Monday Tidbits for Week Zero

Week 0 beckons! Our payment for summer's disappearance has arrived. As you try to control your excitement for a rather mediocre slate, here are some factoids (and opinions) that the guys in "the truck" probably won't be passing along Saturday:

Iowa State/Kansas State: Look, if you're the sort of B1G fan who only cares about your team, and if that means you love expansion because the TV contract has enhanced your team's bottom line, I get it. You kind of suck, but I get it. However, in a world where our Rob Manfred-ized commish seems only concerned with "inventory" and...nevermind, just kill me now.

Okay, you're going to watch this game anyway. While watching pour a little out knowing that if the Pac-12 had been less awfully run, these two teams might be re-constituting the Big 12 with a few MWC teams instead of Oregon State and Wazzu doing so with the Pac 12. Two good coaches (Hey Matt Campbell, ever been to Madison? Never too late...). Two programs that have to work that much harder just to be pretty good. Plus the Big 12 is almost certainly going to be a joyful mess of a title race this year (like last year), so get silly! (And also keep Oregon State and Wazzu in mind. Like last year, they'll play twice this year, both in November.)

Idaho State/UNLV: This game doesn't seem like it's going to be broadcast on any network I have easy access to, so...As you might know, Dan Mullen now leads UNLV. He should at least get a good start at following in Barry Odom's footsteps.

Fresno State @ Kansas: If you hate Wisconsin, I guess you can cheer for Kansas to drop 60 points and make it look like hiring KU's former OC Jeff Grimes was a desperate move by Luke Fickell.

Or you could treat this as North Dakota State coaching alum day and see what Matt Entz has prepared for his first game as an FBS head man. (Entz was hired to the Northern Iowa defensive staff in Klieman's last year as DC there, then replaced Klieman as DC in 2014 when Klieman became HC. Both were born in Waterloo, IA, FWIW.)

Sam Houston @ Western Kentucky: If you hate Wisconsin, I guess you'll be cheering for Phil Longo's BearKats to drop 60. As a Wisconsin fan I WILL be hate-watching the game. I knew two of Wisconsin's backup QB's followed Longo to Huntsville, but he also evidently took a CB with him (who I suspect loves the confidence surge of going against a Phil Longo offense during practice). Time will tell. If nothing else, the BearKats are a 10 point dog and the O/U is set at 60.5, so Longo's charges are expected to surpass the paltry 23.04 ppg his offense averaged as OC in Madison (19.86 not counting games against Purdue).

Stanford @ Hawaii: Once upon a time, CFB teams played 11 regular-season games, but every few years (I think it was four), you could add a 12th for a Kickoff Classic-type event or...a trip to Hawaii. Let's do a deep dive!

[AO: Sorry, Kind Of... I had to.]

From 1984 and 2009, Hawaii went 7-12 vs. B1G teams, and 14 of those games were on the island. We'll break those down further in a bit.

In the road games, Hawaii went 0-3. All of these were September tilts and none were close even though they included a 3-8 Wisconsin team (1987) and a 5-6 MSU squad (2005).

The Rainbows played B1G opponents twice in bowl games. The 1989 Aloha Bowl wasn't a neutral site bowl game, but Sparty still came away with a convincing 33-13 win. Illinois was less fortunate, dropping a 27-17 decision to Hawaii in the 1992 Holiday Bowl. Before you shame the Illini, that was probably the third or fourth best team in Hawaii's football history.

But it's the games Hawaii hosted that were most fun. First, you were tuning in at 11:00 p.m.--or later--to watch. Second, there was a reasonable chance of offensive fireworks. Though not right away.

Iowa inaugurated this not-quite-tradition with a 17-6 win in 1984 that helped wipe away the taste of a late-season face plant (they led the B1G with two games remaining...and lost both). In 1986, Hawaii beat a bad Wisconsin Badgers team (they'd go 3-9) 20-17 in September (rallying from a 17-6 deficit in the last four minutes!) and lost to B1G champ Michigan 27-10 in December. Then, in 1988, Hawaii opened the season by upsetting #9 Iowa 27-24 on a late Jason Elam field goal. THAT got people's attention. (Oh my god, there's video! Check out Iowa having a last-minute go ahead TD nullified by penalty. They would then miss a game-tying FG.)

Perhaps non-coincidentally, it would be eight years until another B1G squad headed to the islands for a game. In Wisconsin's 59-10 blowout victory, freshman sensation Ron Dayne racked up 339 yards and four TD on 36 carries...none in the fourth quarter. Hawaii, who finished 2-10, was one of the worst teams in FBS in 1996, and it showed.

While the Rainbows would beat a destined-to-go 3-9 Minnesota Golden Gophers squad to open up the 1997 season, Hawaii lost by 31 to Michigan and by 26 to (a bad) Northwestern in successive weeks at the end of the 1998 campaign, capping an 0-12 season and ending Fred Vonappen's 3-year tenure with a 5-31 cumulative record. (The victims? 1-11 UNLV, 2-10 Boise State (in their first year as an FBS team), FCS Cal State Northridge, a mediocre Fresno State and...Minnesota.)

In 1999, run-and-shoot guru (and alum) June Jones arrived on the scene, and Hawaii staged the largest turnaround in FBS history, going from 0-12 to 9-4. Hawaii won 9 or more games six times in Jones's nine years at the helm, and the six games vs. B1G squads were filled with fireworks:

Jones's worst team was the 3-9 team in 2000, and they ended their season with a 34-18 loss to Wisconsin that saw Michael Bennett (222, rushing) and Chris Chambers (169, receiving) combine for nearly 400 yards of offense.

In successive weeks at the end of the 2004 season, Hawaii would ruin 6-5 Northwestern's bowl hopes in a 49-41 shootout (video) and then drop Michigan State to 5-7 in a thrilling 41-38 comeback win (video). With over 1,000 combined yards of offense in each game, this was peak Hawaii/B1G action.

The next year, in Barry Alvarez's last regular-season game as HC of the Badgers, Wisconsin won 41-24 despite surrendering more that 400 yards passing to the late Colt Brennan.

Brennan would go on to lead Hawaii to an undefeated regular season and BCS spot in 2007, his senior year. However, it was his 2006 campaign that stands out: 406-559-5549-58-12. The 58 TDs are still third best all-time, and broke a 16 year-old record at the time. In their penultimate regular-season game in 2006, the Rainbows hosted an 8-4 Purdue team. Joe Tiller! June Jones! The 77 combined points was a surprisingly low total, especially given the 1,100+ yards of offense. But, there were six turnovers and Purdue didn't score in the first half, spotting Hawaii a 17-0 lead. The Boilermakers would go on a 35-10 run, seizing a 35-27 lead with just under seven minutes to play. But Brennan would get the last laugh, leading two late scoring drives as Hawaii would walk away with a 42-35 victory.

Things don't always end well, though, and the last time a B1G team headed to Hawaii was an anti-climactic 51-10 rout by Wisconsin in 2009. With 12 regular-season games the norm for all FBS teams, the long flight now came to seem like an unnecessary grind instead of a reward. Since then, all four Hawaii/B1G games have been road tilts in September for the Rainbows. And all four were blowouts by margins ranging from 28-60 points, with Hawaii only scoring 13 points overall.

Nothing gold can stay. But Hawaii went 6-8 at home vs. B1G competition, including 5-0 in one score games. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?