ONLY at the University of Hawaii. Scheduling puts Hawaii in no-win situation
Where else are you going to find a college football schedule that has Northeast Louisiana one week and Notre Dame the next.
Talk about a quantum leap. But that's not the bad part. We're talking about the prospect of back-to-back embarrassments for the Rainbows.
It was bad enough getting embarrassed by Northeast Louisiana in a game that should never have been scheduled by UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida. The trouble with playing "weather vane" schools is there's nothing to gain by playing them.
Beat them and fans will say, "So what?" Lose to them, as the Rainbows did Saturday night against the Indians at Aloha Stadium - 23-20 in their first overtime game - and even the diehard UH fans have to leave the stadium feeling a little sheepish. See what I mean? It's a can't-win situation.
College powers like Nebraska pick on the Central Floridas of the college football world to rack up the score and please the alumni. Pay them good money for their trouble, too.
I figure if you're going to play a team nobody has ever heard of, except maybe down in the bayou - in the case of Northeast Louisiana - schedule somebody you can beat. Otherwise it's not worth the time and expense.
Obviously, the fans weren't interested either. Only 20,801 showed up for this first and, I hope, only encounter between the two schools. Too bad, it was an entertaining game, what with the novelty of the overtime format and all. But the Rainbows didn't need entertainment. They needed a "W." All they got was another loss.
THAT'S the trouble with filling out the schedule with a 12th game, which the NCAA allows Hawaii to do. A lot of times, especially in recent years, all it means is one more loss for the record.
If that's going to be the case, you might as well schedule a "somebody." Losing to a brand-name school looks better on the résumé than losing to a school you need directions to find.
In the case of NE Louisiana, whose motto must be "have football team, will travel," it was strictly a scheduling mistake.
The team's obviously every bit as good as Hawaii, but without the name recognition. Also, it comes from a part of the country where the game is played a little quicker than the Rainbows are accustomed. Both are finesse teams, but the Indians are a faster finesse team.
In the end, even if they are a little ol' country school from Monroe, La., they sure pulled a fast one on the Rainbows, snookering them with an old-fashioned "hook-and-ladder" pass play to win in overtime.
Getting beat by NE Louisiana was embarrassing enough. Getting beat on one of the oldest plays in the book - and on a third-and-20 situation - was even worse.
WHICH brings us to this Saturday afternoon's season finale against Notre Dame.
Losing to Notre Dame by 40 or 50 points won't be as embarrassing because:
It's Notre Dame. That name-recognition factor works both ways.
And you know what? Notre Dame won't need to resort to a trick play to beat Hawaii.