ANN ARBOR, Mich. >> Thursday the University of Hawaii football team worked out in preparation for going against seventh-ranked University of Michigan on Saturday.

Today the Rainbow Warriors prepare in advance for Michigan Stadium on Saturday, too.

Both are imposing.

Which is why part of UH’s first live look at college football’s largest (capacity) stadium at today’s walk-through will be given over to letting the players take in and absorb all that is the iconic 107,601-seat facility known as “The Big House.”

Better to get as much of the awe as possible out of the way early, coach Nick Rolovich reasons. “They are gonna need to get their selfies and Snapchats and their videos. We’ll let them get that out,” Rolovich said after UH practiced at Saline High School. “We’ll let them throw the ball around and just get familiar with the stadium. That way on game day we don’t need to do that.”

Chances are the UH coaches, most of whom have only glimpsed the 89-year old facility on TV themselves, will have their phones at the ready as well. “I know I’m looking forward to seeing it for the first time,” said defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa, who has spent more than 40 years in coaching.

To put it in perspective, a sellout Saturday would account for nearly as many people (112,576) as saw UH in all seven home games last season.

The brick stadium that rises above Main Street and is at the heart of this college town 45 miles west of Detroit represents a lot of history and tradition. Some of which is proclaimed on the walls of the tunnel leading to the field, where 11 national championships and 42 conference titles are listed.

It also stands as testament to the remarkable foresight and ambition of Fielding H. Yost, the coach (1901-26) and subsequent athletic director whose brainchild it was. Known as “Hurry Up” Yost for the point-a-minute offense he ran in the early 1900s, he was also in a rush to build and build big, laying out plans for an initial 72,000-seat facility costing $950,000 that could be expanded to more than 100,000 down the road.

Any doubts about the wisdom of the 72,000-seat stadium that opened in 1927 dissipated when more than 85,000 tickets were requested for that year’s Ohio State game and bleachers had to be brought in to augment the seating.

Eventually the capacity reached more than 109,000 before disability accommodations required moving some seats.

These days for even non-Wolverine fans, Michigan Stadium is a must-see bucket list stop. For those that can secure tickets, anyway. Saturday’s game will mark the 266th consecutive game of 100,000 fans or more, a streak dating to Nov. 8, 1975. An attendance figure that nearly matches Ann Arbor’s population (113,934).

Flush with optimism after new coach Jim Harbaugh delivered a 10-3 season last year, Michigan sold 90,000 season tickets — 18,000 to students — for this season.

Such was the demand that prospective donors were warned that they might not be guaranteed tickets.

Somewhere you imagine Yost smiling, even if he doesn’t know what to make of all those selfies.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.