Fresno State Athletics
`Dogs Continue Preparations for Rice in Hawai`i
12/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 20, 2014
By Jason Clay
jaclay@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
HONOLULU - Fresno State held its first practice in Honolulu on Saturday morning, going for a little over two hours at a local high school under the Hawaiian sun.
The Bulldogs practiced at the former home playing field of nose guard Ioane Sagapolu on Saturday due to the University of Hawai`i holding graduation ceremonies. The `Dogs will practice at UH on Sunday and Monday and walk-thru at Aloha Stadium on Tuesday before Wednesday's Christmas Eve matchup against Rice in the 2014 Hawai`i Bowl.
"I liked our practice, it was like a normal Tuesday practice fully padded and guys came out with really good energy," head coach Tim DeRuyter said. "Having gone through last weeks practice during finals, we hit a bunch of our concept stuff that we are going into the game plan with, so it was a really good practice."
Sagapolu, Fresno State's lone Hawaiian native, prepped at Farrington High School, which played its home games at Roosevelt High School where the `Dogs practice Saturday. For Sagapolu, a senior, the chance to play his last collegiate game in his home state is a nice reward.
"It's a great way to finish the season, I have a lot of family and friends coming out to the game to watch," Sagapolu said.
"Coming out of Farrington I wasn't a (NCAA) qualifier, so I had to take the long way and went to Fresno City (College)," Sagapolu stated of how he wound up at Fresno State. "After my sophomore year at Fresno City, I waited for a scholarship and Fresno State was the first to offer to me and now I'm here, senior year, Hawai`i Bowl, last game. It's been a great experience, met new people, great people actually, and we became a family away from home."
Sagapolu wasn't on the team two years ago when the Bulldogs were defeated 43-10 by SMU in the Hawai`i Bowl, but DeRuyter and the senior veterans have been emphasizing the importance of not carrying the feeling of losing your last game with you all summer.
"We're happy and excited to be here, trying to end the season on a good note," senior safety Derron Smith said. "I don't think we prepared two years ago the way that we are preparing now."
"A bunch of the guys who are here now as seniors were playing in the bowl a couple of years ago," DeRuyter added. "We obviously enjoyed the hospitality of being here, the educational process of going to lu'aus and seeing Pearl Harbor, but we didn't get the last three hours done. I reminded our guys when we first found out about this bowl that bowls are great educational experiences, but what you remember is those last three hours and the last time, that was a bitter pill for our guys to swallow.
"Our guys know that this is a two-prong focus. The No. 1 prong is winning this football game. The secondary prong is enjoying it and I think our guys, because of the feeling they had the last time, realize we've got to put the work in and it reflected that today in practice. We had a really good practice today."
DeRuyter thinks his team has been playing its best football of the season down this stretch and hopes to see that carry over to the bowl game on Wednesday.
"I liked what we've accomplished down the stretch," DeRuyter said. "Obviously last time out we competed in the (Mountain West) championship game, didn't get it done, but our guys aren't flinching. Early on we did. We've really grown as a team, our quarterback play has gotten much better as the season has gone on which is good and our defense has played much better."
Later Saturday evening the Bulldogs will attend their first bowl event, the Royal Hawaiian Lu'au.
Fresno State and Rice meet in the 2014 Hawai`i Bowl on Christmas Eve in a 5 p.m. game televised nationally on ESPN.
"Be Bold" - The official home of the Fresno State Bulldogs is 940 AM ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes 1600 AM.
