Could it be that orange is the new blue? Or the new red? Or the new … well, the new orange?
If familiarity does indeed breed contempt, Oregon State is an opponent that should fire up Hawaii the way BYU, Fresno State and Boise State have in the past.
Maybe UH doesn’t even have one single nemesis. Even historically the annual game Hawaii and its fans focused on most was a case of unrequited hate; when current UH coach Norm Chow was at BYU the Cougars were always too busy loathing Utah to care much about the Rainbows.
OSU, which UH plays Saturday, might be the closest thing to a rival, at least for now — even though they won’t meet again until 2017 and then 2021. The Beavers aren’t in the same conference as the Rainbow Warriors. But Oregon State has so many Hawaii ties, making emotions run higher than for most other opponents.
First, there’s the coaching staff: Mark Banker (defensive coordinator), Mike Cavanaugh (offensive line) and Joe Seumalo (defensive line) are all former UH coaches. Radford grad Seumalo played at UH, too.
Cavanaugh is one of the most popular figures in the Hawaii program’s history. Receivers coach Brent Brennan is the uncle of legendary UH quarterback Colt Brennan. Grad assistant Tavita Thompson was a Saint Louis School standout.
Six current Beavers players are from Hawaii. And offensive linemen Roman Sapolu and Isaac Seumalo are sons of former Rainbow Warriors.
Though most of the island boys aren’t expected to play Saturday, their roster presence is a reminder of how Hawaii’s fine crop of football prospects is annually raided by the Beavers and seemingly everyone else.
Another irritant for UH is that the Beavers have won a game at Aloha Stadium more recently than the Rainbow Warriors, beating Boise State in last year’s Hawaii Bowl.
Oregon State has won the past three meetings in the series, which it leads 6-3, and the Beavers even proved nettlesome against what I believe to be UH’s most talented team ever, the 2006 edition. OSU ended UH’s nine-game winning streak, 35-32, with Hawaii driving but Brennan throwing incomplete on the game’s last play.
The connections go even farther back, as UH’s honorary captain for Saturday’s game was a Beaver, not a Rainbow.
UH West Oahu Chancellor Rockne Freitas was a standout OSU lineman in the 1960s and went on to a long NFL career. His Beavers teammate, Farrington legend Skippa Diaz, died last Saturday and will also be honored prior to the game.
Freitas takes the diplomatic approach for this game, saying the teams are "equals" despite a double-digit point-spread favoring his alma mater.
Freitas doesn’t think it’s too crazy to speculate on West Oahu someday having a team to play Manoa, despite UH’s current financial woes.
"That’s a good idea for the future," he said. "How many years from now? I don’t know."
If that day ever comes there will no longer be any doubt about the identity of the Rainbow Warriors’ rival.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads Opens in a new tab.
