MĀNOA — During Tuesday afternoon's sweat-soaked practice in the post-Lowell humidity, there was no denying that morale was low for the University of Hawaii football team, losers of two straight to begin its highly anticipated 2026 campaign.
"You can tell when we win, there's definitely a cheerful, upbeat feel from our staff to our players. In this case, you're 0-2. The mood is what it is," head coach Timmy Chang said. "We're finding ways to get better right now, and so a lot of the understanding and talk is how do we get better? And those are tough conversations."
Entering the season, the team's high hopes hinged on star quarterback Micah Alejado, who in 2026 has thrown for just 448 yards, completing his passes at a 52.2% clip (48-for-92).
On Tuesday, Alejado was sidelined for practice with a heavily taped left calf as backup Bjorn Jurgensen took all the first-team reps, though Chang says it was for precautionary reasons in order to get Alejado additional rest.
"Tough two games for Micah and just resting the body. He's ready to go Saturday," Chang said. "Bjorn continues to grow. Every rep he can get is just going to really help him and help us."
Contributing to Alejado's struggles in 2026 is an offensive line that appears out of sync. Alejado has already been sacked seven times in the young season and has resorted to scrambling within moments of receiving the snap dozens of times.
"It's tough," senior center Ethan Spencer said. "It's a really tough time to go 0-2, but I think as a team and especially as a unit, I think we know that we got the guys that we need on this team. I think it's just putting pieces together and really coming together as a whole, especially on the O-line. . ... Making sure everybody can jell together, and making sure that us as the whole line can do what we gotta do to make sure we give our team a better chance."
Defensively, Dennis Thurman's unit has kept the Rainbow Warriors in both games, but Stanford and UNLV both pulled away in the fourth quarter.
"We could do better because if they didn't score 21 points, we would have won," linebacker Jamih Otis said in the team's 21-6 loss to UNLV last Saturday. "I think that's just the way we look at it."
In its first two games, Hawai‘i has not has a single takeaway on defense, something that the unit understands swings momentum heavily in games.
"The first two games we didn't have any turnovers. Definitely a goal each game is to get a turnover, and we got to practice that during this week and make it be intentional with how we practice and trying to get turnovers," safety Matagi Thompson said.
Prior to its first bye week of the season, the Rainbow Warriors will take on New Mexico State (1-1) at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. The Aggies, who began their season with a 34-17 loss at Florida State, are coming off a 51-14 rout over Mercyhurst.
"New Mexico State's a really good team," Chang said. "They're coming off a big win, and they're veterans. They have a lot of experience, and so for us we have to get ready to play four quarters, put together good stretches on all three phases, and find a way to go out there and get a first win.
"Just execution, really. At the end of the day, it comes down to our three phases: offense, defense, and special teams. Really executing. For us, as an offense, we want to get going faster and more consistently. That's really been a focus for us."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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