Under the cloak of darkness and Mariah Carey’s cover of Christmas songs, the University of Hawaii football team began preparations on Monday morning for the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl.

At 6 a.m., the Rainbows Warriors practiced for the first time since the regular-season finale on Nov. 26. After the players ran sprints to open the 90-minute workout, head coach Nick Rolovich played holiday music the rest of practice.

“After their early-morning wake-up call,” Rolovich said of the sprints, the music “juiced up practice pretty good.”

Rolovich then offered the Christmas-music challenge: Carey or Michael Bublé?

“Mariah Carey,” quarterback Dru Brown said with the majority opinion. “She’s the best.”

Brown, who was raised in Northern California, noted the “different vibe” of Hawaii in December. “I’m usually used to cruddy weather around this time, sweatshirt weather,” Brown said. “It’s nothing like this. It’s kind of different, I’m not gonna lie. But I can get used to this.”

For the Rainbow Warriors, it also was unique to practice in December after failing to qualify for the postseason each year since the 2010 Hawaii Bowl.

“Usually around this time, I start missing the game, missing the guys I’m playing with, and thinking about going home (for the holidays),” said senior wideout Marcus Kemp, who was raised in Utah. “It’s fun to have the opportunity to get a few weeks of practices and one more game with these guys.”

Quarterback Ikaika Woolsey, who joined the Warriors in January 2012, noted that every teammate has “never actually put pads on in December. It’s a first. It’s a lesson, too. We can’t take anything for granted. We have to make the most of these 15 practices.”

Running back Steven Lakalaka said it is important for the 6-7 Warriors to win the bowl to avoid their sixth consecutive losing season.

“There’s something about being out of that loser category,” Rolovich said. “Just because we got invited to a bowl doesn’t make us winners. I believe every day you do something. They need to win every day.”

Rolovich said he wants to be careful in how he uses the allotted 15 bowl practices. This is the last week of classes for the fall semester. Final-exam week begins on Monday.

“You don’t want to overwork, especially the guys who are playing, especially three weeks out,” Rolovich said. “It was good to be back on the field. I don’t think it was taxing at all on them, the practice part. We want to go in healthy at the line of scrimmage. That’s one of our hopes and plans.”

Rolovich said he expects to stage a scrimmage this week for redshirts and developing players.