After months of offseason training, a five-week training camp and two games to open the 2024 season, Hawaii coach Timmy Chang believed his football team needed to step back to move forward.

In the week between the Aug. 31 loss to UCLA and this past weekend’s bye, the Rainbow Warriors practiced only twice.

“The byes help,” said Chang, referencing that the Warriors have two more in the final 12 weeks of the season. “They help the rest. They help the mindset. These guys go through a lot in school. Their student-athlete time management is high. Any time you can get them healed up and organized and kind of take a step back, it helps.”

Quarterback Brayden Schager, slotback Pofele Ashlock, defensive end Tariq Jones and mike linebacker Jamih Otis were held out of drills in last week’s two practices. But they have been declared physically fit to play in Saturday’s road game against Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas.

“I don’t think, at this point, any of the guys are going to be 100% in feeling the exact way they want to feel,” Chang said. “But the bye week does help. I thought Schags threw the ball pretty well today. I thought the supporting cast did a good job, as well.”

Chang also acknowledged the players needed a break to refresh.

“When you’re an athlete, it starts off as fun as you’re a kid,” Chang said. “As you grow older, the competition and the level, and what starts to happen, it starts to become real business oriented. … They lose a sense of that (fun) sometimes. … Just taking a step back (from football) helps.”

While the Warriors depart Thursday morning for their first road trip of the season, Sam Houston is preparing for its home opener. The Bearkats beat Rice in the season opener but fell to Central Florida on Saturday.

“I feel really good about this game coming up,” Sam Houston quarterback Hunter Watson said. “I feel great. I feel we’re getting well prepared, and we have a great game plan going in. I feel great about Saturday, and having the first home game.”

Coach KC Keeler said renovations are nearly complete at Elliott T. Bowers Stadium. During Tuesday’s practice, according to Keeler, construction workers were pouring “the last 30, 40 yards of cement” at the visitors’ locker room.

“It’s kind of the life we’ve been living,” Keeler said. “We’ve been living in a construction zone. But it really looks nice. It’s going to get all worked out by the time Hawaii gets to town.”

Keeler, who led the Bearkats to the FCS national title in 2021, is used to development projects. In 2021, it was announced the Bearkats would make the jump to FBS. That fall, Sam Houston was invited to join Conference USA. The Bearkats had to go through a two-year transition period in which they were not allowed to compete in a postseason bowl.

“We just moved to FBS and we were in a panic to try getting a schedule,” Keeler said.

The Bearkats found a partner in the Warriors, who also were looking to fill future nonconference schedules. They agreed to a two-game series — this year in Huntsville, next season at UH’s Ching Complex.

“A lot of schedules are three, four, five, seven years out,” Keeler said. “We were just happy to pick up a game like Hawaii, a Group of Five school we think we’re comparable to in terms of the level that we should be and the level of football they currently are.”