Rain shrouded the normally brilliant view of Diamond Head from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and forced a planned outdoor press conference to be relocated under a covered lanai.

But the participants from Fresno State and Rice weren’t complaining.

After all, as Rice coach David Bailiff said later in Monday’s Hawaii Bowl press conference, "If complaining worked, there wouldn’t be any mosquitos in Houston."

Bailiff was speaking on the challenge of building the Owls into a program that has now qualified for a school-record three consecutive postseason appearances, and both teams in Wednesday’s game were appreciative of the opportunity to extend their seasons in the islands.

Rice (7-5) and Fresno State (6-7) entered this season looking to rebuild after posting double-digit wins and capturing conference titles last year.

Both might have had quite a bit to mutter about while weathering rough Septembers, but recovered from 0-3 starts against high-profile competition to become bowl eligible and will look to complete the turnarounds with a win in the annual Christmas Eve game at Aloha Stadium.

"We don’t want to have to start 0-3 next year, or any other year after this, and have to fight back," Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter said. "But the fact that they did, I take tremendous pride in what they’ve done and hopefully we’ll finish this thing the right way come Wednesday and have a terrific game.

"Going through that you also realize what kind of character your kids have. … You find out right away that these kids can be knocked down and continue to fight and get back up."

Fresno State returns for its second Hawaii Bowl appearance in the past three years while Rice is visiting the state for the first time since losing a Western Athletic Conference game to Hawaii in 2003.

A year after winning the Mountain West Conference title, Fresno State opened with losses at USC and Utah before being trounced at home by Nebraska, giving up at least 52 points in each game.

The roller coaster finally started climbing with a three-game winning streak then dipped again with another three-game skid. The Bulldogs reeled off three straight wins to close the regular season and claimed the MWC’s west division title while becoming the first Fresno State team to qualify for a bowl game after an 0-3 start.

A loss to Boise State in the conference championship game left them looking to get back to .500 to end the year.

Rice endured a similar start with losses at Notre Dame and Texas A&M before dropping its Conference USA opener to Old Dominion on a last-second field goal.

The Owls then went on a six-game winning streak to move into contention for the CUSA West division crown. The run ended with a loss to eventual conference champion Marshall and they closed the regular season with a blowout defeat against Louisiana Tech.

"I think with the way the season had gone, we’ve seen the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows," junior quarterback Driphus Jackson said, "and for us to stay even keeled and be in the position we’re in right now says a lot to the atmosphere Coach Bailiff has built as well as the coaching staff."

Rice’s first invitation to the Hawaii Bowl marked the Owls’ fourth postseason trip in Bailiff’s eight years leading the program and extend CUSA’s longest current bowl streak to three.

"These seniors we have, most of them have been at Rice for five years and we have magnificent chemistry," Bailiff said. "They’ve just done such a great job in our locker room. You win in your locker room and the seniors have set high standards they expect the rest of the team to follow them."