UH football pre-season

[seekir]

As I understand it, the beleaguered UH football program faces several unique obstacles due to our island geography. The team must travel to play away, and there are fatigue/jet lag issues associated with this necessity. Then there's the expense of this travel, and I heard recently that the travel expenses of teams that UH plays here at Aloha stadium are covered by the UH (if anyone can confirm or correct what I heard on this I'd welcome input). Recruiting is tough for the UH program, because highly rated players are aware that the team has an uneven record and outstanding local high school and mainland players are generally inclined to play for mainland schools which have more consistent records of success.

My main concern/question regards the strange (to me at least) trend for the Warriors to play their initial games against highly rated programs (Division 1 teams?). For instance, Cal and Michigan this year. The same thing occurred under coach Chow and has happened for several seasons if I recall correctly. From my point of view, The Warriors are being offered up to powerhouse programs, almost as fodder to boost the confidence these highly ranked opponents will carry into the regular season. On the other hand, UH players experience almost assured defeat as a first taste of the season they in turn are about to face. I wonder how many injuries result from these initial games against the sort of athletes that the Warriors are facing in the pre-season. Seems to me that it might be better for them to start the season against less imposing opponents so that their health, self-esteem, and optimism about the coming season have a chance to survive their initial playing experiences.

Am I the only one confused about this pre-season practice? Could it be due to lack of local control over scheduling, or is it just bad judgement on the part of the UH athletic department? Maybe they somehow imagine an almost insurmountable challenge will somehow be good for the team? Is anyone entertaining hopes that the Warriors wont be crushed by Michigan? In my view, loading up the initial season with such opponents seems like a poor way to improve the record of a program that already faces the obstacles our island locale presents. Clearly the coaches at schools like Cal and Michigan aren't choosing to start their seasons with a probable defeat.

[Obie]

Here is one reason :

"If an FBS team has a game scheduled at Hawai'i in a particular season, that team can start its season one Saturday earlier than the normal start to the FBS regular season. (The "further" part of the rule means that the opponent of the "exempted" team is also allowed to play that one-week-early game.)

Makes it easier for teams to fit a game at Hawai'i into their schedules, gives them the incentive of an extra bye week in a season when they play at Hawai'i, and gives Hawai'i an extra week to schedule a home game."

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

The Warriors are being offered up to powerhouse programs, almost as fodder

This is a common practice in college football. The stronger conferences pay teams from weaker conferences to play the first 3 or 4 games of the season as preseason or warmup games. This allows a Big 10 or Pac 12 team to refine plays, and try out second string players under actual game situations.

The weaker teams almost always get clobbered (and it's a big story if they don't*), but they usually receive hundreds of thousands of dollars for their program and the chance to play in front of a national TV audience. As mentioned earlier, they mostly get clobbered, but I guess it gets filed under the theory that bad attention is better than no attention at all.

* See the 2007 Appalachian State vs. Michigan football game
http://www.si.com/longform/appstate/

- Be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. - Work slowly. - Refer all matters to committees for "further study and consideration. - Hold conferences. - Make travel as inconvenient as possible. - Haggle over precise wordings of communications. - Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and avoid haste. (Excerpts from the WWII OSS Simple Sabotage Manual)

[ElysianWort]

I agree HOTPE. It isn't anything unusual and there's nothing that can be done about our proximity. If our team happens to beat a powerhouse team, which they have done in the past, then it's a big boost to team ego and momentum. Highly skilled high school players, which Hawaii has more than it's share of, will continue to go to mainland schools until our college gets a reputation and starts winning. The key certainly wasn't Norm Chow albeit he was local, he wasn't a fit. When a good coach settles in and Hawaii starts winning, more local stars will stay in Hawaii as opposed to flyin' off. Let's hope Rolovich is on the right track.

[ElysianWort]

Oh yeah, and I was pissed when June Jones left to MSU or whatever. Hawaii should have payed him whatever he wanted. A couple decades of him would have done wonders for our school.

[2liveque]

Wow! Glad to see that there are some Warrior football fans on PW!

[Obie]

I've been to games at Aloha Stadium .

Long time fan !

[seekir]

From HereOnThePrimalEdge:

quote:

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This is a common practice in college football. The stronger conferences pay teams from weaker conferences to play the first 3 or 4 games of the season as preseason or warmup games. This allows a Big 10 or Pac 12 team to refine plays, and try out second string players under actual game situations.

---

That's interesting, thanks for the enlightenment. Can't say I think the resulting trouncings have been working out great for UH football's program. After all, if the resulting sense of failure and injuries compromise the team's success, attendance at games and game broadcast sales will logically fall off, neutralizing any "blood money" profits. Who wants to see a demoralized team get "clobbered"?

I guess the players are aware this is why they're playing these teams?

[2liveque]

With the continued power monopoly of the power 5 conferences, mid majors like Hawaii.....especially Hawaii, will grow dependent on these so called "body bag" games. At least a million to be had on each game. 600k after expenses. For a cash strapped team, decimated through the last few years of an outdated delusional coach...playing in empty Aloha stadium....these paychecks mean a lot.

[seekir]

I'm not sure I made the point in my previous post clearly: The potential that a "paycheck" game could demoralize a team before they get a chance to believe in themselves, and the risk that a powerful opponent could cause physical injuries to UH players before the regular season even begins may neutralize any profit this scheme could generate because normally loyal fans fail to attend games in person or in their living rooms when their team's hopes and self-esteem are broken and losing becomes a trend.