Over dinner at Wo Fat’s restaurant in Chinatown in 1978, USC football coach John Robinson declared, "we’re here to have a good time," and pledged to spread the fun among most of the 96 players the Trojans had brought for the next day’s game against Hawaii.

"We plan to alternate a lot of guys," Robinson promised before an onslaught on the Peking duck.

And why not. USC was a 39-point favorite over UH, the last regular-season speed bump en route to the Rose Bowl and eventual national championship.

But while USC would leave with a 21-5 victory, it clung to just a 7-5 lead into the fourth quarter and needed its stars, including All-American tailback Charles White carrying the ball 31 times to the waning minutes, in what became a rousing coming-of-age statement for the Rainbows.

That final game as an independent before joining the Western Athletic Conference was a seminal moment in UH’s Division I history. One in which Dick Tomey’s program legitimized in front of the first sellout at four-year-old Aloha Stadium. Large crowds and better recruits would soon follow.

Few but the fervent — or delusional — expect the Rainbow Warriors to knock off No. 24 USC, a 231/2-point favorite, on national cable tonight. But what UH, and we’re talking the whole athletic department, needs is to send a message about being competitive again.

After a 3-9 season in which the losses came, on average, in 31.1-point avalanches, and crowds declined to 14-year lows, the earliest opener in UH’s history of playing an all-collegiate schedule can’t come soon enough. And neither can the ‘Bows finding a way to serve up some hope for what lies ahead.

There’s been a shake-up of the coaching staff, some new faces and people put in different places. And several months invested in putting it all together.

UH’s only home game between now and Sept. 28 needs to offer the promise of better things to come in year two of head coach Norm Chow’s reign. A suggestion of hope, heck, even a few positive glimmers, would be welcome tonight.

That’s no easy task when faced with a lineup of five bowl teams from 2012 — USC, Oregon State, Nevada, Fresno State and San Jose State — to open, but it is a necessity if another torrent of red ink is to be avoided.

When Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple agreed to "forgive" a $13 million accumulated net deficit in May, the expectation was the athletic department would not start running another tab.

That UH has projected a crowd of just 35,000 for today’s game — which would be, by far, the smallest in the Trojans’ five visits to Halawa even with at least 7,000 USC faithful on hand — is testament to the ticket-buying public’s wait-and-see attitude.

If 2012 was any guide, they won’t wait into October for an indication that UH has put some of its darkest days behind it.

For openers, a semblance of an offense, a return to hard-nosed defense and an ability to protect the quarterback would go toward helping bring the fans and excitement back sooner rather than later.

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