UH-Army Series

The Advertiser talks to Greg McMackin about the four-game series UH just signed with Army.

The Warriors will open the 2010 season with a Friday night game against Southern California Sept. 3. Then they will play consecutive road games against Army and then Sept. 18 against Colorado.

How difficult is that opening stretch?

"We'll find out, won't we?" McMackin said, smiling.

He added: "In order to be recognized, you have to play the big people. SC is one of the marquee programs in the country. And any time you play a military academy, it's a special event. The military teams will never let down. It's exciting for us because of the military makeup of Hawai'i. It will be great for the fans of Hawai'i. It's a natural fit. We have so many military people here defending us."

That's also the first I've read that the USC game will be played on Friday. Makes sense, with that huge road trip looming.

Jason Kaneshiro has a few quotes from McMackin as well.

It'll be the fifth straight year UH's schedule includes a two-game road trip. They played at Utah State and New Mexico State on consecutive Saturdays last year. They'll face Washington State in Seattle then play at UNLV this fall.

"We should have the routine down," McMackin said of preparing for an extended mainland stay.

Hawaii has one more opening to fill on the nonconference slate for 2010.

It'll be interesting to see what sort of team will fill out the 2010 schedule. Although booking a I-AA team each year is part of Greg McMackin's and Jim Donovan's scheduling philosophy, I hope that UH gets another match-up with a BCS team. Since all the September dates are now booked, scheduling an early October game with I-AA team seems too late to serve as a "warm-up," and scheduling one at the end of the year would be somewhat anti-climactic. However, a match-up against a BCS team late in the year with the offense clicking on all cylinders, confetti streaming from the upper decks, and possible national rankings on the line would be a lot cooler, IMHO!