The University of Hawai’i football team will look to reclaim the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy when it hosts defending Mountain West champion San Jose State, Saturday, Sept. 18. Kick-off is 6:30 p.m. HT and the game will be televised nationally on FS1.
City and County of Honolulu officials have notified the University of Hawai’i that fans will not be allowed at UH Mānoa’s season-opening events due to the state’s recent record surge in COVID-19 cases and the resulting overwhelmed hospital capacity.
The decision to host fans will be re-evaluated in the coming weeks. (More Info).
The Rainbow Warriors (1-2) lost possession of the trophy following a 35-24 defeat last season in Honolulu. The rivalry trophy was created in 2019 as a way to celebrate the contributions of the former head coach of both programs.The teams will play for the Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy, which was created in honor of the legendary head coach of both programs who passed away in May 2019. San José State holds possession of the trophy after winning last season’s contest 35-24 in Honolulu.
Tomey coached UH for 10 seasons from 1977-86, compiling a 63-46-3 record, and spent one season as special teams coordinator in 2011. He is a member of the school’s Sports Circle of Honor. Tomey coached SJSU for five seasons which included a 9-win campaign in 2006.
The Dick Tomey Legacy Trophy is one of four rivalry trophies that UH regularly plays for. Of the four, UH has possession of the Island Showdown Trophy, which it competes for against UNLV.
UH leads the all-time series 22-20-1. The teams have played every year since 1996 with the exception of 2012.
SJSU snapped a four-game slide in the series with last season’s win in Honolulu. The game was re-located to Aloha Stadium after the Spartans were unable to play at home due to COVID restrictions.
In that game, the Spartans raced out to a 21-0 lead just 10 minutes into the game and led wire-to-wire. The Warriors got back into it scoring 17 unanswered before SJSU scored two more touchdowns to seal the win.
This will be the third straight meeting in Honolulu, where SJSU leads 14-13.
The road team has won six of the last eight match-ups and nine of the last 13 in the series.
SJSU (1-1, 0-0 MW) enters Mountain West play riding an eight-game conference win streak. The Spartans, who went 7-0 in 2020 and claimed its first MW championship, haven’t lost a MW contest since falling at UNLV, 38-35, on Nov. 23, 2019.
SJSU was idle last week. The Spartans opened with a 45-14 home win over Southern Utah and dropped a 30-7 decision on the road at USC.
UH (1-2, 0-0 MW) dropped its second road game to a Pac-12 opponent this season last week after a 45-27 loss to Oregon State.
UH starting linebacker Darius Muasau will sit out the first half of Saturday’s game after being penalized for targeting in the second half of last week’s loss to Oregon State. This will mark the second straight game in which a UH starter will miss the opening half after Cameron Lockridge sat out against Oregon State.
UH has won its conference opener in each of the past three seasons.