Ferd Lewis: Fresno State figures to be less hostile for opener

For his first game as the University of Hawaii head football coach, Todd Graham will have an experience 13 of his predecessors could only have wished for.

He will open the 2020 season at Fresno State minus spectators in usually raucous Bulldog Stadium.

Thanks to strict California state and Fresno County health and safety guidelines, there will be no Red Wave on hand, which means no insults ringing in the helmet ear holes on Oct. 24. There might be piped in crowd noise but there will be no infamous “Red Mile” gauntlet to endure or screwdrivers to dodge.

The schedule that the Mountain West handed the Rainbow Warriors on Thursday isn’t perfect but, all things considered in this pandemic pummeled year, it isn’t bad.

If you are Graham, a new coach who hasn’t had the benefit of spring practice with his team, then given the Mountain West opponent road options, Fresno State is a decent first draw.

The Bulldogs also have a new head coach, Kalen DeBoer, also had his spring practices canceled by COVID-19 and, due to the high infection count in the San Joaquin Valley area, has not had any team or strength and conditioning workouts since March.

The second game, Oct. 31 in Laramie, Wyo., is a different story. The Cowboys weren’t on UH’s pre-pandemic schedule in March but wound up there now because the Air Force Academy has two nonconference games, Navy and Army, that forced a re-juggling.

Retaining Air Force would have been more in UH’s favor since MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson said last week, “I think as many as in the high 30s (of players) took advantage of the ‘turnback’ and are off this semester and will not play be part of the football program.”

The academy’s “turnback” program offers separation for up to two semesters with the ability to return for those citing hardship. And, apparently, a hefty portion of the Falcons’ defensive players did.

When it initially appeared that the MWC was canceling fall football and headed toward a spring season, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported the Falcons sought to “leverage” the opportunity to load up for spring and fall 2021 seasons.

But when the MWC seven weeks later made a U-turn and announced last week that the conference would play a truncated fall schedule after all, the Falcons were apparently stuck.

And that means UH draws Wyoming, whose Cowboys are projected to give defending champion Boise State the toughest competition in the Mountain Division.

The ‘Bows will seek to take what advantage they can from back-to-back road games by staying on the continent after the Fresno State game, athletic director David Matlin said.

A possible base is Colorado, where they can approximate the 7,220 foot altitude of Laramie’s War Memorial Stadium, the NCAA’s highest Division I football facility.

In their own “bubble” of sorts, the ‘Bows can can lessen the travel and outside contact as well as presumably saving on expenses.

It is a smart move, particularly in this abbreviated eight-game schedule in which the first two games figure to have a lot to say about determining the course of their season.

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