EL PASO, Texas » The Hawaii football team's change of scenery brings special teams coach Ikaika Malloe back to some familiar surroundings.

Malloe coached at UTEP for four years before joining the Hawaii staff this season and will be back at the Sun Bowl this afternoon as the Warriors prepare for Saturday's game at New Mexico State.

“;It's great to be back in El Paso,”; Malloe said yesterday. “;I've got a lot of friends here both from football and outside of football. It brought back some memories of the time I've spent here.”;

The Warriors (4-5, 3-3 Western Athletic Conference) landed in El Paso yesterday for the second leg of their 10-day road trip looking to leave the memory of a 30-14 loss to Utah State back in the Beehive State. They'll practice in El Paso this week and head over to Las Cruces on Saturday to face New Mexico State (3-5, 1-3), which has lost three straight.

Among the items on Malloe's agenda this week will be to address the protection issues that contributed to two blocked field goals in Saturday's stunning loss in Logan, Utah.

“;We're going to work on that tomorrow,”; Malloe said. “;We're going to put the pads on and make sure that thing is live.”;