Was it really just 22 months ago that the University of Hawai'i football team was Sugar Bowl-bound at 12-0 and Idaho was, well, 1-11?

Doesn't it seem like just the other day that the Warriors were in the midst of what would be a run of three consecutive bowl games and the Vandals were careening toward back-to-back last-place finishes in the nine-member Western Athletic Conference?

Can it have really been less than two seasons ago that folks in Idaho were saying the Vandals ought to go back to the Big Sky Conference, if not drop football altogether, and people here were talking another Bowl Championship Series appearance in the not-too-distant future?

Yes, it is funny how fortunes can change quickly in college football. Well, it is if you're in Moscow, Idaho, these days. Here, there's not much knee-slapping laughter taking place. Three consecutive losses will do that.

More and more this Saturday's game at the Kibbie Dome in Idaho looks like the passing of two programs speeding in opposite directions.

The 5-1 Vandals (2-0 WAC) need but a victory over UH Saturday to be bowl eligible for the first time in a decade. The 2-3 Warriors (0-2 WAC) need five wins in their remaining eight games to avoid a losing season.

The Vandals, if they win Saturday, could find themselves on pace for a WAC title showdown with cross-state rival Boise State next month. UH, without a win soon, might have to hope its game with Utah State isn't to escape the cellar.

Until UH coach Greg McMackin made his infamous comments at the annual WAC Football Media Preview in Salt Lake City this summer some people there thought it was Idaho's Robb Akey who was the one placing the biggest foot in mouth.

Akey had explained how he'd served up a steak meal in a bowl, rather than on a plate, to players to get them thinking about a postseason bowl appearance.

Bowl talk after assembling 1-11 and 2-10 finishes — and one win in 16 conference games — in his first two years at Idaho, a school with nine consecutive losing seasons? Exactly.

I mean, two years ago in UH's last trip to Moscow, quarterback Colt Brennan played the worst game of his career, a five-interception effort, and the Warriors still won handily, 48-20.

We pause here for a trivia question: Who was the last head coach to take the Vandals to a bowl?

Answer: Current UH assistant coach Chris Tormey in 1998, when Idaho beat Southern Mississippi in the Humanitarian Bowl.

Hopefully, the Warriors' return to the postseason won't be far removed, lest UH find itself in danger of becoming a trivia question.