By Stephen Tsai

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In preparation for this Saturday’s football game in Hawaii, Fresno State coach Matt Entz was host to the word-association game.

“I quizzed our team (Monday) morning and asked them all: ‘If I said the word Hawaii, what do you think of?’” Entz told reporters in a news conference. “It’s amazing. No one said ‘football.’ Our emphasis this week is to make sure we’re thinking about football and not … the beaches, the sand, all the other things that you can become distracted with, I’m sure, what looks like paradise.”

Entz said his staff have formulated a plan to deal with the potential challenges of travel and a kickoff at 9 p.m. Pacific time.

The Bulldogs are expected to depart Fresno for Honolulu on Thursday.

“We’re going to make sure we practice before we leave and try to get as much done as possible.” Entz said. “We’re going to stay on our schedule throughout the entire trip. And just treat it as if, once we arrive, it’s a home game.”

Reflecting on his own youth, Entz does not believe the kickoff time will be a hindrance.

“I took myself back a couple decades and remembered when I was in college usually most things didn’t start until 9 p.m.” Entz said. “I think they’ll be just fine. Most of them are night owls to begin with. And so, based on that, that’s not an excuse. You get one shot this week and this is it. Regardless of what time it is, we need to be ready to play.”

Entz added: “There’s a 51⁄2-hour flight. At some point, something probably, just based on Murphy’s Law, is going to go wrong. Well, if you can’t control it, then why are we going to freak out about it?”

Entz acknowledged the Bulldogs will have to adjust to the conditions that are unlike Fresno’s.

“It’s going to be 80 degrees with 80% humidity,” Entz said. “Most of our kids who are from the Central Valley don’t know what humidity is because we seldom have any here. It’s immediately going to feel hotter than it really is. Hydration is going to be critical.”

This past spring, Entz said, some of the support staff went on a recon trip to check out the Ching Complex, a retrofitted placeholder until a new stadium in Halawa is constructed.

“You dress kind of in the concourse of the baseball field,” Entz said of the visitors’ “locker room” at neighboring Les Murakami Stadium. “There’s a lot of unique things that go along with playing there. But I think if we identify them all early, then nobody is going to sit there and be surprised when they happen. ‘Coach told us that on Monday.’”

This is probably the last meeting between the long-time football rivals. Fresno State is departing the Mountain West for the restructured Pac-12 on July 1, 2026. Entz said he has prepared the 3-1 Bulldogs for all the “traps and rabbit holes on this trip.”

“That way there are no excuses,” Entz added. “Because one of our team rules is ‘there are no excuses.’ We need to make sure that we are focused and detailed and we start fast this week.”