UH, Oregon should show Mariota some Aloha

The University of Hawaii and Oregon haven’t played each other in football in 19 seasons and there is a compelling reason why they shouldn’t let the wait get much longer.

Marcus Mariota.

Mariota is the Ducks’ All-Pac-12 Conference quarterback via Saint Louis School and the value of bringing him back to play at Aloha Stadium at the offensive controls of a national championship contender has not been lost on either of them.  

Now they just need to redouble their efforts to find a way to make it happen.

If Mariota, a redshirt sophomore, stays through his senior season — a growing “if” these days —  that gives the Rainbow Warriors and Ducks two seasons (2014 and ’15) in which to have something put together. So they are on the clock to get a deal done.

To be sure UH does not owe every local player who chooses to go away an opportunity to make a return. It would be bad for recruiting to do so. But it is also wise to recognize when allowing one of the most celebrated ones to come back can suit UH’s purposes and this is one of those times.

The ’Bows are assembling an impressive parade of marquee opponents for future games with Ohio State and Wisconsin (2015), Michigan (2016) and UCLA (2017) either under contract or soon to be signed. The so-called “guarantee” games, most of them carrying  checks of $1 million to
$1.2 million each, will put some much needed moolah in the athletic department piggy bank.

But the list of big names coming to Aloha Stadium now that USC is bowing out is getting few and far between. Not a good sign when it has already been 36 games since the last home sellout.

UH was in 11th-hour negotiations last year that would have brought Notre Dame and Manti Te’o to Halawa in December. But the TV component, getting the Mountain West Conference and its TV partners to sign over their rights to NBC, was too much, at too late a date, to overcome.

Too bad, because the receipts from that game could have wiped out a third of UH’s $3.3 million deficit in one swoop.

Now we’re told Oregon and UH have had some talks. The Ducks would like to give the maestro Mariota a chance to appear before the home folks, something that would no doubt help out their recruiting here and, maybe, give their quarterback pause to consider sticking around a while in Eugene.

“They want it (a game) and we’ve looked at some dates, but nothing that works,” said Ben Jay, the UH athletic director. “The problem is date availability between the two of us.”

Despite the apparent impasse, Jay said, “I wouldn’t call it a dead issue.”

So it behooves the ’Bows and Ducks to roll up their sleeves and find a way to make this work.

Perhaps something along the lines of the juggling act UH and Ohio State accomplished (UH pushing back its 2015 game at Washington and the Buckeyes reworking their date with Northern Illinois) to set up a 2015 meeting in Columbus.

For both of them, this is too good of an opportunity to duck.