The bowl directory shows the “you are here” arrow pointing to Halawa for the Houston and Fresno State football teams.
Both teams took a unique path to today’s Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
Each entered the season with a new head coach. Houston’s Major Applewhite was promoted from offensive coordinator after Tom Herman accepted the head coaching job at Texas. Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford was named successor to Tim DeRuyter with two games remaining in the 2016 season. Tedford observed practices and reviewed personnel, but did not take over the program until after the season had ended.
Each school is starting a quarterback who was on the sidelines at the start of the season. Houston’s D’Eriq King, who has played wideout this season, will be making his fourth consecutive start at quarterback. Marcus McMaryion, a graduate transfer from Oregon State, is 8-2 as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback.
Each team has emerged from recent difficulties.
The Cougars were forced to relocate to Austin, Texas, when Hurricane Harvey approached Houston in late August. They spent six days in Austin, using the time to practice and collect relief donations for Houston residents impacted by the hurricane. Their scheduled opener against UT-San Antonio was postponed and then canceled.
The past month, Houston hired a new athletic director and lost offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, who accepted an assistant coach’s job at Florida. Applewhite will call the offensive plays for the Cougars today.
“It’s been an extra duty, but one I’ve done before,” Applewhite said.
Tedford inherited a team that went 1-11 in 2016. During last year’s two-week evaluation period, Tedford recalled, “I saw there was a lot of work to be done. There were little things. I was trying to evaluate the players, really, and the standards and expectations we would bring at some point. It was really about … seeing who was there and trying to get to learn the players.”
Under Tedford’s leadership, the Bulldogs are 9-4, the largest improvement among FBS teams this year. The Bulldogs won the Mountain West’s West Division, then lost to Boise State in the title game.
“It’s great for the kids to have a reward to play in a bowl game,” Tedford said. “The main thing is to have one more opportunity with a pretty special group. I love these guys. They’re really close. It’s one more opportunity to take the field together. It’s an honor to be here.”
Applewhite said: “As a team, we look back at it and there are a few games we should have played better in and won. But when you can have a great opportunity to go to a great bowl and a great state and play a great football team, it’s a blessing.”
