| Game Name: | Hawaii Bowl |
| Subheader: | 19th Hawaii Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | EasyPost |
| Date Game Played: | December 24 |
| Year Game Played: | 2022 |
| Football Season: | 2022 |
| Stadium: | Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex |
| City: | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Visitor School: | Middle Tennessee State University |
| Visitor Name Short: | Middle Tennessee |
| Visitor Nickname: | Blue Raiders |
| Visitor Record: | 7–5 |
| Visitor Conference: | C–USA |
| Visitor Coach: | Rick Stockstill |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 13 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 9 |
| Home School: | San Diego State University |
| Home Name Short: | San Diego State |
| Home Nickname: | Aztecs |
| Home Record: | 7–5 |
| Home Conference: | MWC |
| Home Coach: | Brady Hoke |
| Home 1Q: | 14 |
| Home 2Q: | 0 |
| Home 3Q: | 3 |
| Home 4Q: | 6 |
| Mvp: | Jordan Ferguson (DE, Middle Tennessee)[1] |
| Odds: | San Diego State by 7 |
| Referee: | Edwin Lee (American)[2] |
| Attendance: | 6,605 |
| Payout: | 1,200,000[3] |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers: | Mike Monaco (play-by-play), Rod Gilmore (analyst), and Quint Kessenich (sideline) |
| Different Previous: | 2019 |
The 2022 Hawaii Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 24, 2022, at Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex in Honolulu, Hawaii. The 19th annual Hawaii Bowl, the game featured the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders from Conference USA (C-USA) and the San Diego State Aztecs from the Mountain West Conference. The game began at 3:03 p.m. HST (8:03 p.m. EST) and was aired on ESPN.[4] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by shipping API EasyPost, the game was officially known as the EasyPost Hawaii Bowl. Due to cancellations in 2020 and 2021 for COVID-19 related issues, this was the first Hawaii Bowl since 2019.
The Hawaii Bowl featured the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders from Conference USA (C–USA) and the San Diego State Aztecs from the Mountain West Conference (MWC).[5] This was the first meeting between the two teams.[6]
See main article: 2022 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team.
Middle Tennessee entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (4–4 in conference). Middle Tennessee finished tied for fourth in the final Conference-USA standings for the season, posting the same conference record as both UAB and Florida Atlantic. This was Middle Tennessee's 14th bowl game appearance and 9th at the NCAA Division I level, with a prior record of 5–8 in bowl games (3–6 at Division I). It was Middle Tennessee's second appearance in the Hawaii Bowl, having previously played in the 2016 edition.
See main article: 2022 San Diego State Aztecs football team.
San Diego State entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (5–3 in conference). San Diego State tied for second in the West Division of the Mountain West Conference with San Jose State. This was San Diego State's 20th bowl game appearance, with a prior record of 10–9 in bowl games. This was San Diego State's second Hawaii Bowl appearance, having previously played in the 2015 edition. It was also San Diego State's third postseason game in Honolulu; the school played in the 1952 Pineapple Bowl where they defeated Hawaii, 34–13.
| Statistic | Middle Tennessee | San Diego State | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First downs | 14 | 14 | |
| First downs rushing | 0 | 4 | |
| First downs passing | 12 | 9 | |
| First downs penalty | 2 | 1 | |
| Third down efficiency | 3–17 | 4–16 | |
| Fourth down efficiency | 1–2 | 2–4 | |
| Total plays–net yards | 73–170 | 75–364 | |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 30–(−66) | 32–55 | |
| Yards per rush | (−2.2) | 1.7 | |
| Yards passing | 236 | 309 | |
| Pass completions–attempts | 26–43 | 19–43 | |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 3 | |
| Punt returns–total yards | 3–48 | 1–3 | |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 0–0 | 5–111 | |
| Punts–average yardage | 7–54.7 | 4–48.8 | |
| Fumbles–lost | 1–0 | 2–2 | |
| Penalties–yards | 5–50 | 9–79 | |
| Time of possession | 27:39 | 32:21 |
| Blue Raiders passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Cunningham | 26–43 | 236 | 2–1 | ||
| Blue Raiders rushing | |||||
| Frank Peasant | 17 | 27 | 0 | ||
| Darius Bracy | 2 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Team | 2 | (−9) | 0 | ||
| Chase Cunningham | 9 | (−91) | 0 | ||
| Blue Raiders receiving | |||||
| Jaylin Lane | 10 | 111 | 1 | ||
| Izaiah Gathings | 7 | 69 | 0 | ||
| Yusuf Ali | 3 | 24 | 0 | ||
| Frank Peasant | 2 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Jordan Ferguson | 1 | 8 | 1 | ||
| DJ England-Chisolm | 1 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Elijah Metcalf | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Darius Bracy | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Aztecs passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19–43 | 309 | 2–3 | |||
| Aztecs rushing | |||||
| Garret Fountain | 1 | 27 | 0 | ||
| Jalen Mayden | 12 | 26 | 0 | ||
| 11 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Chance Bell | 4 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Jesse Matthews | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Kenan Christon | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mekhi Shaw | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Team | 1 | (−1) | 0 | ||
| Aztecs receiving | |||||
| Kenan Christon | 2 | 111 | 1 | ||
| Jesse Matthews | 7 | 99 | 0 | ||
| Tyrell Shavers | 4 | 62 | 0 | ||
| Darius De Los Reyes | 2 | 18 | 0 | ||
| Mark Redman | 1 | 9 | 1 | ||
| Jordan Byrd | 2 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Josh Nicholson | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||