For a team that will need all the help it can get to turn its 2026 season around, University of Hawai‘i football players and coaches alike spent some extra time on the field following its first practice of the week on Tuesday.
There were hardly any footballs in the vicinity at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. Those had already been stored away. Instead, groups of Rainbow Warriors held hands in circles, their heads bowed in prayer. Some family members even joined in.
Entering the year, the Rainbow Warriors came up often in Mountain West championship discussions and were even considered a dark horse candidate to make the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Five games in, and Hawai‘i is 1-4, its latest disappointment a 20-16 loss to San Jose State that dropped the 'Bows to 0-3 in Mountain West Conference play. Ever since the Mountain West eliminated divisions in 2023, no team with more than two conference losses has appeared in the conference championship game.
The Rainbow Warriors have been given a respite from the rigors of the Mountain West schedule this week but instead face a more arduous task: a road game at Arizona State of the Big 12 Conference, televised nationally on FS1 at 4:30 p.m. HST on Saturday. The Sun Devils are just two seasons removed from making the College Football Playoff quarterfinals but are coming off a 55-19 home loss to Baylor that dropped them to 2-2. Saturday's matchup will be a clash between teams desperate to right their respective campaigns.
"Tough losses and tough times," Hawai‘i head coach Timmy Chang says of his team's current vibes. "Dig down deep, character check, doing all the right things, being the right person with actions, words, all the things that you develop through life growing up. Some of these guys, this is their first time with adversity in some cases, and so it's a great learning lesson and great way to understand how to attack it."
Following a breakthrough 9-4 season in 2025, the Rainbow Warriors already matched their loss total from last season on the first Saturday of October. Leading receiver Jackson Harris departed for greener pastures in the NCAA transfer portal, landing at LSU. Meanwhile, star slot receiver Pofele Ashlock has yet to play in a game in 2026 as the team monitors an undisclosed injury, though Chang said the program submitted an appeal for him to be granted an additional season of eligibility in 2027.
Other than Ashlock, running back Cam Barfield entered the year as the team's leading returning receiver, his 257 yards good for sixth on the team in 2025. But after suffering an ankle injury in the team's season opener at Stanford, Barfield was sidelined for the next two games.
A total of 16 players have caught a pass for the Rainbow Warriors in 2026, though no one player has truly emerged as quarterback Micah Alejado's top target. In the San Jose State loss, Virginia Tech transfer Devin Alves put in his bid with three receptions for 121 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown.
"We push the ball down the field very easily. We gotta really just finish drives, that's it. Really, we're super close, and I feel like we're gonna put it together for sure," said Alves. The Rainbow Warriors are currently tied for 123rd among 138 FBS teams in red zone scoring percentage at 66.67%. In 2025, they were alone at second nationally at 95%.
Defensively, the Rainbow Warriors had seven tackles for loss their last time out against San Jose State, with linebacker Julian "JuJu" Smith producing both of UH's sacks in his first extended action as a 'Bow.
"You got to keep going day by day," Smith says, "and put all your faith in God. You'll be good."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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