South Florida Faces San Jose State In Christmas Eve Matchup

HAWAI’I BOWL
SOUTH FLORIDA vs. SAN JOSE STATE
Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Advanced | (15,194/AstroTurf)
Honolulu, Hawaii

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ESPN
Tiffany Greene, Jay Walker and Marilyn Payne

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THE GAME

The Hawai’i Bowl has been held within the Honolulu space since 2002, when it started at Aloha Stadium … The sport moved to the Clarrence T.C. Ching Athletics Advanced in 2022 … The sport has been a fixture on Christmas Eve for a lot of its existence … The American Athletic Convention has had two groups play within the Hawai’i Bowl and is searching for its first win within the sport … Memphis was slated to play within the 2020 sport, which was canceled … South Florida is making its first look within the Hawai’i Bowl, whereas San Jose State performs within the sport for the second time … The groups have one prior assembly on the ledger, a 42-22 South Florida win in San Jose to start out the 2017 season. 

SOUTH FLORIDA
6-6, 4-4 American

Head Coach
Alex Golesh (Ohio State ’06)
13-12, second season

South Florida is making its twelfth bowl look and its first journey to the Hawaii Bowl after the Bulls went 6-6 total and 4-4 in The American beneath second-year head coach Alex Golesh … The sport in Honolulu will mark the farthest vacation spot from Tampa for a South Florida soccer sport in program historical past … South Florida has gone 7-4 in its 11 earlier bowl appearances, together with a 45-0 win in opposition to Syracuse in final yr’s Boca Raton Bowl … The Bulls went 4-2 down the stretch to clinch bowl eligibility in 2024 … Golesh has registered 13 wins in his first two years at South Florida after the Bulls had 4 complete wins within the three earlier years … South Florida ranks fifth nationally in tackles for loss, averaging 9.3 per sport, and has 12 fumble recoveries, which stands at fourth nationally … The Bulls are 12-0 beneath Golesh when main after three quarters … QB Bryce Archie has began the final seven video games and has thrown for 1,679 yards and 9 touchdowns with 9 interceptions … Archie took over because the starter after QB Byrum Brown was injured within the second half in opposition to Tulane Sept. 28 and has not returned to motion since … RB Kelley Joiner Jr. has 766 speeding yards with 11 touchdowns, ,whereas RB Nay’Quan Wright has 494 yards with seven TDs … WR Sean Atkins has 68 receptions for 677 yards and two touchdowns and enters the bowl sport with school-record 189 profession receptions … WR Michael Brown-Stephens leads the workforce with 4 landing receptions … The protection is led by DE Decarius Hawthorne, who earned second-team all-conference honors after he had 9.5 tackles for loss and a couple of.5 sacks within the common season … LB Mac Harris has a workforce excessive 74 tackles with 4.0 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss to go along with two pressured fumbles … LB Jhalyn Shuler leads the Bulls with two interceptions together with three pressured fumbles … P Andrew Stokes was South Florida’s lone consultant on the American Athletic Convention first workforce … Stokes averages 44.8 yards per punt and has 16 punts of no less than 50 yards this season … Okay John Cannon has dealt with many of the placekicking duties, going 9-for-13 on area objective makes an attempt, whereas Okay Nico Gramatica is the long-distance specialist with three area objectives of no less than 50 yards.

SAN JOSE STATE
7-5, 3-4 Mountain West

Head Coach
Ken Niumatalolo (Hawaii ’89)
7-5, first season at San Jose State
116-88, sixteenth season as collegiate head coach

San Jose State is bowl eligible for the third consecutive season and can play in Bowl Season for the fourth time within the final 5 years … The Spartans will make their 14th bowl look in program historical past and have gone 7-6 of their first 13 bowls … San Jose State’s final bowl win was a 27-16 victory in opposition to Georgia Sate within the 2015 Treatment Bowl … The Spartans are searching for their first eight-win season since 2012 … Head coach Ken Niumatalolo is not any stranger to American Athletic Convention opponents, with 52 wins in The American as Navy’s coach between 2015-22 … Niumatalolo’s seven wins are probably the most by a first-year San Jose State coach since Ron Turner gained seven video games in 1992 … Niumatalolo, who notably ran the triple-option offense at Navy, comes into the Hawaii Bowl with the nation’s fifth-ranked passing offense at San Jose State … The Spartans have averaged 325.3 passing yards per sport … The highest participant for San Jose State within the common season was WR Nick Nash, a unanimous NCAA Consensus All-America choice who led all FBS gamers in receptions (104), receiving yards (1,382) and landing receptions (16) … Nash has opted out of the Hawaii Bowl, nevertheless, to arrange for the NFL Draft … QB Walker Eget completed the common season by throwing for 385 yards in and 4 touchdowns within the win in opposition to Stanford and has handed for two,224 yards and 11 touchdowns … Emmett Brown, a switch from Washington State. has accomplished 125 of 217 passes for 1,621 yards with 16 touchdowns in opposition to 5 interceptions … RB Floyd Chalk is the main rusher with 661 yards and 9 touchdowns on 139 carries … With Nash’s absence, WR Justin Lockhart, himself a first-team All-Mountain West choice, turns into the first receiver … Lockhart has 52 receptions for 973 yards and 5 touchdowns … The protection is led by LB Jordan Pollard, who has 110 tackles and 12.0 tackles for loss … DE Soane Toia has a team-high 4.5 sacks, whereas CB DJ Harvey leads the Spartans with 4 interceptions … Pollard and Toia each earned first-team honors from the Mountain West coaches, whereas Harvey and S Rocket Rahimi have been second-team decisions.