Hawaii Did WHAT to Beat Cal? 5 Takeaways From the Hawaii Bowl
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That Sheraton Hawaii Bowl was certainly fun.
Down 21-0, Hawaii roared back in an improbable finish. Down 31-28 in the final moments, and well within Kansei Matsuzawa’s range to tie it up and force overtime, and then can what should be the throw of the bowl season.
Here are our five takeaways from the game and what’s next for both Hawaii and Cal.
Hawaii vs Cal: Five Takeaways From a Stunning Hawaii Bowl Win
5. Hawaii really called THAT play in THAT moment to beat Cal?
It made no sense.
Hawaii fought and scratched and clawed its way into this. It was down 21-0, and then 31-28 with fewer than two minutes to go, and then it was all there to survive and advance.
Star quarterback Micah Alejado got the Rainbow Warriors into a position for Kansei Matsuzawa – who got my vote for the Lou Groza Award as the best kicker in America – to tie it up and force overtime.
There were ten seconds left, and Alejado was cramping up/hurting and had to come out for one play, so the easy call was to kick it, regroup, and try to win it in OT.
In came backup quarterback Luke Weaver, and instead of playing it safe, head coach Timmy Chang let his guy rip it deep, he hit Nick Cenacle for a 22-yard touchdown, and they did it.
It was a gutty play on every level, and Hawaii pulled it off.
4. The two quarterbacks made this a whole lot of fun
Two freshmen from Hawaii stole the show.
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele came to Cal after growing up in Hawaii. Fantastic all year as Fernando Mendoza’s replacement, he’s the next big quarterback in college football – at least, he’s expected to be.
The lefty brought it, completing 28-of-39 passes for 343 yards and a touchdown with no picks, and he ran for a score.
Alejado is a baller’s baller, bringing the team back from the abyss, finishing with 274 yards and three touchdowns and no picks, and he ran for 33 yards. And because of these two …
3. FINALLY, we got a great bowl game
Take out two of the four College Football Playoff games, and this has been a disastrous start to the bowl season.
The close games were all relatively boring until the very end, and then it didn’t seem to matter all that much, and everything else has been blah, especially considering that almost nothing represented the way the various non-CFP teams looked and played in the regular season.
This was different.
Hawaii brought the pride, energy, and, as it turned out, heart and moxie to the home bowl game. Cal, with plenty of key players still in, and several of them from Hawaii, battled for a full 60.
This had wild mood swings, firepower from both sides, 22 Hawaii points in the fourth quarter, and an all-time bowl moment from Weaver.
2. What’s next for Cal going into the offseason?
Cal is going the defensive coordinator route with Oregon’s Tosh Lupoi coming in to take over for Justin Wilcox. Interim head coach Nick Rolovich knows offense, but the program got one of its own – Lapoi was a terrific defensive lineman for Cal.
But what will Sagapolutele – pronounced Sang-ah-po-lu-telly, if you were wondering – do? He says he’s the Cal starting quarterback going forward, but he would be the No. 1 quarterback in the transfer portal if he chose to leave.
There were a few opt-outs, and it’ll be the first job for Lapoi to keep all the parts, but for now, Cal appears to have a strong group coming back on both sides of the ball.
There aren’t any glaring needs on offense other than depth. The secondary needs several new parts, though, and the defensive tackles will have to emerge. But as long as JKS is sticking around, the Bears will be a problem for the ACC.
1. What’s next for Hawaii going into the offseason?
Will Alejado stick around? He’d be a strong option in the transfer portal, but he meshes well with head coach Timmy Chang and the attack.
Top receiver Jackson Harris is gone through the portal, but for the most part, the rebuilding job is starting to become solidified. Defensive tackle will be the biggest priority to work on, and linebacker isn’t far behind.
Replacing “Tokyo toe” Kansei Matsuzawa will be impossible, but overall, there’s tweaking to be done this offseason as the program enters a new Mountain West world. There won’t be a lot of rehabbing.
Related: New Orleans Bowl: WKU Surged Past Southern Miss — 5 Takeaways and What’s Next
This story was originally published by College Football News on Dec 25, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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