‘Bows football heads to the desert to face Arizona State

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The University of Hawaii is turning the page on their tough loss to San Jose State.

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A massive road test ahead against Arizona State.

The ‘Bows visiting the Sun Devils in Tempe for the first time since 1958.

UH has lost its last 18 road matchups against Power conference opponents.

One of the major focuses this week is starting fast as Hawaii only has scored three first half points in the last two games.

“I’ve been telling everyone, it’s all mental, it’s all about how you go about things, it’s all about how you take the play, how you take the next play, it’s all mental,” UH linebacker Juju Smith said. “You just gotta stay strong minded, mental toughness is what we preaching on and we’ll be good, we just gotta do our job take it day by day, play by play we’ll be good.”

This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the 2006 Hawaii Bowl.

It was the last time UH faced Arizona State and it’s among the most iconic games in UH program history.

Hawaii was held to only a field goal in the first half and out of the break, an offensive explosion of epic proportions with 38 points.

Colt Brennan throwing for a school record 559 passing yards and 5 touchdowns.

Jason rivers couldn’t be stopped, 14 catches, 2 scores and an NCAA bowl game record 308 receiving yards.

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41-24 Hawaii was the final.

Rich Miano was on June Jones’ staff at the time and says that was the game that set the stage for the 2007 undefeated season.

“It was just like wow, as a coach, I wanted to be a fan, I wanted to just witness this, you talk about exciting football, that was hard to imagine,” Miano said. “The success, the timing, the intricacies, the nuances of the run and shoot offense, those guys had two weeks to practice for us because that was a bowl game, I’m not sure they practiced, but if they did, they couldn’t stop Colt to Jason Rivers.”

Brennan and Rivers were named co-Hawaii bowl MVPS and the UH offense put up a total of 680 yards.

Kickoff between the ‘Bows and Sun Devils set for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Hawaii time.

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The game will be on FS1 and streaming on the Mountain West app.