By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

No sooner had the first University of Hawai'i touchdown and lead gone up on the scoreboard Saturday night than the "Beat BYU!" signs quickly began surfacing in the Aloha Stadium crowd.

Coaches might wisely drone on about "playing them one at a time," but for the Warrior faithful, it has never been too early — even with nearly three quarters of play remaining — to start talking about the team they love to hate, Brigham Young University.

When it comes to UH-BYU games there is no prescribed waiting period. Even the moment the gun has ended one game it is not unheard of to begin looking ahead to the next. Anytime will do, especially if UH has a competitive team.

In many minds, this season opener was less about the 61-36 vanquishing of Eastern Illinois than getting on to the real business: the BYU Cougars and Friday's game. All along EIU, a Division I-AA team, was merely the warm-up act for a game that long ago came to have its own marquee value hereabouts.

"During camp everybody was asking us about BYU, but we tried to keep Eastern Illinois our main concern," said defensive tackle Lance Samuseva. "Now, we can concentrate on just BYU."

Indeed, with an open date Sept. 21 and the beginning of UH's Western Athletic Conference season not until Sept. 28, Friday's game is where it deserves to be, front and center and under the bright lights.

Depending upon what twists and turns the WAC season takes in the interim, the nationally televised ESPN game could be the biggest, most visible appearance the Warriors make until the Nov. 30 Alabama game, if not the whole regular season.

Who knows, 12 weeks hence, what cards will have been dealt the Warriors and Crimson Tide? But right now the import of UH-BYU is considerable and the timing uncanny. The Warriors are in the midst of a four-game winning streak during which they have hung 52 points or better on everybody who has crossed their path, including the Cougars, 72-45, just nine months ago almost to the day.

Now, they meet again. This time, in an East Coast primetime slot from Provo, Utah, where memories are long and the fans, in numbers above 65,000 that could be among the largest to see UH play anywhere, are fervent in their desire for retribution.

In all seven previous visits into the shadow of the Wasatch Range, the Warriors have left empty handed, really coming close only in 1993 when, as the cruelest of fates would have it, a UH field goal caromed off an upright and the Cougars made one with 18 seconds remaining to win, 41-38.

Any time is a good time to talk UH-BYU football. This week, with all that surrounds the meeting, just happens to be better than most.