Four outcomes were possible for the Hawaii football team in the Mountain West Conference’s new scheduling deal with the remnant members of the Pac-12 Conference, Oregon State and Washington State.
One of the Beavers or Cougars would travel to Honolulu for a game in 2024, or the Rainbow Warriors would be sent packing to Corvallis, Ore., or Pullman, Wash.
The last of those scenarios came to pass on Thursday as the MWC released its full slate of games between OSU and WSU and its 12 football members. The Beavers and Cougars each received six games against MWC teams, three home and three away, that will count for overall team records only.
For its members, the MWC largely kept intact its 2024 groupings that it announced in July 2022. All MWC teams had one 2024 league game dropped in favor of the crossover game with OSU or WSU. For UH, the dropped game is a road contest against Air Force.
The remaining seven league games on each MWC team's 2024 schedule will determine the participants in the Mountain West championship, for which OSU and WSU are not eligible under the current agreement.
UH’s four MWC home games in 2024 remained the same: Boise State, Nevada, New Mexico and UNLV. Three road games were untouched: Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State. Dates and times have not yet been announced.
When UH goes to WSU, it will be the Rainbow Warriors’ first all-time visit to the Palouse for football. UH and WSU have met five times dating back to 1926, with four meetings in the Islands and one on the mainland. UH owns a 3-2 record in the series, with the last a UH 38-20 victory at Qwest Field in Seattle in 2009.
WSU went 5-7 overall, including 2-7 in the final full season of Pac-12 play as 10 of the conference's schools prepared to move to other Power Five leagues. Coach Jake Dickert's team won its first four games, then lost seven of its last eight.
UH’s most notable link with WSU in the last several years was the defection of former head coach Nick Rolovich after the 2019 season. Rolovich and several ex-UH staff members saw their Pullman tenure come to an end in controversial fashion when Rolovich was fired in October 2021 for his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Rolovich subsequently filed a lawsuit against WSU.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.