Following a recent morning practice for the University of Hawai‘i football team, dozens of players stayed on the field for some extra work. Coaches even joined the players for up to half an hour of extra instruction.
"Through six weeks, we've identified with all of our guys some things that they can work on," receivers coach Jared Ursua said. "Whether we get it post practice, pre practice, whether we get it in the afternoon window, we're just trying to continually get 1% better, like coach (Timmy) Chang preaches."
The Rainbow Warriors are 4-2 midway through their regular season slate in Year 4 of the Chang era. The 'Bows have inched closer to bowl contention each season that Chang has been at the helm.
Hawai‘i has three regular season home games remaining, starting with Utah State on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
In order to get one win closer to achieving their goals, the Rainbow Warriors will have to get past a program that has dominated them for a decade and a half. Utah State has eight straight wins over the Rainbow Warriors dating back to 2011. In the most recent meeting of the series, the Aggies throttled the Rainbow Warriors 55-10 in Logan on Nov. 16, 2024, putting an end to UH's bowl hopes.
"It's a big game for us last year. They embarrassed us. It was bad," co-captain Zhen Sotelo said. "So, we take this one personal. We're gonna have to go take it to 'em, and we just have to execute our plays and perform."
Added Chang: "They're a good football team. They done a great job since they've been in the Mountain West, I even remember them winning the Mountain West (in 2021). Even though last year they didn't have a great year, they kind of spoiled our hopes for a postseason down the end of the stretch. They pose a problem for us and we have to be at our best to beat a team like that."
USU is 3-2 in 2025, a program that is competing in the Mountain West for the final time before departing for the Pac-12 following the season.
UH's remaining home schedule in 2025 following Saturday will be spread out. After Utah State, the Rainbow Warriors will not play another home game until San Diego State on Nov. 8 before closing out the regular season at home against Wyoming on Nov. 29. The 'Bows are hoping to make each home game count.
"We'd love to just pack this stadium, right? We have three opportunities, and this being one...we would love our fans to be out here," Chang said. "I love that the whole state gets it on cable, and we're good to go. But to have everybody here, their energy, it just means a lot to our players. They love playing in front of the packed stands and all the loudness and all the great things that happened here at Clarence T.C. Ching."
Entering Saturday, Utah State and Hawai‘i will both take the field following bye weeks. On UH's end, the Rainbow Warriors are anticipating the return of standout receiver Nick Cenacle, who has been sidelined with an injury and has not played since an Aug. 30 loss at Arizona.
"He's ready to rock and roll. He's full go," Ursua said. "If we played last week, he would have played, and he was really close to playing at Air Force, but going into the bye it was just too much of a risk, and so we thought it was important to get that week. He is touching top speeds every day on his speed report, so we're excited to have him back full go."
While Cencale was sidelined, seven different Rainbow Warriors have accumulated over 100 receiving yards.
"We're happy for the success that we've had. We still feel like there's another level to this," Ursua said. "The first part of that is we got to be able to be able to consistently throw the ball as we did at Air Force, which is just completing the football, being in our spots, making the right reads, being on the same page as a quarterback.
"The second piece of it is really just getting the consistency and just being the same every single play. What we love is the depth. We've established some with the group of guys that are coming in and making good plays. Tama (Uiliata), Blaze (Kamoku), everybody knew about Pofele Ashlock and Cenacle from the jump. Koa Eldredge get his first catch. You see Nick Delgadillo jump in the mix and play, Max (Ware) is playing, Karsyn Pupunu, Jackson Harris, (Brandon) White, a lot of these new guys now are starting to establish themselves, and we're happy with the growth."
For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
