The football rivalry between Hawaii and Fresno State will be renewed in 2024, according to the Mountain West Conference’s matchups announced Thursday.
With the dissolution of divisions this year, UH and Fresno State did not meet in the recently completed regular season, ending a streak of 31 years.
Although the original master schedule had those two teams playing this year, there was the possibility of shuffling as a fallout from 10 of 12 schools leaving the Pac-12 after this academic year. Oregon State and Washington State will fill their 2024 football schedules with nonconference games against Mountain West schools.
Instead of playing eight league games, each Mountain West team will play seven conference opponents and either OSU or WSU in a non-counting game.
In 2024, the Rainbow Warriors will play host to Mountain West members Boise State, Nevada, New Mexico and UNLV. Their road games will be against Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State and Washington State. The league did not announce the dates of the games.
“It’s a good schedule,” UH coach Timmy Chang said. “It’s tough competition. Every game is tough.”
Boise State, which won the league’s 2023 title, and Hawaii will meet for the first time since 2020. The teams have not played in Honolulu since 2016.
UH and Fresno State have had memorable games since their days as members of the Western Athletic Conference. “It’s funny we don’t play for a trophy, but it has a feel of a rivalry game,” Chang said.
UH and UNLV play for the Island Showdown Trophy. But the Warriors’ other trophy opponents — Wyoming, Air Force and San Jose State—are not on their 2024 schedule.