Rainbow Forecast: Hawaii hosts Arizona football, USC soccer

Welcome to the very first Rainbow Forecast, your weekly primer for upcoming University of Hawaii sporting events.

Check back on Mondays, from now through the spring, for a breakdown on upcoming Rainbow Warrior and Rainbow Wahine games and other notables spanning that Monday through Sunday.

So, here we go. To begin the 2019-20 athletic calendar, a couple of Pac-12 opponents — USC and Arizona — come to town for the respective openers of the Hawaii soccer and football teams.

UH’s third primary fall sport, women’s volleyball, gets going next week.

Without further ado:

Thursday
>> Soccer: No. 5 USC at Hawaii, 3:30 p.m., Lower Campus Field
The UH soccer team opens up the Manoa athletic calendar with a real tester, an interesting contest against the powerhouse Trojans in the Outrigger Soccer Kickoff. This match will be played at the grass practice field (adjacent to Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium) instead of the usual Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium due to damage to the WPSS field.

UH is still working out logistics as it pertains to portable seating, but the game will be free (except the cost of parking on lower campus). You probably can’t go wrong bringing a lawn blanket, towels or fold-up chairs and plopping down on the hillside next to the field.

It’s the first time UH is hosting USC in soccer, but the Wahine actually lead the all-time series 2-1 with the last meeting in 2004. These Trojans are expected to contend for a national title, despite being picked to finish third in the loaded Pac-12.

Word was there was some discussion of this game being televised on Spectrum, but the move from WPSS nixed that. There’s no radio, either, but Warrior World plans to tweet some updates from the game.

The Rainbow Wahine are 6-15-4 all-time in season openers, including 1-6-1 under ninth-year head coach Michele Nagamine.

Saturday
>> Football: Arizona at Hawaii, 4:30 p.m., Aloha Stadium (TV: CBS Sports Network; Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM)
It’s here at last. After a grueling preseason camp that included off-campus practices at Saint Louis, Punahou and Kamehameha — not to mention a couple of dates at Aloha Stadium — the Rainbow Warriors will begin Nick Rolovich’s fourth season against the Pac-12 Wildcats.

This “Week Zero” game is the earliest start by date in UH history.

Besides simply being a season opener, and the first official action since UH concluded an 8-6 2018 season with a loss to Louisiana Tech in the SoFi Hawaii Bowl, this matchup is special because of the programs’ shared link to the late former coach Dick Tomey, who died in May at age 80.

Stephen Tsai reported both teams’ depth charts on Monday.

It’s the first time UH plays its opener at home against a Pac-12 team since it beat Colorado 28-20 in 2015.

UA has won all five meetings in the series, with the last a 47-28 drubbing in Tucson on Sept. 17, 2016, Rolovich’s first season. The teams haven’t met in Halawa since the opener of 1998, a 27-6 win by the No. 24 Wildcats.

Rolovich is 2-1 in season openers. An upset win over the Wildcats, who are 11-point favorites, would make it three straight opening wins.

UH is coming off its first winning season since 2010, while Arizona went 5-7 last year.