San Jose State says ‘Aloha’ to Coastal Carolina for bowl game
SAN JOSE — San Jose State won’t have to wait until Sunday to know its bowl game fate.
The Spartans announced Thursday they will be participating in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 23 where the Spartans will play Coastal Carolina at T.C. Ching Athletics Complex in Honolulu.
The Spartans, who won six straight games to end the regular season, are going to their third bowl game in four years under coach Brent Brennan. SJSU has not gone to a bowl game in back-to-back seasons since 1987.
The Hawaii Bowl usually gives an automatic bid to the University of Hawaii to play a team from another Group of 5 conference, but since the Rainbow Warriors were not bowl eligible this season, another Mountain West team was selected in their place.
The game used to be played at Aloha Stadium before it permanently closed down in 2020. SJSU and Coastal Carolina will play in the 20th edition of the Hawaii Bowl.
This will be the second time SJSU plays in the Aloha State this season. The Spartans beat Hawaii 35-0 on the road back in October.
It will be a homecoming ending to a six-year career for SJSU quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, who is a Honolulu native. Cordeiro played four seasons at Hawaii before transferring to SJSU in 2022.
Cordeiro had one of his best games this season against Hawaii, throwing for 251 yards and two touchdowns.
This is not the first time Brennan has been to the Hawaii Bowl. He was the wide receivers coach at Oregon State when the Beavers defeated Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl in 2013.
Brennan is still searching for his first bowl game win as a head coach. The Spartans lost to Eastern Michigan in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2022 and to Ball State in the Arizona Bowl in 2020.
SJSU was left out of the Mountain West Conference championship game after a computer tiebreaker deemed UNLV and Boise State to be higher in the rankings.
Coastal Carolina (7-5, 5-3 Sun Belt) comes into this game having lost its last two games of the regular season. The Chanticleers will be without starting quarterback Grayson McCall as he entered the transfer portal on Wednesday.