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Catch your breath yet from the University of Hawaii’s frenetic, 39-33, second-half comeback victory over New Mexico on Saturday night?
Good, ‘cause now that the “easy” part is over with, here comes what figures to be the much more challenging stretch of the season for the Rainbow Warriors.
The meat of the 2020 schedule, with four teams that are a combined 10-2, now looms with a gauntlet of San Diego State, Boise State, Nevada and San Jose State before closing with a soft landing against winless Nevada-Las Vegas Dec. 12.
UH, which was favored in two of its first three games, is listed as a 10-point underdog for Saturday’s game against the Aztecs in Carson, Calif., and might not be favored again until UNLV.
After building a 2-1 record against three teams — Fresno State, Wyoming and New Mexico — that are a combined 3-5, the ’Bows step up in competition against the teams they will have to beat in order to make a run at the Mountain West championship or be in consideration for a place in the thinning bowl lineup.
Normally, it would be a little early to start talking championship paths and bowl opportunities, but in this season heavily trimmed by COVID-19, the Warriors’ Saturday will arrive at the halfway mark of their eight-game schedule, a point from which a lot will be decided about whether there is any hope of advancing to a postseason just six weeks away.
In the wake of the pandemic, the divisional format of the last seven years was put aside and all 12 teams thrown into one pool from which the top two teams, based upon the highest conference winning percentage, will meet in the Dec. 19 championship game.
For UH to be one of them — and “winning championships” has been head coach Todd Graham’s avowed mission since arriving 10 months ago — there can be few missteps from here on out in a conference that has come up with some quirks and surprises around each corner.
One of them is that due to games lost to positive COVID-19 testing and a sprinkling of nonconference games, not everybody will play eight league games. Boise State, San Diego State and Air Force took on one out-of-conference opponent and the Falcons (two), Colorado State, Wyoming and New Mexico have had at least one league game canceled.
Then, you have San Diego State moving its home games 113 miles north to Dignity Health Sport Park in Carson, home of the L.A. Galaxy and past site for the L.A. Chargers, in an attempt to assure its planned $310 million, 35,000-seat Aztec Stadium in Mission Valley is on time for a Sept. 3, 2022 opening.
And, suddenly, there is San Jose State and Nevada emerging as pop-up contenders. Both are a surprising 3-0 with the Spartans off to their best start since 1982 and the Wolf Pack achieving its best opening since 2010.
The pandemic has also significantly reduced the once overflowing bowl picture. There are currently 37 bowls this year, the fewest since 2013, with the backyard SoFi Hawaii Bowl being among the six casualties. Instead of being able to place from six to eight of its teams as the Mountain West has regularly done since 2013, it currently has tie-ins for just four this year.
An invitation to the inaugural LA Bowl in the Rams’ plush $5 billion home, SoFi Stadium, will go to the conference champion. The Arizona Bowl in Tucson takes the conference runner-up while the Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho, and New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, N.M., (if it is even allowed to open amid that state’s pandemic restrictions) will have an MWC team.
To this point it has been an interesting season for Hawaii, but this is where the challenges mount and, so, too, do the potential rewards.
RUN TO THE FINISH
Remaining University of Hawaii football opponents
DATE OPPONENT RECORD
Saturday At San Diego State* 2-1
Nov. 21 Boise State 2-1
Nov. 28 Nevada 3-0
Dec. 5 At San Jose State 3-0
Dec. 12 Nevada-Las Vegas 0-3
* At Carson, Calif.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
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