HAWAII vs. SAN JOSE ST.
RWP: Rainbow Warrior Perspective
Location: San Jose, California (CEFCU Stadium)
Date/Time: Saturday, November 1st at 4:30 p.m. (Hawaii Time)
Television: CBS Sports Network
Streaming: You will need a TV log-in.
Radio: ESPN Honolulu
Head-to-Head: San Jose State leads the series 23-22-1 all-time. The Spartans have matched Hawaii’s four-game winning streak from 2016-2019 with a four-game streak of their own, winning all the contests between 2020-2023. The series took a one-year break in 2024. The 2023 blowout
loss at Clarence T.C. Ching Complex in which former Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro beat Hawaii 35-0 will remind fans of a darker time.
Three things to look for:
1. Time to turn the page
You’ll have to forgive Hawaii fans if the mood during the bye week was jubilant. Head coach Timmy Chang took over a train wreck in 2021 after the Todd Graham fiasco rendered the Hawaii roster barren, all the key talent hit the transfer portal. It was an inflection point for Hawaii football as the new realities of college football began to take place. The 2021 season opened with a shocking 63-10 loss to Vanderbilt at home, signaling a rebuild was ahead.
Fast-forward to the 2025 season, after years of bowl-less campaigns, Hawaii football defeated Colorado State in enemy territory. The second win in the Mountain Time Zone this season and moving Hawaii to 6-2 in mid-October, eligible for the Hawaii Bowl far sooner than onlookers anticipated. The team celebrated with bowl shirts post-game and made the rounds with the media during the bye to highlight the accomplishment.
All of that said, the job is not finished. While Boise State and San Diego State might be in pole position for the conference championship game race, Hawaii is right in the thick of things with those two teams and UNLV. Hawaii will face the Aztecs in the Rebels in the coming month, but first Hawaii needs to prove they are ready to be road Warriors again, this time against San Jose State. Does Hawaii still have that hunger? Or are they content?
2. Familiar faces abound
Now Arizona head coach Brent Brennan took over the San Jose State program in 2017, a Dick Tomey disciple. Tomey started the Hawaii lineage for the Spartans and Brennan continued to legacy, adding some spice to this longtime rivalry.
The Spartans leaned into those ties again, hiring former Hawaii quarterback, Radford high school grad, and Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo in 2024. Niumatalolo has a plethora of assistant coaches on his staff with University of Hawaii ties, including Craig Stutzmann, Billy Ray Stutzmann, and Johns Estes.
Timmy Chang threw passes to Craig Stutzmann. You can bet this one will be a little personal this week between the two coaching staffs.
3. Two teams in unexpected positions
Instead of adopting the triple option Niumatalolo had utilized at Navy, the Spartan head coach opted for Stutzmann’s run-and-shoot offense. Stutzmann coached the system at both Hawaii and Washington State. After a strong 2024 season, the Spartans entered this season with a conference title contender label.
Star quarterback Walker Eget has thrown for 2,149 yards, 15 touchdown passes, and only three interceptions. Wide receiver Danny Scudero has 870 receiving yards. Linebacker Jordan Pollard has an NFL career ahead of him. The stat sheet shows a Spartans team that is flying high.
…and yet, the Spartans are 2-5 and firmly out of the championship race. Niumatalolo’s team has lost by seven points or less in every loss except for the loss to Texas. The losses to Stanford and Wyoming were particularly agonizing. Star running back Floyd Clak IV transferred midseason. 2025 has been nothing but frustration for SJSU.
Collectively, San Jose State is just flat out better than their record indicates, as evidenced by Hawaii opening as a slight underdog. The Spartans are going to throw the ball like crazy and have a solid, albeit not perfect defense. You can say that exact preceding sentence about Hawaii, and yet one team is 6-2 and the other is 2-5.
Between the familiarity between the two programs and the frustrating season the hosts have endured, expect some tension on Saturday between two teams that will throw it a million times.
Prediction:
San Jose State opened as a 2.5-point favorite on FanDuel, and that spread has fallen to 1.5 as of this posting. A nailbiter is anticipated by the oddsmakers.
Red zone efficiency is going to decide this game. Both teams run variations of the run-and-shoot offense and will throw it over and over as usual. Which team scores touchdowns as opposed to field goals will be pivotal. Historically the red zone is a boogeyman of sorts for the run-and-shoot offense, yet Hawaii ranks a shocking 7th-nationally in red zone offense. San Jose State ranks 116th. I expect that to be the difference on Saturday. Give me Rainbow Warriors 31, San Jose State 27.
