During his weekly news conference Monday, Smith had lamented playing a December non-conference game so far from the East Lansing campus.

"It's a long trip," Smith said yesterday. "It's a great place to come for a vacation. It's a bad place to come to play football because (the travel) is forever, right? The acclimation, and the whole deal, is different for us, coming from snow to all of a sudden humidity and warm weather. ... The other thing is, every time I've been here, the distractions. It's not conducive to keeping your mind on football."

"The trip ended up being better than expected," he said. "We were going to fly out of Lansing, which meant we would have had to stop in San Francisco. Consequently, we had to bus to Detroit, and we flew directly over, which made it much better, in my opinion. Once you get on (an airplane), there's no reason to stop."

Smith admitted this regular-season finale might be therapeutic. In their last game, the Spartans (5-6) lost to Penn State, ending their chance of finishing with a winning regular season, a requirement to playing in a postseason bowl.

The Spartans had a bye during Thanksgiving Weekend, and resumed practicing Sunday with renewed enthusiasm. Smith implored the underclassmen to help the seniors avoid ending their careers with a losing season.

"One of the things that's important about coming over and playing is we get to now try and redeem ourselves," Smith said. "Rather than go out on a Penn State loss, we have an opportunity to go out on a Hawai'i win. If we come over here and get a win, that's a lot better taste in your mouth than having that loss to Penn State all winter."

Smith said his coaching staff also is using this trip as a way to rebuild the recruiting pipeline between Michigan State and the Islands.

Soon after accepting the MSU coaching job last year, Smith checked the program's archives.

"You try and go back and study the history of your school and what has made you great in the past," Smith said.

He recalled Hawai'i raised players such as fullback Bob Apisa, quarterback Charlie Wedemeyer and offensive linemen Jim Nicholson and Kale Ane.

"There are a bundle of them," Smith said. "We tried to study that. We had a great Polynesian connection going on at one time. We said, 'Can't we go and start the cycle again?' That's what we'd like to do."

Last year, the Spartans extended their recruiting reach to American Samoa. They out-recruited UH for defensive lineman Domata Peko, a junior college All-American who was raised in Pago Pago.

The next few days, the Michigan State coaches are committed to establishing a recruiting base in Hawai'i.

"We're going to get out and hit some high schools," Smith said. "We're going to visit with some kids before we leave. Hopefully, we can make a connection or two here and see if we can get a visit or two out of some kids."

Smith said the coaches started with a list of 12 Division I-A prospects from Hawai'i. "Academics will cut out a few," he said. "Size will cut out a few."

He said the list is "down to a half-dozen now."

UH, MSU rematch will use instant replay

This season, the Big Ten experimented with a system in which instant replays were used to settle disputable plays. For a non-conference game, the system was used, by both team's agreement, when it was played at a Big Ten stadium.

Smith said he expects the replay system to be used when Michigan State hosts Hawai'i next year.

Asked about the replay system, Smith said, "I'd like to replay the Penn State game."

Fa'avi, Moenoa may get clearance to play

Pending the team doctor's approval, UH coach June Jones said, center Derek Fa'avi and right guard Uriah Moenoa will start in tomorrow's game.

Fa'avi has missed the past three games because of a bone bruise in his right knee.

Moenoa, who is Fa'avi's immediate replacement at center, did not play in the past two games because of knee and hamstring injuries.

If Fa'avi and Moenoa are cleared to play, as expected, Samson Satele moves back to left guard and Brandon Eaton returns to right tackle. Satele played center the past two games, and Eaton was used at right guard.

Line coach Mike Cavanaugh said Hercules Satele, Jeremy Infererra and Dane Uperesa also will play extensively.

Chang, UH cap will be on 'CSI: New York'

Jones said the producers of "CSI: New York" requested — and received — approval to use a University of Hawai'i football cap and mention quarterback Tim Chang during an episode that will air next year.

"They liked our logo," Jones said.

Jones said the reference to Chang is allowed under NCAA rules because the senior quarterback will have completed his UH eligibility by the time the show airs.