2025 Bowl Mania: Hawai’i Bowl Preview

In my estimation, there is no better Christmas tradition than gathering around the television with friends and/or family and watching bowl season in paradise.

The transition from Hawai’i Bowl broadcast to Corona holiday commercial? That’s like cookies and milk left out for Santa, fam.

Please do not try to domesticate me. If this means I’m broken, I can also assure you that I’m unfixable.

Let’s take a closer look at a Christmas Eve tradition.

Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl

California vs. Hawai’i (Wednesday, 8 PM ET – ESPN)

Mele Kalikimaka from Hawai’i – and a true welcome from the locals, given that the Rainbow Warriors will be playing at home for the holidays for the first time since the 2019 bowl season. Legendary Hawai’i quarterback turned head coach for the Rainbow Warriors Timmy Chang has been building the program on the island for four years now and finally makes his debut in the postseason. The opponent will be a tough Cal team that had an up and down year, but is arguably one of the few teams in the country that shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the number of distractions available to it when playing a game outside the continental United States.

We haven’t seen this much yet, but this is a bowl matchup between two teams that like to operate in similar ways. Neither the Golden Bears nor Rainbow Warriors have much of a rushing attack (both rank last in their respective leagues) but can sling the ball with the best in the country. Even more exciting is that the quarterbacks for each side, Hawai’i’s Micah Alejado and Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, are freshmen who appear committed to their program. We’ll get to watch both the present and the future operate in this one. While Hawaii tends to rely heavily on Alejado and the offense due to a pass defense that is suspect, the Golden Bears are surprisingly stingy against the aerial attack. That, along with the disparity that often exists between a G5 school and a P4 one, gives me confidence that Cal can come into Hawai’i’s house and get the job done. Both sides will have moments but I think that Alejado will be under pressure more in this game, despite Hawai’i being more aggressive in that regard this season. Earlier performances by other Mountain West schools during bowl season also play a part in my prediction – it hasn’t been a great start for the conference.

My Pick: 37-28 California

Bowl Mania Confidence: 18 points