Can we fast forward to the 2019 University of Hawaii football season?

Nothing against whatever 2018 will offer — in, what is it now, 99 days? — of course, but the Rainbow Warriors’ Sept. 7, 2019 game against Oregon State at Aloha Stadium is looking more and more compelling every day.

What was a little-noted game on a future schedule suddenly changed complexion on May 4 when UH coach Nick Rolovich took to Twitter to damn the Beavers. Rolovich, with tongue in close proximity to cheek, tweeted his regrets that his players were unable to attend OSU’s spring game because they had been involved in UH’s own spring scrimmage here, 2,537 miles distant from Corvallis.

The invitations came, as Rolovich alleged with photos, in the form of recruiting material mailed to some of his players at a Manoa campus address.

To solicit players already signed or enrolled at another school without seeking permission from their institution is an NCAA no-no, and Rolovich made sure the Twittersphere and, hence, all of college football knew it.

The orange and black, bedeviled by other recruiting lapses, were left red-faced and promised an investigation.

Thursday an OSU spokesman told the Star-Advertiser, “Oregon State Athletics conducted an internal investigation and determined the mailer sent to the University of Hawaii football program was a clerical error.”

Depending on how much stock you put in OSU’s claim, what happened either was clumsy arrogance or somebody has been licking too many envelopes. Either way, hardly a sterling reflection on an OSU coaching staff that touted its “203 years of coaching experience” in the mailings or a promising start for new head coach Jonathan Smith, the losing quarterback to UH in the 1999 Oahu Bowl.

We’re told OSU checked to see if similar mailings were sent to other schools and determined that UH was the only one. How the Beavers overlooked USC, Washington and Stanford, which are inhabited by many more four- and five-star recruits, isn’t known.

As a result, the spokesman said, “OSU officials are submitting a secondary violation notice to the NCAA.”

When — or what — the NCAA might eventually rule remains to be seen. But, given the molasses pace with which NCAA gumshoes handled UH’s basketball infractions case, would anybody be surprised if the NCAA got back to OSU and UH about the time the kickoff was in the air for that 2019 game?

In the meantime, all this sets up as the closest thing to a grudge match game as UH has seen in a many a moon.

While the Beavers are gnawing on being called out by Rolovich, the ’Bows bristle at being taken as some sort of a farm team for OSU.

While the mailings lit the bonfire, there were already plenty of sparks. The Beavers have long maintained a Hawaii pipeline in recruiting and last season claimed the most (11) players from Hawaii of any Football Bowl Subdivision school outside of Manoa.

When OSU added Legi Suiaunoa as its defensive line coach and Kefense Hynson as wide receivers coach, both of whom had been on the UH coaching staff in 2017, joining special teams coordinator Jake Cookus, who had previously been with the ’Bows, you knew things could get interesting.

And they did, right away, as Brandon Kipper, an up-and-coming offensive lineman at UH, chose to transfer to OSU after his freshman season. His first season of eligibility will be — you guessed it — 2019.

Meanwhile, Mark Banker, back on the sidelines coaching for UH, spent 12 seasons at OSU. So there is plenty of history to go around and much to look forward to in the future.

Enough that, maybe, UH ought to include the first right to buy tickets for that Sept. 7, 2019 game as an incentive for fans to ante up on season tickets in 2018.

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