LOGAN, UTAH » For the University of Hawaii football team, it was a long day’s journey into early today.
Delayed because of Friday’s shooting at Los Angeles International Airport, the Rainbow Warriors arrived in this canyon town 12 hours before today’s scheduled kickoff against Utah State. This Mountain West Conference game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Mountain time (10 a.m. in Hawaii).
"No excuses," UH coach Norm Chow said. "You will not hear one excuse from us. We’re ready to play the game."
Following Thursday morning’s practice, the Warriors departed for Los Angeles, where they stayed overnight in a Manhattan Beach hotel.
They awakened to news of the shooting that shut down LAX and postponed the morning’s flights.
The Warriors, who were scheduled to depart LAX at noon on a charter flight, then requested — and received — approval to extend their hotel stay.
Told the new departure time would be 10 p.m., the Warriors canceled the scheduled walk-through session at Utah State’s Romney Stadium and scrapped plans to scout Utah high school football games.
The Warriors then spent the day in meetings and video sessions. The defense conducted a walk-through session in the hotel parking lot.
The Warriors could not depart from another airport because their equipment was stowed at LAX. They could not afford to charter two planes — one for the travel party, the other for the equipment.
For a game east of the Pacific time zone, the Warriors usually divide the trip into two segments. Because they want to get a full Thursday practice on the Manoa campus, they depart in the afternoon. That means arriving on the West Coast in the evening. Instead of switching terminals to board a later connecting flight, they stay near LAX. That allows them to sleep and then travel in the morning.
The plan usually goes without a hiccup — until Friday’s tragedy.
The Warriors went to LAX at 8 p.m. Friday and waited for the charter plane, which had been re-routed to Arizona.
Because Logan’s commuter airport cannot accommodate large planes, the charter landed in Ogden. The Warriors traveled by buses to Logan.
Chow said the Warriors will adjust.
"We’re resilient and tough," Chow said.
The Warriors are relatively upbeat for this meeting against Utah State, which is contending for the league’s Mountain Division title. The Aggies are 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Mountain West.
The Aggies are in their first MWC season after moving from the Western Athletic Conference. They have won 14 of their past 15 MWC and WAC games.
Since rallying past UH at Aloha Stadium on Nov. 5, 2011, the Aggies have won 20 of 27 games.
At the end of last season, Gary Andersen resigned as head coach to accept the job at Wisconsin. In Andersen’s first two seasons at Utah State, the Aggies went 4-8 in both 2009 and 2010. They were 7-6 in 2011 and 11-2 in 2012.
Center Tyler Hansen recalled the growing pains.
"People would laugh when they heard they were playing Utah State," Hansen said. "Now we’re starting to get respect. A lot of people are starting to cheer for us."
