LOGAN — In a team meeting Sunday, Utah State football coach Brent Guy asked for a show of hands by those players on the traveling squad who had been to Hawaii.
Less than 10 raised their hands, and some of those were from players who hail from Hawaii.
"For us the distraction is this is not a vacation trip, it's a business trip," he said. "We have a lot of work to do and have a lot to accomplish."
The Aggies (2-6, 1-4) will leave for their Saturday game with Hawaii (3-6, 3-4) on Thursday morning. They will land in Hawaii Thursday afternoon and will work out at an area high school approximately a one hour drive from where they are staying.
"Chris Tabor (running backs coach) was worried that we had to be on a bus for an hour to go to practice." Guy said. "I said, 'Chris, you don't have to worry about that. They're going to be starring out the window thinking they are in a whole different world.' "
The Aggies will take time Friday morning to visit Pearl Harbor before practicing Friday afternoon. Saturday's game kicks off at 9 p.m. (MST). The game is available on ESPN GamePlan.
"We know we're going to constantly keep them focused because it is a trip that is a lot different they have have been on," Guy said.
The Aggies logged nearly 25,000 miles last year with five trips to the south including Clemson, Alabama, Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State, Troy and La. Monroe.
"This is a much different trip even for the veteran guys," Guy said. "We're going to try to make it work to our advantage."
Cousins E.J. Reid and Toriano Taulogo are from Hawaii and played at Kahuku High School.
ROCKY ROAD: The Aggies have lost nine consecutive road games and 18 of their last 19. Their lone road win in that time was a 31-21 victory over UNLV last year.
Utah State is 2-1 in games played at Hawaii (4-1) with the last coming in 1966 when the Aggies beat the Warriors 48-0. Utah State's only loss to Hawaii was a 21-20 setback in 1927.
SACK ATTACK: With his two sacks in the Aggies' 27-17 loss to Louisiana Tech last Saturday, DE John Chick now ranks sixth in the nation with 1.06 sacks per game (8 1/2 total). In his career the senior has 19 1/2 sacks.
WAC FINALE: Hawaii's game with Utah State is the Warriors' final Western Athletic Conference game of the season. The Warriors, however, still have two more home games with Wisconsin and San Diego State.
After Hawaii, the Aggies have two WAC games remaining with Nevada and New Mexico State.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com