The University of Hawaii will likely wait until Sunday to announce whether it will accept an offer to add a football game at Colorado, athletic director Ben Jay said Friday.
Jay is in Reno, where UH plays Nevada today in the Mountain West Conference opener for both schools.
The game will be shown at 2:05 p.m.
"We’re evaluating the situation," Jay said of the prospective Oct. 19 game in Boulder. "There are a lot of factors we’re considering."
Heavy flooding in the state forced Colorado to cancel its home game with Fresno State last Saturday. Since CU and Fresno State have been unable to reschedule the contest, the Buffaloes have approached several schools, including UH, about filling the slot.
Both UH and CU have open dates on Oct 19.
UH has 12 games scheduled but may add a 13th game. CU, which will play 11 games unless a substitute for Fresno State is found, stands to miss out on a multi-million-dollar home payday and put its bowl chances at increased risk.
‘Demo’ demonstrates
Call him the special teams’ whisperer.
During Friday’s walk-through session at Mackay Stadium, Hawaii’s special-team units practiced running on the field and into formation. Chris "Demo" Demarest, who coaches special teams, voiced instructions in a hushed tone.
Demarest is suspended for today’s game against Nevada. The Mountain West Conference ruled Demarest violated the league’s sportsmanship policy when he yelled at an Oregon State player for delivering a late hit in a game two weeks ago.
Demarest was allowed to participate in the walk-through session, but is barred from attending today’s game.
Demarest also had to pay his own airfare and expenses for the trip.
The Rainbow Warriors appeared to be loose during the 45-minute session on the Wolf Pack’s campus.
The Warriors learned that they were assigned a women’s locker room for the game.
No need for heaters
The Warriors declined to order heaters for the game, which might be played in cool weather.
They also did not focus on Reno’s elevation of 4,400 feet above sea level.
"We don’t care when we play, where we play, who we play," UH coach Norm Chow said. "It doesn’t matter. Let’s go play."
UH wearing home jerseys
It will be a white-out night for Nevada, with the Wolf Pack wearing gray jerseys with white numbers.
Hawaii will be wearing its black and green jerseys that it usually wears for home games.
Hadden can’t change
Tyler Hadden is still dressed in black.
In practices, UH’s offense wears white jerseys and the defense wears black tops. Tyler Hadden, UH’s placekicker, is assigned a black jersey for practices.
"From day one I’ve been in the black jersey," Hadden said. "It’s kind of weird. At the end of the season, I might have the most points but I’ll be wearing the black jersey."
Hadden won’t be wearing traveling white today. Nevada is holding a white-out night for the game.
"He’s the free safety (on kickoffs)," Demarest said. "IF something breaks through, he has to throw a shoulder in there or grab cloth and try to drag a guy down. He has responsibilities besides the kicking aspect of it."
