Expect more top-quality openers in the future

Once upon a not-so-distant time you suspect the University of Hawaii went to the pastry counter, tongs in hand, selecting its season-opening football opponents.

A cream puff here, a Twinkie there. Sometimes a coco puff for good measure, too.

Only the names on the uniforms said Appalachian State, Northern Colorado or Central Arkansas among others and they came from Division I-AA or the Football Championship Subdivision, not the corner bakery. Seven times in 11 previous seasons UH has opened with a lower-division foe.

Which is part of what makes the departure from sweet-tooth scheduling to this year’s meat-and-potatoes one-two opening of Colorado and Washington both noteworthy and compelling.

Especially since it is the first time in six years the Warriors open with consecutive Bowl Championship Series conference opponents and only time in their history they take on teams from the Pac-8, 10 or 12 back-to-back to kick off a season.

The good news here, unless you are a UH coach looking to ease into a season, perhaps, is that it signals a positive trend in scheduling, not a blue-moon aberration.

For at least five years UH is currently scheduled to open with back-to-back BCS conference opponents, four of the seasons serving up consecutive Pac-12 foes.

To be sure, UH might slide a UC Davis or Weber State into a puka somewhere else down the line, but at least the first game will be opener-worthy with a brand name opponent and the interest that can generate.

Part of it is UH’s desire to upgrade schedules to improve its appeal to ticket-buying fans, image-conscious recruits and, of course, television. But it is also a function of the changing landscape of college football, forcing UH into a ready-or-not early September corner.

Teams that hold out BCS bowl hopes are reluctant to make the trip out here post-Thanksgiving and fewer yet want any part of a nonconference game here that comes smack dab in the middle of the league season. In addition, the last wave of expansion means that conferences that have league championship games, such as the Pac-12, are mandating that their teams fit nonconference games into a specific three or four game window to lessen scheduling headaches.

Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn says he favors expanding the home-and-home relationship with UH that is currently scheduled to run through 2015. He said he plans to talk with his UH counterpart, Jim Donovan, “about future opportunities that may be mutually beneficial,” during this week’s visit.

But Bohn also notes, “We must schedule nonconference games during the first three weeks of the season, which does limit opportunities to an extent.”

Of course scheduling the games is one thing. Being out-of-the-shoot competitive once you have to line up and play them is another.

Traditionally, the Warriors have taken some time to work out the kinks no matter who they have played. Witness not just the opening losses to Southern Cal and Alabama, but the debacles with Florida Atlantic and Portland State and struggles with Central Arkansas.

From this Saturday on, schedules will put a premium on the Warriors being game-ready when the lights go on as never before.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.