Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors at Arizona State Sun Devils
Fri Oct 9 · 11:00 PM CT
By Pablo SanchezUpdated 7d ago·2 min read
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Arizona State is still the reigning Big 12 champion on paper, but this one has the reigning champs walking into Tempe without a settled starting quarterback against a Hawaii team some are already pegging for a Group of Five playoff berth.
Bush’s Picks
HAWASU
HAWASU
OverUnder
Best BetArizona State
Arizona State's roster still runs deeper across the board than Hawaii's, even with the QB room unsettled, and playing at home in a Power-conference building matters against Group of Five competition. The catch is that whoever wins the Boley-Keene-Fette battle will be making one of his first real starts in this spot, which is the one thing keeping this from being a lock.
Hawai'i
+Went 9-4 in 2025, capped by a win over Cal
+ESPN projected Hawaii as the CFP's Group of Five team
+Loaded transfer class on both the WR room and O-line
−QB Micah Alejado managing an ankle injury into fall
−Opens the season on the road at Stanford
−Replacing key production after losing top pass-catchers
Arizona State
+Reigning Big 12 champions off an 11-2, CFP-bye season
+Won the portal battle for skill-position talent
+Kenny Dillingham's staff has continuity and a track record
−Starting QB job still unresolved heading into fall camp
−Lost 2024's engine, Sam Leavitt, to the portal (LSU)
−Regressed to 6-3 in 2025 after the title run
This game is a study in contrasts at the most important position on the field. Arizona State lost Sam Leavitt, the QB who steered the 2024 Big 12 title run, to the transfer portal and LSU, and Kenny Dillingham's staff spent the spring watching Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley, veteran Mikey Keene and freshman Jake Fette battle for the job with no winner named. Hawaii, meanwhile, brings back sophomore Micah Alejado, who threw for over 3,100 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2025 -- but he's nursing an ankle injury from the Cal finale that kept him out of spring ball.
Neither program is hurting for talent around those question marks. ASU won its share of the transfer portal fight, restocking the skill positions even after losing Leavitt and running back Raleek Brown. Hawaii did the same on the other end, pulling in receivers Audric Harris, Tre Griffiths and Carson Brown while beefing up the offensive line with three portal linemen. Both rosters look deeper than their quarterback rooms right now.
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HAW Hawai'i
ASU Arizona State
The stakes are real on both sides even this early. ASU is trying to prove 2024's Big 12 title and playoff bye wasn't a one-off after a 6-3 slide in 2025, while Hawaii is coming off a 9-4 season that ended with a win over Cal and got Timmy Chang's program mentioned in early CFP projections as the Group of Five's likely representative. A trip to Tempe against a Power-conference opponent is exactly the kind of game that outlook lives or dies on.
Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors
Oct 3?vs San José State—
Sep 26?@ Wyoming—
Sep 12?vs New Mexico State—
Sep 5?vs UNLV—
Aug 29?@ Stanford—
Arizona State Sun Devils
Oct 2?vs Baylor—
Sep 19?@ Kansas—
Sep 12?@ Texas A&M—
Sep 5?vs Morgan State—
Recent form.
Hawaii doesn't get to ease into the year, either. The Rainbow Warriors open the season on the road at Stanford before this one, which means whoever's throwing the ball for them will already have live snaps under his belt by the time he sees Arizona State's defense. ASU's QB situation carries the opposite risk -- whoever wins that fall camp battle will be doing so with limited game reps against high-level competition.
Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Arizona State Sun Devils
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
By October, some of this fog should have cleared. ASU will have a named starter with real fall-camp and non-conference snaps, and Alejado's ankle should be well behind him if the recovery timeline holds. What's left is a matchup between a Big 12 program trying to reassert itself and a Mountain West team that spent the offseason being talked about like it belongs a tier higher than usual.
