2023 Hawaii Bowl
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| 2023 EasyPost Hawaii Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 20th Hawaii Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 23, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Honolulu, Hawaii | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Ethan Vasko (QB, Coastal Carolina)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | San Jose State by 9.5[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Greg Sujack (MAC)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 7,089 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN ESPN Radio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | John Schriffen (play-by-play), Orlando Franklin (analyst), and Marilyn Payne (sideline) (ESPN) Kevin Winter (play-by-play) and Trevor Matich (analyst) (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||
| International TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN Deportes | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2023 Hawaii Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 23, 2023, at Clarence T. C. Ching Athletics Complex in Honolulu, Hawaii. The 20th annual Hawaii Bowl featured the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers of the Sun Belt Conference and the San Jose State Spartans of the Mountain West Conference. The game began at approximately 6:30 p.m. HST and was aired on ESPN.[4][5] The Hawaii Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by shipping API EasyPost and was officially known as the EasyPost Hawaii Bowl.
Coastal Carolina
The game featured the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers from the Sun Belt Conference and the San Jose State Spartans from the Mountain West Conference. This was the first time Coastal Carolina and San Jose State played each other, and the first time either team played in the Hawaii Bowl.[6]
The Chanticleers opened their regular season with a 27–13 loss on the road at UCLA. After winning two home games, they lost their next two games, against Georgia State and Georgia Southern, to fall to 2–3. However, a win on the road against Appalachian State started a five-game winning streak to reach 7–3 and clinch bowl eligibility. The Chanticleers finished the regular season at 7–5 after losing to James Madison in their final game, 56–14.
San Jose State
The Spartans lost five of their first six regular-season games to open the year at 1–5, including losses to USC, Oregon State, and Toledo, each of which appeared in the College Football Playoff rankings late in the season. San Jose State then ended their regular season on a six-game winning streak, clinching bowl eligibility with a 24–13 win over San Diego State on November 18.