 The 2007 Hawaiʻi Bowl kicked off on December 23 , 2007 at 8 : 00 <unk> EST in front of an estimated crowd of 30 @,@ 467 , which was the largest crowd in Hawaiʻi Bowl history for a game not featuring the <unk> 'i football team . The game was nationally televised on ESPN , and was watched by an estimated average of 1 @.@ 6 million people , good enough for a television rating of 1 @.@ 47 . East Carolina had to travel 4 @,@ <unk> miles ( 7 @,@ <unk> km ) one way , making it the longest bowl trip of the season for any team during the 2007 bowl season . Boise State , meanwhile , traveled 2 @,@ 835 miles ( 4 @,@ 562 km ) to Hawaiʻi . Due to the distance involved , East Carolina fans wishing to support their school , but unable to travel to the game , bought 2 @,@ <unk> tickets for troops stationed in Hawaiʻi as a show of support . The weather at kickoff was mostly cloudy with winds from the northeast at 13 miles ( 21 km ) . The temperature was 77 ° F ( 25 ° C ) . For the officiating crew , the referee was Terry <unk> , umpire was Kevin Matthews , and the linesman was Bob <unk> . The line judge was Bart <unk> , the back judge was Joe Johnston and the field judge was Ed <unk> . The side judge was Craig <unk> . 
