By Stephen Tsai
Copyright staradvertiser
After a week of flashback videos, guest speakers from back in the day, and Home Depot tool jokes, the Fresno State-Hawaii football history is no longer a mystery.
The Rainbow Warriors floated like butterflies and stung like bees in the Ali-Frazier battles that featured catches from Craig Stutzmann, Ashley Lelie and Britton Komine; the sack by Joe Correia, and blocks by Antwan “Tua” Mahaley and Viane Moala.
And the Warriors were Chuck Wepner in blowout losses of 70-14 in 2004, 50-20 in 2018 and 55-13 three years ago.
The Bulldogs complained about the absence of a police escort when they stayed at Turtle Bay Hilton; the Warriors alleged a (thrown?) screwdriver landed near head coach June Jones’ Reeboks.
The Warriors used a baseball clubhouse as a visitors’ locker room; the Bulldogs will dress in a makeshift area in Les Murakami Stadium for today’s Mountain West opener between the teams.
They hate each other, they respect each other …
“They were a good opponent,” said UH associate head coach Chris Brown, who was a middle linebacker in the battles in the early 2000s. “It was a good fight. It was a last-man-standing kind of fight.”
In a UH-published retrospective article on the rivalry, head coach and former UH quarterback Timmy Chang said: “It’s all about the physicality, the community and the fan bases. They represent the (Central) Valley. We represent the state. And then just the back and forth of it … sometimes they’re close games, sometimes they’re blowouts. Sometimes they get the better of us, sometimes we get the better of them. It’s just always been back and forth.”
In practices ahead of today’s 57th meeting between the teams, the Warriors exited memory lane.
“It’s about now, right now,” Chang said. “No matter if we did good or bad (in the past), we can’t go back. All of that in the past is great for history. It’s great for the history of us and the rivalry. But it’s about where we are right now. It’s what we do on Saturday at 6 o’clock Hawaii time. It’s about us and what we do. That’s what we’ll focus on.”
The Warriors will have their offensive leader back in the starting lineup. Quarterback Micah Alejado, who was held out of the past two games because of a deeply bruised right foot, worked exclusively with the first-team offense this week. While Luke Weaver is 2-0 and has lengthened the passing attack, Alejado has better command and more experience in the four-wide offense.
Alejado will work behind a fully healed offensive line. Center Ethan Spencer, who was in concussion protocol last week, is expected to start today. Right guard Kuao Peihopa was injured during Alejado’s two starts this season. Peihopa returned to the lineup two weeks ago while Alejado was mending. Wideout Jackson Harris, a Stanford transfer who did not play because of an ailment last week, might be available.
“The healthier we are, the more we got our dogs to the fight, the better we’re going to be,” Chang said.
Matt Entz, who was hired as Fresno State’s head coach last December, hired John Davis from South Dakota as offensive coordinator. Davis installed a downhill-running attack fueled by gap schemes, counters and a five-back rotation. Jacob Spomer, who moved from left tackle to center, calls the assignments.
But Davis’ 300-page playbook also features three-receiver sets. Quarterback E.J. Warner, son of Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner, is the NCAA’s active leader in career passing yards (9,530) and completions (867).
As part of a recon effort, the Bulldogs sent two staff members to Hawaii in the spring to check the logistics.
