The 2018 Hawaii Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

being played on December 22, 2018, in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. It was the 17th edition of the

Hawaii Bowl The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Athle ...

, and one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. This was the first time since 2007 that the bowl was not played on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

. Sponsored by the

SoFi Sofi may refer to: *Sofi (mascot), the Mascot for 2010 ISF Women's World Championship *Sofi Marinova (born 1975), Bulgarian singer SOFI may refer to: * Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore * Spray-On Foam Insulation, used on the Space Shut ...

personal finance company, the game was officially called the SoFi Hawaii Bowl.

Teams

The game was played between the

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes a ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

and the

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Lady Techsters, commonly abbreviated La. Tech and Dawgs, refer to the sports teams of Louisiana Tech University, in Ruston, Louisiana. The teams compete in Division I of NCAA sports. Since 2013, Louisiana Tech has bee ...

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

(C–USA). The teams had faced each other 10 times, with Hawaii holding an 8–2 lead in the series; both teams previously were members of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

. This was Louisiana Tech's first trip to the Hawaii Bowl; it was Hawaii's eighth time in this bowl.

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

Hawaii secured a spot in the bowl with a win on November 17 over the

UNLV Rebels The UNLV Rebels are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision for college football) as a member of the Mountain West Confer ...

, ending a four-game losing streak and assuring the Rainbow Warriors of a bowl-eligible winning record, as they reached 7–5 with one game left to play. Hawaii subsequently defeated the

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...

, ending the regular season with an 8–5 overall record, 5–3 in conference. The Rainbow Warriors' participation in the Hawaii Bowl was confirmed by bowl organizers on November 28.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

Louisiana Tech announced their acceptance of a Hawaii Bowl bid on November 28. The Bulldogs compiled a 7–5 regular season record, 5–3 in conference.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

External links

*
Box score
at

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Hawaii Bowl

December 2018 sports events in Oceania Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football bowl games Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football bowl games 2010s in Honolulu