn’t like a normal home game for the University of Hawaii (9-5).
"Even though we are right up the street from campus, we still have all the bowl activities," said Warriors defensive lineman Kendall Hune, who won team MVP honors after last year’s 31-14 loss to Louisiana Tech. "They’ve been showing us a great time around here. It’s been nothing short of spectacular — one last time to be with our brothers."
Hawaii coaches try to treat the bowl game in Honolulu with the same respect as they would a postseason contest in San Diego, Las Vegas or Boise. The players and staff stay at the team hotel in downtown Waikiki, attend the same extracurricular events — like a visit to Pearl Harbor and a pregame Luau — as BYU (7-5), and practice at an offsite location in the week leading up to the game.
In short, it’s a typical bowl game for the home team — except for the traditional white road uniforms.
"The bus trip is much quicker than the airplane ride would be, but it’s not like we spend four nights in Waikiki all year long," Rolovich said. "You can get here pretty quickly from our campus, but to spend a week in a beautiful hotel in Waikiki in December — if that is not a positive thing for any of the people involved in the bowl game, then they probably shouldn’t be here. There are millions of people who would trade places with them at this time."
That's also part of the coach's advice to the hometown bowl-bound Warriors: appreciation for simply playing in a postseason game. For a Hawaii team that has been bowl-eligible for just the third time since 2011 (playing in the bowl game each time), that isn’t too difficult, either.
"It's a fairly unique deal, playing in your hometown for the bowl game," Rolovich said. "But it’s such a different game week, and leadup to the game, that it is different. And I think it’s nice to be able to play in front of our crowd on Christmas Eve."
History approaching?
A win by Hawaii would be historic, in many respects.
If the Rainbow Warriors beat BYU on Christmas Eve, they’ll earn a 10th win for the first time since 2010. That’s when Hawaii finished 10-3 in the regular season, including a 7-1 record in the Western Athletic Conference, before a 62-35 loss to Tulsa in the Hawaii Bowl.
Further, Tuesday would be just the seventh 10-win season for the University of Hawaii, which played its first-ever intercollegiate football game Dec. 24, 1920 at Nevada.
"To win 10 games, and to come out on top as Hawaii Bowl champions would be great for the program," senior running back Dayton Furuta said.
Ruled out
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was officially declared a non-suspect in Rolovich’s earlier reported case of the dating site bandit.
Somebody signed the Hawaii coach up for FarmersOnly.com, a website for agricultural enthusiasts looking for love. But it wasn’t Sitake, Rolovich confirmed Monday during the pre-bowl press conference.
"If I had done it," Sitake said while sitting next to Rolovich, "it would’ve been LDSSingles.com."
