The 2022 Hawaii Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 24, 2022, at Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex in Honolulu, Hawaii. The 19th annual Hawaii Bowl, the game featured the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders from Conference USA (C-USA) and the San Diego State Aztecs from the Mountain West Conference. The game began at 3:03 p.m. HST (8:03 p.m. EST) and was aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by shipping API EasyPost, the game was officially known as the EasyPost Hawaii Bowl. Due to cancellations in 2020 and 2021 for COVID-19 related issues, this was the first Hawaii Bowl since 2019.
Teams The Hawaii Bowl featured the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders from Conference USA (C–USA) and the San Diego State Aztecs from the Mountain West Conference (MWC). This was the first meeting between the two teams.
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (4–4 in conference). Middle Tennessee finished tied for fourth in the final Conference-USA standings for the season, posting the same conference record as both UAB and Florida Atlantic. This was Middle Tennessee's 14th bowl game appearance and 9th at the NCAA Division I level, with a prior record of 5–8 in bowl games (3–6 at Division I). It was Middle Tennessee's second appearance in the Hawaii Bowl, having previously played in the 2016 edition.
San Diego State
San Diego State entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (5–3 in conference). San Diego State tied for second in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference with San Jose State. This was San Diego State's 20th bowl game appearance, with a prior record of 10–9 in bowl games. This was San Diego State's second Hawaii Bowl appearance, having previously played in the 2015 edition. It was also San Diego State's third postseason game in Honolulu; the school played in the 1952 Pineapple Bowl where they defeated Hawaii, 34–13.
Game summary
Statistics
+Team statistical comparisonStatisticMiddle TennesseeSan Diego StateFirst downs 14 14First downs rushing 0 4First downs passing 12 9First downs penalty 2 1Third down efficiency 3–17 4–16Fourth down efficiency 1–2 2–4Total plays–net yards 73–170 75–364Rushing attempts–net yards 30–(−66) 32–55Yards per rush (−2.2) 1.7Yards passing 236 309Pass completions–attempts 26–43 19–43Interceptions thrown 1 3Punt returns–total yards 3–48 1–3Kickoff returns–total yards 0–0 5–111Punts–average yardage 7–54.7 4–48.8Fumbles–lost 1–0 2–2Penalties–yards 5–50 9–79Time of possession 27:39 32:21
+Middle Tennessee statisticsBlue Raiders passing Chase Cunningham 26–43 236 2–1Blue Raiders rushing Frank Peasant 17 27 0 Darius Bracy 2 7 0 Team 2 (−9) 0 Chase Cunningham 9 (−91) 0Blue Raiders receiving Jaylin Lane 10 111 1 Izaiah Gathings 7 69 0 Yusuf Ali 3 24 0 Frank Peasant 2 10 0 Jordan Ferguson 1 8 1 DJ England-Chisolm 1 7 0 Elijah Metcalf 1 4 0 Darius Bracy 1 3 0
+San Diego State statisticsAztecs passing Jalen Mayden 19–43 309 2–3Aztecs rushing Garret Fountain 1 27 0 Jalen Mayden 12 26 0 Jordan Byrd 11 1 0 Chance Bell 4 1 0 Jesse Matthews 1 1 0 Kenan Christon 1 0 0 Mekhi Shaw 1 0 0 Team 1 (−1) 0Aztecs receiving Kenan Christon 2 111 1 Jesse Matthews 7 99 0 Tyrell Shavers 4 62 0 Darius De Los Reyes 2 18 0 Mark Redman 1 9 1 Jordan Byrd 2 7 0 Josh Nicholson 1 3 0
References