Hawaii has joined a growing list of schools on the football scheduling front in a club in which none want membership.
It was confirmed earlier this month that Western Michigan’s Sept. 4 game against Colgate had been canceled. Ditto Navy’s Week 2 tilt with Lafayette College. Both of those FCS schools are members of the Patriot League.
Hawaii, meanwhile, was scheduled to play Fordham Sept. 12 in Honolulu. The keyword there is “was” as Fordham confirmed that its game against the Mountain West Conference school has been canceled. As are Colgate and Lafayette College, Fordham is a member of the Patriot League.
The reasoning behind the spate of cancellations? The Patriot League mandated late last month that all of its member schools are not permitted to travel by air or stay overnight in another locale. As the distance between the Bronx and Honolulu is nearly 5,000 miles -- and a bus trip isn’t possible -- it was a foregone conclusion that the Hawaii football game with Fordham would be nixed.
The Rainbow Warriors are currently looking to find a new opponent for that date.
It should be noted that Syracuse is also supposed to open its home schedule Sept. 19 against Colgate. It’s unclear if that game will be played, although distance certainly isn’t as much of an issue as it was for Western Michigan.