The University of Hawaii football team opens its 2025 season Saturday against Stanford, and with it comes the return of Hawaii Football Final, this time with a major change.
The KHON2 podcast, which launched in 2018 and has been hosted by sports director Rob DeMello and analyst Rich Miano, will debut as a television program this year as a Hawaii Sports 2Night production.
New episodes of Hawaii Football Final will stream Sundays at 7 p.m. on the KHON+ app, with a television rebroadcast set for Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on KHON2.
Miano, a former UH player and coach, said preseason optimism around the Rainbow Warriors is largely tied to redshirt freshman quarterback Micah Alejado.
“He has this confidence of an assassin, and yet he’s diminutive, but the ball’s always coming out on time and it’s always placed well,” Miano said. “Along with leadership qualities, finally, this is his team. He’s taken over offseason conditioning programs and all the things you do to make a team successful.”
Miano added that veteran leadership and continuity within the coaching staff, including defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman returning for a second year, have the program poised for potential success.
“It makes you think this could be a special year,” Miano said. “2010 comes to mind when you start talking about the most recent special year…But will Hawaii football come back to a place where we once knew it and expect it to be? Hopefully.”
The Rainbow Warriors, entering their fourth season under head coach Timmy Chang, are looking to post their first winning record since 2020.
Kickoff against Stanford is set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.