2016 Hawaii Bowl

The 2016 Hawaii Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 24, 2016 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The fifteenth edition of the Hawaii Bowl featured the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders from Conference USA against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors from the Mountain West Conference. It began at 3:15 p.m. HST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2016–17 bowl games that concluded the 2016 FBS football season.

2016 Hawaii Bowl
15th Hawaii Bowl
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
(8–4) (6–7)
C-USA Mountain West
35 52
Head coach: 
Rick Stockstill		 Head coach: 
Nick Rolovich
1234 Total
Middle Tennessee 14777 35
Hawaii 1421107 52
DateDecember 24, 2016
Season2016
StadiumAloha Stadium
LocationHonolulu, Hawaii
MVPDru Brown (QB, Hawaii) & Richie James (WR, Middle Tennessee)
FavoriteNo Line[1]
RefereeCharles Lamertina (AAC)
Attendance20,327
PayoutUS$650,000[2]
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN/ESPN Radio
AnnouncersChris Cotter, Mark May, Maria Taylor (TV)
Kevin Winter, Mike Golic Jr (Radio)

Teams

The game featured the Middle Tennessee against Hawaii Rainbow Warriors with a record of 6–7. This was the second time that the Hawaii Bowl featured a team with a losing record, after Fresno State in the 2014 Hawaii Bowl.

This was the second meeting between the schools; the first meeting was on September 5, 1993, where the Rainbow Warriors defeated the Blue Raiders by a score of 35–14.[3]

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Main articles: 2016 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team and 2016 Conference USA football season

Coached by Rick Stockstill, the Blue Raiders were bowl eligible for the sixth time since Stockstill took over in 2006, but MTSU hasn't won a bowl game since 2009, losing four straight bowl games in that span. The Blue Raiders also boasted the 12th best passing offense in the country, scoring 40.5 points a game.

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors
See also: 2016 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team and 2016 Mountain West Conference football season

Hawaii, playing in their first bowl game since 2010, was the first Hawaii team to enter a bowl game with a losing record. The Rainbow Warriors, led by head coach Nick Rolovich, won the most league games since joining the MW in 2012, and had the most wins in a season since 2011. The Bows had lost three straight bowl games, including the 2008 BCS Sugar Bowl against Georgia, and had not won since a 41–24 Hawaii Bowl win over Arizona State in 2006, 10 years earlier.

Game summary

Hawaii won their first bowl game since the 2006 Hawaii Bowl, exactly 10 years prior.

1 2 3 4 Total
Blue Raiders 14 7 7 7 35
Rainbow Warriors 14 21 10 7 52

Scoring Summary
Scoring summary
Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score
Plays Yards TOP MTSU HAW
1 12:09 4 74 1:26 MTSU I'Tavius Mathers 20-yard touchdown run, Canon Rooker kick good 7 0
1 9:46 2 70 0:45 MTSU Richie James 51-yard touchdown reception from Brent Stockstill, Canon Rooker kick good 14 0
1 4:09 1 18 0:05 HAW Metuisela 'Unga 18-yard touchdown reception from Dru Brown, Rigoberto Sanchez kick good 14 7
1 2:39 3 45 0:22 HAW Steven Lakalaka 1-yard touchdown run, Rigoberto Sanchez kick good 14 14
2 11:43 8 80 4:01 HAW Dru Brown 2-yard touchdown run, Rigoberto Sanchez kick good 14 21
2 7:30 HAW Interception returned 68 yards for touchdown by Trayvon Henderson, Rigoberto Sanchez kick good 14 28
2 1:41 6 82 1:40 MTSU Ty Lee 3-yard touchdown reception from Brent Stockstill, Canon Rooker kick good 21 28
2 0:22 5 55 1:13 HAW Marcus Kemp 39-yard touchdown reception from Dru Brown, Rigoberto Sanchez kick good 21 35
3 9:46 8 53 3:32 HAW 23-yard field goal by Rigoberto Sanchez 21 38
3 7:51 7 75 1:55 MTSU Dennis Andrews 10-yard touchdown reception from Brent Stockstill, Canon Rooker kick good 28 38
3 1:15 12 75 6:36 HAW Metuisela 'Unga 12-yard touchdown reception from Dru Brown, Rigoberto Sanchez kick good 28 45
4 10:09 3 55 1:15 MTSU Ty Lee 13-yard touchdown reception from Brent Stockstill, Canon Rooker kick good 35 45
4 3:31 11 84 6:33 HAW Dylan Collie 4-yard touchdown reception from Dru Brown, Rigoberto Sanchez kick good 35 52
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 52 35

Statistics
StatisticsHAWMTSU
First Downs1829
Third down efficiency8-154-11
Rushes-yards42-206 (4.9)24-123 (5.1)
Passing yards296420
Passing, Comp-Att-Int20-30-029-50-2
Time of Possession36:3423:26

References
  1. "College Bowl Game Odds". ESPN. December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  2. Bowl payout
  3. Hawaii Rainbow Warriors vs. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders series history
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