Derron Smith led the rallying cry.

The Fresno State Bulldogs were 3-6 and the defense, with Smith the leader at safety, had just allowed 45 points and nearly 700 total yards in a blowout home loss to Wyoming.

At that point, just the thought of playing in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl — or any bowl for that matter — seemed crazy.

Smith wasn’t buying it.

"He kept our guys from sinking," Bulldogs head coach Tim DeRuyter said after practice Saturday. "When we lost our game (against Wyoming) in the middle of the season, we were 3-6 and people had kind of written us off.

"He led the drive for our guys to keep the faith."

Smith, named to the All-Mountain West Conference first team for the third year in a row, is making his third trip to Hawaii to lead the Bulldogs into battle on Christmas Eve against Rice.

The MWC’s West division champions won three straight games to end the regular season and sneak into the conference title game before losing to Boise State 28-14.

Smith was the leading tackler for the Bulldogs in the Hawaii Bowl two years ago, when they were drubbed by SMU 43-10.

Saturday’s up-tempo practice at Roosevelt High showed Smith that this year’s game might be different.

"I don’t think we prepared the way we are preparing right now," Smith said. "We definitely wanted to win that game two years ago, but we didn’t practice the way we’ve been practicing (now.)."

Fresno State has shored up its defense over the last month, allowing 28 points or less over the final four games after giving up at least 30 in six of its first nine.

Smith is second on the team with 86 tackles, but only has one interception. He started the year with 14 in his career.

"I think people are throwing away from him," DeRuyter said. "He’s going to be a guy who gets a chance to continue his career in the National Football League."

Jones welcomes Owls to Hawaii

When Rice accepted an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl, one of David Bailiff’s first calls went out to the coach who holds the record for appearances in the Christmas Eve game.

June Jones went 5-1 in four Hawaii Bowl appearances with Hawaii and two with SMU and returned to Aloha Stadium on Saturday to greet the Owls and spoke to the team before practice.

"June’s a guy I’ve always admired," said Bailiff, now in his eighth year as the Owls head coach. "SMU always played great in this bowl game, so I called him and asked him for some insights on how we needed to handle ourselves, what we needed to do, where we needed to stay away from.

"He told me he was going to come out to practice and had a minute to share some of his knowledge with the team."

Jones, who resigned from SMU early this season, was a leading figure in the Hawaii Bowl’s creation in 2002 and told the Owls other than BCS games, "This is the best bowl to be in and I think all these kids will realize that when they leave."

Jones and Bailiff met five times as Conference USA rivals, with Jones holding a 3-2 edge.

The Star-Advertiser’s Jason Kaneshiro contributed to this report.