OGDEN, UTAH >> At the end of the 90-minute football practice at Stewart Stadium on the Weber State campus, Hawaii coach Timmy Chang deeply inhaled the 45-degree air.
“A November game,” Chang said, “nothin’ like it.”
In their final road game of the regular season, the Rainbow Warriors face Utah State today at Maverik Stadium. Kickoff is set for 10 a.m.
At 4-6 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West, the Warriors need to win the next two games for the first break-even season in Chang’s three-year tenure as UH head coach, as well as to finish with a winning record in league play.
“November games are meaningful games,” Chang said. “They’re big-time football games you’ve got to win. October and November is when you’ve got to shine.”
For the Warriors, the outcomes have been dimmer in October. Since Chang became head coach in 2022, the Warriors are 2-10 in October, including 1-3 this year. They are 5-5 in November, including defeating Fresno State and losing to UNLV this month.
‘I think when I look back at the three years, it’s the October games that killed us, that we have to get better at,” Chang said.
The Warriors have prepared for today’s elements. They have worked on extra conditioning drills. At an elevation of 4,534 feet at Logan, Utah, this will be the Warriors’ only game played above sea level this season.
The thermostat is expected to be at 35 degrees at kickoff. There is a possibility of snowfall this morning. UH equipment specialist Al Ginoza has said the Warriors have packed “everything but the kitchen sink” to combat any potential chill.
“Football is the one sport where the weather doesn’t care,” Chang said. “They don’t stop football for anything besides lightning. Football is a good life lesson. It teaches you a lot, just like life.”
For the Warriors, a bigger concern is executing the offense and making plays. Three of their losses were decided by three points or fewer. They held fourth-quarter leads before yielding the tie-breaking field goal against UCLA with 56 seconds left and the 87-yard, go-ahead touchdown drive against San Diego State. Last week, UNLV held possession the final 4:15 in a 29-27 victory.
“We need this game,” Chang said. “It’s a mindset for us, a mission mindset. We’ve got to win this game. We’ve let too many go, and that’s all within the learning. It’s all within the growth and direction we want to head. We’ve got to make plays.”
This has been a year of adversity for Utah State, which is 2-7 overall and 1-3 in the Mountain West. In January, Nate Dreiling was hired from New Mexico State to coordinate the defense. In July, Blake Anderson was dismissed as head coach and offensive play-caller for what school officials said was a failure to comply with Title IX regulations in regards to reporting sexual misconduct and violence. Dreiling was named interim head coach while maintaining defensive coordinator duties. Kyle Cefelo was promoted from co-offensive coordinator/receivers coach to calling the offensive plays.
Spencer Petras, a transfer who started 31 games in six injury-filled years at Iowa, is the starting quarterback without his favorite receiver. Wideout Jalen Royals is out for the season because of a foot injury. Injuries also thinned the front of the 4-2-5 defense.
“We want to finish the season on a positive note,” said running back Rahsul Faison, who is expected back in the lineup after being limited to two rushes because of an ailment last week. “I know we’ve been through a lot of adversity, and things didn’t go the way we wanted when we wanted at times. We’ve got a lot of season left, three games, and finishing strong is all that matters to us.”
