Posted on: Saturday, September 8, 2001
The wait is over, it's time to play ball
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
WAILUKU — There is apparently something to be said for being college football's version of the Late Show, the last team in the parade of 117 NCAA Division I-A schools to open this season.
Something besides let's get on with the game, already.
Kicking off a season after some teams have already played a quarter of their schedules has merely helped to heighten the anticipation for a University of Hawai'i season opener like few others, giving it a buzz not usually found when a lower division opponent comes calling.
Where else but at nearly sold-out War Memorial Stadium tonight does the pairing of a I-A level program, the Warriors, and a I-AA team, Montana, qualify as must-see TV for an entire state?
Where else will a coach returning to his accustomed place on the sidelines and donning the headset the way UH's June Jones will at 6:05 p.m., be an affirmation of a community's prayers and best wishes?
After months of talk about whether the Western Athletic Conference was even the right place for UH or wondering where the interest would be in playing new conference members Boise State and Louisiana Tech, there is actual anticipation for a matchup with the Big Sky Conference.
Never mind that there is little in the way of history between these two teams. Forget that the Warriors have won 15 of the last 16 games against out-of-division teams since becoming Division I-A. Or, that UH has more scholarships, more coaches and a much bigger budget than Montana.
Not exactly your usual recipe for a much clamored-for opener, is it?
Yet, the interest in this one is considerable and it has come to assume an interesting life all its own, undoubtedly a curious phenomenon to those beyond these shores.
This isn't the way UH planned or even envisioned it five years ago when it signed a contract that was to have delivered Iowa State to Aloha Stadium for a Sept. 1st season opener.
But that was before the Cyclones' pullout and the resulting late start. It was in advance of Jones' amazing return from a near-fatal Feb. 22 automobile crash, the bringing of the game to Maui. And, of course it preceded the thud that last season's 3-9 finish produced.
In the wake of these events, we are left with no shortage of questions about the campaign ahead or wondering about the Warriors' ability to find the hoped-for answers between now and the Dec. 1st game with Brigham Young that will, fittingly it turns out, be college football's final regular-season game of the year.
The long wait just to get to this point, particularly patience-testing while every other team has gone on to open its season, has only served to heighten the curiosity about what has become a much-anticipated Late Show.
