Loathe them or love them, the Cougars of BYU are back.

The University of Hawai'i will renew its football rivalry with Brigham Young after the schools announced yesterday a home-and-home series in 2012 and 2013.

The Warriors and Cougars were rivals predating and extending through their joint Western Athletic Conference membership and have not played in football since 2002.

The teams will meet on Sept. 8, 2012 in Provo, Utah, and again on Sept. 14, 2013 at Aloha Stadium.

Fittingly, the game was signed off on by two members of the UH-BYU rivalry, athletic directors Jim Donovan, a former UH offensive lineman, and Tom Holmoe, an ex-BYU defensive back.

"I had to block him on occasion, which wasn't fun," Donovan said. "But we both came from a time period when it was a healthy rivalry and recognize the fans appreciated it."

Said BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe: "It's great to rekindle the rivalry with Hawai'i. Over the years the tradition has included fantastic players, coaches, teams and games. Add in terrific fans and stadiums and you have the ingredients of an excellent matchup."

Donovan praised associate AD Carl Clapp "for carrying the ball on this and seeing it (negotiations) through. Kudos to Carl."

The teams first met Dec. 10, 1930, in Honolulu with Hawai'i winning 49-13, but BYU has dominated the series, winning 19 of 27 games.

BYU won the last meeting, 35-32, Sept. 6, 2002, in Provo. The last time the teams met here in 2001, UH walloped then-unbeaten BYU, 72-45, on national TV. Nick Rolovich, UH's quarterback coach, threw a school-record eight touchdowns in that game.

BYU and seven other schools left the WAC in 1999 to form the Mountain West Conference.