In college football, homecoming games are regularly reserved for games deemed winnable by the home school, the cherry on top of a homecoming week filled with festivities on campus.
Hawai‘i head coach Timmy Chang was 4-0 in homecoming games as a UH player, and 3-1 as the program's head coach. The Rainbow Warriors have scheduled a pair of homecoming games against FCS schools during his time as coach, including Duquesne in 2022 and Portland State in 2025.
Conversely, the Rainbow Warriors have been a common road homecoming opponent for other teams, including in 2026. They were most recently Wyoming's homecoming opponent in a 27-10 loss in Laramie on Sept. 26. During the 2025 season, Hawai‘i was Colorado State's homecoming opponent and triumphed with a 31-19 win in Fort Collins. CSU head coach Jay Norvell was fired the next day.
On Saturday, Hawai‘i will host New Mexico at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex for its annual homecoming game. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m HST, and the game will be televised nationally on FS1. The Lobos are far from a pushover and enter the matchup 4-1 overall, its only blemish of the season a 14-6 loss at Oklahoma, which defeated then-No. 1 Texas on Oct 10. That's quite the contrast from the 1-5 Rainbow Warriors, who are averaging a bleak 16.67 points per game.
The Rainbow Warriors defeated New Mexico State 29-19 in a nonconference game on Sept. 12 for its only win of the season thus far. New Mexico, which played New Mexico State on the road two weeks later, routed the Aggies 42-18 in Las Cruces.
As the 'Bows and Lobos converge on Saturday for a contest featuring teams trending in opposite directions, Chang hopes whoever decides to come watch will give his team a boost.
"I would love a very hostile, rowdy atmosphere," Chang said. "I know our sidelines will be that way, having a lot of energy, having a lot of juice. But we got to get the people excited about it offensively, making sure that we stay on par and be consistent."
In its most recent game, Hawai‘i went 1-for-2 in red zone scoring opportunities against Arizona State — the drive in which it came up empty was when the 'Bows had a fresh set of downs at the Arizona State 2, but a pair of penalties and sacks forced UH to resort to a 51-yard Sean Olvera-Harle field goal attempt that went wide right. The 'Bows have scored on 65% of red zone trips, which ranks 130th out of 138 FBS teams.
"It really is on us and nobody else to flip the script and to put our foot down and want to re-correct, coach better, play better. All these different things that gotta happen for us to learn," Chang said.
Though dropped passes have been a source of frustration for the team, specifically quarterback Micah Alejado, redshirt freshman slotback Titan Lacaden has emerged as a reliable target. Against Arizona State, he hauled in all seven passes thrown his way for a total of 43 yards. The team's 2025 offensive scout team player of the year has steadily earned the trust of coaches and teammates alike and is set to make his first collegiate start on Saturday.
"Just take each play as as its own individual play," Lacaden said. "That's a big saying that Coach Timmy always says to us, especially as receivers — can't get mentally hijacked. Even if I do make a play, it's about the next play. That's the most important thing. Whenever I can, be poised. Make the play when opportunity comes my way, and just stay level-headed.
"New Mexico is a great team. You can tell by their record, but just by watching film on them, you can tell they're very active on defense. The front six is probably the best we've seen, other than Arizona State, and so we're just ready to get after it. The biggest thing for us is just being disciplined and fixing the little things. It's always been the little thing for us from the beginning of the year. Just gotta finish. That's all it is."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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