Hawaii football: Rainbow Warriors ready for redemption in Boise; Dayton Furuta tabbed for Hula Bowl

Hawaii went up to Boise, Idaho, in mid-October with the best of intentions.

The Rainbow Warriors might not have been afraid of any ghosts at Albertsons Stadium, but there were definitely some demons of struggles past that spawned early in a 59-37 loss to the then-No. 14 Broncos.

Fortunately for all involved, that wasn’t the end of the line.

Resurgent UH (9-4, 5-3 Mountain West) will contend with now-No. 19 BSU (11-1, 8-0) at 11 a.m. (HST) Saturday in an ESPN-televised Mountain West title game, the first ever for the Warriors.

“They understand what’s at stake. They understand they’ve gotten to a point where they wanted to be at the end of the season,” coach Nick Rolovich said after Tuesday’s practice. “It didn’t take a lot to get them going. They were fired up today.”

They’ll lean on (and hope to have learned from) their experience the last time around on “The Blue.” Last time, UH lost three fumbles in the first half and BSU parlayed them into essentially the maximum, 21 points, in building a sizable lead.

“It’s a huge benefit for us,” quarterback Cole McDonald said. “I mean, granted, it’s their home stadium, but being on ‘The Blue’ and playing there and seeing what it’s really like, we have a lot of the jitters out and are going to come out strong.”

Rolovich, McDonald and defensive back Khoury Bethley spoke Tuesday about their experience in Boise last time and what could be different this time around.

Here’s #HawaiiFB quarterback Cole McDonald on a return trip to “the Blue” of Boise State with a Mountain West title on the line, and what’s led up to that moment. pic.twitter.com/3kYpkaMH65

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) December 3, 2019

Here’s #HawaiiFB coach Nick Rolovich on the lessons learned at Boise State in the 59-37 loss on Oct. 12. pic.twitter.com/zPx7bsoLRi

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) December 3, 2019

And here’s #HawaiiFB defensive back Khoury Bethley on what will be required on the field in the rematch with the Boise State Broncos. pic.twitter.com/jnVpWzjgl4

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) December 3, 2019

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Also Tuesday, it was announced by the Hula Bowl that UH running back Dayton Furuta, the “Froot Train”, has joined the UH contingent of players playing in the all-star game for seniors on Jan. 26.

Furuta recently returned to action for the Rainbow Warriors coming off an injury in the season opener against Arizona.

The group of UH Hula Bowl participants includes Rojesterman Farris, Cedric Byrd, JoJo Ward and Kaimana Padello.