Arizona have been surrounded by the sights of Hawaii this week and for many players it is the first time they will see the popular vacation destination. This is no vacation for the Wildcats, however. There is a game to be played and coming off a 5-7 season that started with a season-opening loss to BYU last year every game on the schedule is important.

Hawaii went to a bowl game last season. The Wildcats did not.

Right now Arizona heads into Saturday's meeting with Hawaii as an 11-point favorite, but knowing that they should have the advantage Saturday doesn't mean much to UA's players.

Kevin Sumlin was part of a staff at Minnesota that took a team to Hawaii and came out a loser. That's an extra long flight back.

Going into Saturday's contest the Wildcats have done their best to maintain a mindset of completing the task at hand rather than focus on all that Hawaii has to offer off the field.

"I think it's going to be a test to our team," junior edge rusher Kylan Wilborn said of the trip to play Hawaii. "I've got a lot of family and people calling me excited, 'Oh, you're going to Hawaii.' You've gotta tell them to take it easy and you gotta remember that it's a business trip at the end of the day.

"We've got a lot of young guys on this team that are traveling. We all know what we gotta do. This is a good teaching moment for us seniors and juniors to go in there and be able to teach the freshmen and sophomores how we do things. And, show them that football is fun and you get perks from it, but at the end of the day we're here to win games."

Sumlin isn't as concerned about taking this team to Hawaii as he was with the last team he was part of that made the trip there. He feels the UA players will be a little less prone to the potential distractions the spot offers.

"I feel better about this team going to Hawaii because we do have palm trees here," the UA head coach joked this week. "A lot of these guys are from California and have been to the beach. So, it'll be different than the team I went to Hawaii with a few years ago from Minnesota. It was a little bit different.

"A lot of them haven't been there, but Southern California and some places – they'll be alright."

While trying to keep everyone focused on the game will be part of the task this week, the other part will be getting ready to play a team that went to a bowl last season and built some momentum offensively with its standout quarterback. There are a number of returning starters on the Hawaii side, so UA is working to stay focused on the job at hand this weekend.

"I think the team is a real reflection of the head coach," Sumlin said of Hawaii. "... They've got some weapons offensively and defensively, but they've got a quarterback who's as good as probably anybody in the country."

Both sides of the ball at Arizona have their concerns heading into Saturday's game. Defensively is where the Wildcats will have to answer the bell this weekend to try and slow down what was one of the top passing attacks in the country last season.

"They're a very good team," veteran defensive tackle Finton Connolly said. "We can't ever take them lightly. They've got a good quarterback who likes to run and they're gonna pass a lot. So, the biggest thing with us as a d-line up front is that pass rush and getting pressure on him making sure he can't run and getting to him."

On the other side of the ball the Wildcats have a lot to prove coming off a 5-7 year. Quarterback Khalil Tate is looking to bounce back from a rough season that included more losses than he expected as well as an injury early in the year that hampered how much success he was able to have on the field.

UA also has to replace a couple pieces on the offensive line after some departures during the offseason in addition to revamping the receiver group that was hit hard by players exhausting their eligibility. There is only one returning starter at the receiver position, Cedric Peterson, so there will be a lot of new faces on the field Saturday.

Because there will be so many new pieces to work into the game plan the Wildcats are working to keep a singular focus heading into this weekend.

"We're talking about going 1-0 every week taking it one game by one game," junior receiver Brian Casteel said. "Just getting everything tight and getting ready to play."

Arizona has not started a season on the road since 2010 when it faced Toledo in what eventually turned into a 41-2 victory for the Wildcats. The last time UA and Hawaii faced off the 'Cats took the victory, 47-28, over the Warriors at Arizona Stadium.

Kickoff for Saturday's game is set for 7:30 p.m. with the TV broadcast set for CBS Sports Network.

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