Can this year’s team capture some magic from ’73 and ’07?

Washington is favored by around 17 points against host Hawaii in Saturday’s season-opening football game for both schools.

Rick Blangiardi is poised to tell the Rainbow Warriors that ain’t nuthin’. He was assistant coach of a team that overcame much worse odds. UH was a 50-point underdog when it played the Huskies in Seattle to start the 1973 season.

Famed oddsmaker Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder scoffed at even that and advised taking the Huskies and giving the points. As every Hawaii fan knows, or should know, not only did the ‘Bows cover, they won — 10-7, in a game many consider the greatest upset victory in UH history.

Blangiardi, now the general manager of Hawaii News Now, was the Rainbows linebackers coach. Saturday he will be the honorary team captain. "I can’t think of a greater honor," he said Thursday.

By all reports, that ’73 game was a brutal encounter won at the line of scrimmage, with UH tackle Levi Stanley dominating and posting 16 tackles. Hawaii stymied Washington with four goal-line stands, and the Huskies turned the ball over five times.

Washington, coming off back-to-back eight-win seasons, went 2-9.

"We got no respect coming in, because of our schedule (the previous year). We broke them in that game, we really did," Blangiardi said. "I think it changed the whole complexion of things."

When the schools next met in 2007, Hawaii was favored by 14. UH was 11-0 and needed just one more win for an undefeated regular season and unprecedented trip to a BCS bowl game. The Huskies were just 4-8 coming in, and their chartered plane arrived in the islands late.

As it turned out, though, Hawaii was the team that wasn’t ready for kickoff, and Washington went up 21-0.

Fitting for a season of miracles, the Warriors battled back and won 35-28 with a game-saving interception by Ryan Mouton on the final play. Colt Brennan solidified the resume that earned him third in the Heisman voting, and UH was off to the Sugar Bowl.

Washington beat Hawaii in the schools’ two other meetings, 53-13 in 1938 at Honolulu Stadium and 40-32 in 2011 in Seattle.

Does any of this have any bearing on this Saturday’s game? Not really … the coaches and nearly all of the players are gone from even the most recent matchup.

But the Rainbow Warriors should draw some inspiration from Blangiardi. He will no doubt remind them in a vociferous manner that the haves can indeed be had, even in a pitched battle … and this time, unlike 41 years ago, UH has the home field.

Some of today’s players’ parents weren’t even born in 1973. So if the Rainbow Warriors need something a little less legendary and a little more tangible there is 2007 — which they probably saw with their own eyes.

"I think this team is going to surprise people," said Blangiardi, who also played linebacker at UH. "I have watched this team practice. They have worked hard. … A lot will hinge on (quarterback) Ikaika (Woolsey), not that he has to win the game himself. I think the defense will play well."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.