In assessing his life and career choices, Middle Tennessee football coach Rick Stockstill revealed a final wish.

“It sounds crazy, but I want to be one of those final four,” Stockstill said of the College Football Playoff participants.

In theory, even teams from Conference USA have a chance for a golden ticket.

“I know it’s going to be hard,” Stockstill said. “I don’t know if it’ll ever happen. But until they say you can’t play in it, why not dream? Why not strive to get into it? Right now, they let us.”

The Blue Raiders, who play Hawaii in Saturday’s Hawaii Bowl, are playing in the postseason for the fifth time in eight years. While Stockstill probably would be attractive to other programs, he remains firmly committed to Middle Tennessee after 11 seasons.

“The job’s not finished,” Stockstill said. “I’m not a guy who chases money or chases job to job. I’ve never been that way when I was an assistant. I came here with a plan and an agenda and an objective, and it’s not finished yet.”

The season also is not over for his son, quarterback Brent Stockstill, who started the first nine games before suffering a broken collarbone on Nov. 5.

“I was sitting in the pocket and somebody kind of came from my blind side and buried me down,” Brent Stockstill said. “When I got hurt, we had three games left (in the regular season), and the first thing I asked was what the recovery time was.”

Told that rehabilitation was six to eight weeks, he said, “I knew that the target date was probably around (Dec. 20).”

Rick Stockstill noted the bowl season began this past weekend, the “borderline” for his son’s return. The Hawaii Bowl invitation provided an extra week. Brent Stockstill, who “attacked” physical therapy, is hopeful of playing against the Rainbow Warriors.

“I don’t know if it helped, but you always hear growing up, ‘You’ve gotta drink milk to get strong bones,’” Brent Stocktstill said. “I drank a lot of milk.”

While the Warriors practiced for about 90 minutes on Monday morning, the Blue Raiders spent several hours traveling. It was 15 degrees when they departed on a non-stop charter flight from Nashville International Airport.

“It was pretty cold,” Brent Stockstill said of the dawn temperature in Murfreesboro, Tenn. “It was terrible. That’s why we were excited when we first heard we’d be able to go to Hawaii.”

Soon after arriving in Honolulu, the Blue Raiders went to Aloha Stadium for a news conference and light practice.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to roll as the week goes on,” Brent Stockstill said.