In time, the University of Hawai'i might come to thank Ohio State for stealing a football game out from under it.

Say, sometime around 7:05 tonight at Aloha Stadium, perhaps.

That's when the Warriors open their season against Central Arkansas, a stand-in opponent of sorts.

Fifteen months ago, not only were the Bears not on the Warriors' 2009 schedule, probably the only person in the UH athletic department that could have told you they even played football would have been Rainbow Wahine volleyball player Catherine Fowler, who is from their hometown, Conway, Ark.

But desperation makes for some interesting pairings and, suddenly, here the Bears are, some 4,200 miles from home, where the Warriors should be increasingly glad to welcome them.

Not that the Bears, even with their Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA) standing — and a provisional one at that — are a guaranteed victory.

But all things considered they are what the doctor would have ordered had he been able to divine a future that has seen both UH's only returning defensive starters, linebacker Brashton Satele and defensive end Fetaiagogo "John" Fonoti, sidelined with injuries tonight.

Satele is out after having shoulder surgery, and Fonoti is not expected to play tonight after suffering a knee bruise Tuesday.

Clearly not the type of defensive bedrocks you want to be without in any situation. But how much more costly would their absences have been if UH was opening against an option team? One, for example, such as Navy.

Originally, UH was to have kicked off this season with Navy and its ground-hugging option.

But Ohio State came along and offered the Middies $1.4 million to break ranks and play in Columbus, Ohio tomorrow. It wasn't a tough call for Navy, which told UH to move the game to late November or else the Middies would gladly pay the $250,000 buyout fee to cancel the game altogether.

UH complied, reslotting Navy for Nov. 28, and then began a three-month scramble to fill the opener. Mindful of back-to-back non-conference road games with Washington State and UNLV, UH went shopping for an FCS opponent.

There might be times tonight when UCA proves a bear of a challenge for UH, but all things considered the Buckeyes did UH a favor.