Don't hate the messenger.....but what if?

[TheDuke]

the 13th game is a negative. Teams play a 13th game because of conference championship playoffs without a game with Hawaii. Playing fourteen games doesn't leave bye weeks. The seasons are long and most teams want a break for school and recovery. The teams that take the extra game are typically road games for us or lower tier teams. Scheduling the 13th game hasn't been easy.

[SundayJam]

I'm not so sure our 13th game opponents would otherwise get that extra game. We play out of conference teams. We are either a tune-up or an extra game that they wouldn't otherwise play. Lucky you live Hawaii. Lucky you play for or against Hawaii. JMHO.

[bigislandkurt]

Has there been a recent example of a school's football program going from D1 to D2? And what were some of the situations that caused this change?

Just to be clear, FCS is NOT D2. As a matter of fact, FCS consists of many many good schools. Honestly speaking, the current UH football product is NOT at the level of the top FCS teams like South Dakota State, North Dakota State, Incarnate Word, Montana, Montana State, HBCU's like FAMU, North Carolina Central. Ones on the West Coast include the likes of UC Davis, Sacramento State, Weber, Idaho, and they all play good ball. Many of these FCS schools schedule FBS opponents in the first 3 weeks of the season. Our Week 3 opponent UAlbany is not one of the top FCS programs, but we saw for ourselves what level of football FCS schools can play because they took it right to us. We won, but that was a hard fought victory. Again, I must emphasize the "CURRENT STATE OF UH FOOTBALL." This includes stadium issues, losing team, conference realignments, etc. Often, we want to counter the FCS proposal with answers that reflect the "good ol days" of JJ or packed aloha stadiums, rather than what we honestly now have in the UH football product. No, we are not winning. No, we are not beating "big" schools anymore. We can continue to blame Todd Graham and Norm Chow all we like, but at the end of the day, we still facing some grim realities. Top FCS schools have great fan support. I think we'd be the same..especially if we win constantly and find us in the national championship conversation each year for FCS. Time to embrace our new reality.

[TheDuke]

College football landscape has changed and not in Hawaii's favor. Winning teams this year and in the future is now defined as:

1. Schools with very good NIL opportunities for players
2. Teams with strong alumni that support their schools and financially support NIL
2. The transfer portal
3. Transfer players with four priorities: NIL, playing time, visibility and playing close to home and in front of family and friends

Hawaii is not a good fit for 95%+ of all good to very good portal transfers. Good transfers can find better NIL opportunities at other schools closer to where they are originally from and play in front of family and friends

[Scott]

the 13th game is a negative. Teams play a 13th game because of conference championship playoffs without a game with Hawaii. Playing fourteen games doesn't leave bye weeks. The seasons are long and most teams want a break for school and recovery. The teams that take the extra game are typically road games for us or lower tier teams. Scheduling the 13th game hasn't been easy.

the positive is it's an additional HOME game that will generate additional revenue. Only poor AD's would have difficulty making additional revenue for their team. If scheduling 13 games is too much for anyone, they can drop off an away game and add a home game. However, this only works in Herman Fraiser-type situations where they only have the schedule set at the last minute. Most teams are 3+ years in advance.

[cabanalane]

So from the AD's perspective, when setting the schedule, UH would be in Year 4 of the Todd Graham era. The team would be awesome with BS13, ready to take on Oregon Ducks.

So which teams you think did Craig Angelos set for Timmy Chang to play in 2026 and 2027?

[bigislandkurt]

From this past weekend:
FCS Sacramento State defeats FBS Stanford 30-23.
Sac State is the #4 ranked FCS team in the nation. Stanford came into our house and won pretty easily.

[shrek2]

I blame Dave Matlin for the situation UH football is in. Who wants a team that's going to be sub 500 for the next three years? 13 games or not, you start to lose interest after the first few games. Hawaii needs a larger audience if it's going to survive.

[My3Cats]

I'm pretty sure that Matlin did not have a say when Aloha Stadium self-condemned and shut down. We can thank our State legislators for not funding for appropriate repairs and maintenance over the past couple decades, and Ige for not releasing all of the allocated funds.

[BigWave96744]

I'm pretty sure that Matlin did not have a say when Aloha Stadium self-condemned and shut down. We can thank our State legislators for not funding for appropriate repairs and maintenance over the past couple decades, and Ige for not releasing all of the allocated funds.

Yes Matlin was proactive to build the on-campus Stadium. Otherwise there were no options.

Put blame on David Ige and his team of non-UH athletic supporters who kept delaying the plans for post Aloha Stadium and left Green with the Bag.

[cabanalane]

Everything in HawaII is slow to build, except high price condos in Kakaako. How come? They get approved and built almost overnight. Not greasing the wheel? Not handing out enough red envelopes? Forget to take the guys to FeMeNu?

[BigWave96744]

Of the four teams on the fringe (Nevada, Utah State, San Jose State, and Hawaii), Hawaii has the most value for the MWC. Hawaii opponents that play @Hawaii receive a thirteenth regular season game to defray travel costs. Hawaii's particular time slot puts them on National TV way more than most mid-majors. Players, Parents, and Administrators all want to experience Hawaii.

If Hawaii wants to add value, they need to have all sports in the MWC. Otherwise we are an easy target to be left out

[bigislandkurt]

To say that Hawaii is in a unique situation is the understatement of the year.
UH is a football-only affiliate member of the MWC. They do not have much bargaining chips in this process. Not sure MWC Athletic directors would want all of Hawaii's sports in. Not sure they even want our football team in the conference for that matter. For our volleyball teams, it make sense to stay in the Big West...not so much the MWC. Probably same for baseball.

In the end, we might be in two or three different conferences.

I'm not so sure Hawaii has the most value amongst "fringe" MWC schools. All the other schools are closer and come with less travel.

To maintain D1 status, our football team might be forced into independence. I still say that our current realities are pointing us to FCS Big Sky, but that is not a popular opinion.

[Scott]

Of the four teams on the fringe (Nevada, Utah State, San Jose State, and Hawaii), Hawaii has the most value for the MWC. Hawaii opponents that play @Hawaii receive a thirteenth regular season game to defray travel costs. Hawaii's particular time slot puts them on National TV way more than most mid-majors. Players, Parents, and Administrators all want to experience Hawaii.

If Hawaii wants to add value, they need to have all sports in the MWC. Otherwise we are an easy target to be left out

I humbly disagree (I had to say humbly because Bigwasve96744 is the sports guru). All of the other sports are a burden to the MWC because of travel costs. Only football generates additional revenue for teams who play at Hawaii.