EL PASO — At this Texas border city, with Mexico’s Franklin Mountains as the backdrop, the University of Hawaii football team is facing a season on the brink.

At 2-6, the Rainbow Warriors need to win their four remaining regular-season games to secure bowl eligibility.

“We’re not looking at four, we’re looking at one,” associate head coach Chris Brown said. “One game at a time. Every game is going to be the biggest game in the world. This game (against host UTEP today) will be the biggest game in the world.”

This will be the first meeting since 2004 between the former Western Athletic Conference members. The Miners left the WAC in 2005; the Warriors joined the Mountain West in 2012. The Miners relocated to the MWC this past July.

“The stadium is built into the mountain,” Brown said of the Sun Bowl. “And it’s a great environment being able to see Mexico on the other side. That’s a pretty cool scenery, especially for an island boy.”

The breathtaking experience also was felt during Friday’s hour-long practice at Burges High School. During sprints, several Warriors were gasping in El Paso’s 3,904-foot elevation. But the Warriors, who then spent an hour at the Sun Bowl, where they dropped off gear, remained focused on what Brown termed “our mission.”

Brown recalled the last time the Warriors won in in the Sun Bowl. UH quarterbacks coach Chad Kapanui, who was the upback on punts at the time, called for a fake.

“Coach (June) Jones always gave me the judgment call,” Kapanui said. “It was my judgment whether to run the fake. I saw something in the (UTEP) defense we practiced against all the time. I made the judgment call. I took the snap and threw to Kilinahe Noa, and he ran it for 70 yards. He got caught at the 3.”

Two plays later, the Warriors scored a touchdown en route to a 31-6 victory.

“It was a great memory, for sure,” Kapanui said.

In 2004, the Warriors and Jones endured heavy criticism after absorbing a 70-14 beating by Fresno State to drop to 4-5. Had Jones’ four-wide offense run out of magic? Was quarterback Timmy Chang suffering from senioritis?

Jones and quarterbacks coach Dan Morrison reminded Chang to block out the exterior noise and trust the read-and-attack scheme.

“It was about staying with the process,” Chang said of his coaches’ advice. “They told me: ‘Stay with what we do. Stay with what we know.’”

Fueled by Chang’s 376 passing yards and six touchdowns, the Warriors blasted Idaho 52-21 to even their record.

The following week, Chang threw for 405 yards and four touchdowns and Chad Owens scored five TDs as the Warriors outlasted Northwestern 49-41. In the regular-season finale, Chang passed for 416 yards, including 283 yards and four TDs to Owens, in a 41-38 victory over Michigan State. The Warriors defeated UAB 59-40 in the 2004 Hawaii Bowl.

On Friday, Morrison and his wife, Karen, traveled from their home in Dallas to attend the practice at Burges. Morrison, nicknamed “Smooth” for his calm demeanor, offered Chang the same back-to-the-wall advice he gave 24 years earlier.

“Stay with the process,” Morrison said.

“And just keep believing in each other,” Chang added. “Keep encouraging each other. And keep loving each other. It’s the same thing June said. Stay with it.”

Morrison had called Chang after Jones passed away on Oct. 28.

“He lives in Dallas, and I asked if he could come down and watch us,” Jones recalled. “That was really nice for Coach and Karen to come down. We’re a tight family. He’s a guy who meant a lot to me when I was playing. And he mentored me when I started coaching. He believes in us.”

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Source: Yahoo Sports