Hawaii vs. MTSU, 2016 Hawaii Bowl: Start time, live stream, TV schedule, and 3 things to know

Hawaii had a three-win disaster of a season in 2015, and the Rainbow Warriors made a change. They moved on from Norm Chow and hired Nick Rolovich, an alum and their former offensive coordinator who’d been at Nevada. The Warriors haven’t been perfect in Rolovich’s first year in the head job, but they’ve been a lot better – as six wins and a bowl bid indicates. Now they can close their year on a happy note, in the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu on Saturday.

Their opponent in that quest is Middle Tennessee, and the Blue Raiders have quietly had another strong year under Rick Stockstill. A victory here would get them to nine wins for the first time since a 10-win campaign in 2009, and they’ve got a few nice victories against Louisiana Tech and Missouri. On paper, they’re better than Hawaii. We’ll see if they can bear that out in a de-facto road game.

This is Christmas Eve’s lone bowl game. If you’re lounging around waiting for Santa, there are many worse things to watch than this potential offensive bonanza.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN. The announcers are Chris Cotter, Mark May, and Maria Taylor.

Radio: Hawaii and Middle Tennessee

Online streaming: WatchESPN

Spread: Middle Tennessee is favored by 7.

Make friends: SB Nation’s Mountain West Connection covers Hawaii and the rest of the MWC, while Underdog Dynasty covers MTSU and Conference USA.

1. Brent Stockstill could have a big day for MTSU. The coach’s son! Rick Stockstill’s offspring is also the Blue Raiders’ redshirt sophomore quarterback, and he’s pretty good. He’s got a 27-to-5 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio, and a decent day on Saturday should send him over 3,000 yards for the season. (He’s been hurt, but now he should be back.) The Hawaii defense doesn’t do well against the pass, and there’s a good shot Stockstill rolls, as long as he’s feeling right.

2. Dru Brown could thrive for Hawaii, too. Brown isn’t as prolific a passer as his Middle Tennesseean counterpart, but he’s effective as a runner and can sling it a little bit. The Blue Raiders’ defense keeps a pretty good lid on explosive passing plays, but Brown could also pile up some rushing attempts.

3. We should expect to see a shootout. Neither one of these defenses is any great shakes. Both sit outside the top 100 nationally in both points per game and S&P+, and they’re not likely to succeed against the other offense. The advantage here lies with Middle Tennessee, which has an offense that scores 40 points per game — roughly two touchdowns more, on average, than the Rainbow Warriors. If Middle Tennessee plays to its potential, there’s no reason it shouldn’t leave the islands with that ninth win.