4. The big loser is …
Hawaii, followed up by Notre Dame.
In 1926, Notre Dame ended its football season with a 13-12 win over the University of Southern California.
The two have played 90 more times since then. They’re not going to play this season.
The Irish also will lose the home game against Stanford on October 10th, but don’t shed too many tears – their dance card will easily be filled.
Hawaii has a bigger problem. On the plus side, it’s among the safest places in the United States. On the negative side, in a time when cost-cutting is at a premium for athletic departments, good luck getting any random team to make the trip.
“Obviously with three Pac-12 teams on our football schedule, today’s decision affects us more than others,” Athletics Director David Matlin said. “We are disappointed because not only were we looking forward to opening the season at Arizona, we were excited to host UCLA for the first time in over 80 years and renew a series with Oregon. However the decision was made in the best interest of student-athlete health and wellness and we support that and will move on accordingly with the rest of our schedule.”
The Rainbow Warriors were supposed to start the season at Arizona, follow it up with UCLA, play Fordham – also cancelled – and go to Oregon a few weeks later. They wanted the showcase games, and the returning team is good enough to pull off at least one win, possibly two.
BYU is also going to scramble a bit with the opener against Utah, the trop to Arizona State, and the regular season finale at Stanford all gone. Throw in the lost games against Michigan State and Minnesota, and … uh oh.