Cal and Hawaii in Australia reportedly close to kicking off 2016 college football season

Cal and Hawaii in Australia seems very close to being a done deal. Jeff Faraudo has the story.

David Matlin, athletic director for Hawaii, recently told Hawaii News Now that the athletic department is negotiating to schedule the game. Cal athletic director Michael Williams could not immediately be reached for comment.

No date for the game has been finalized, but speculation is the Bears and Rainbow Warriors would meet Aug. 27, possibly in Sydney.

I was hoping for an earlier date, but this will have to do.

It is unclear yet if Cal would have to remake their schedule or just play the extra 13th game. Faraudo suggests that Cal might take South Dakota off the schedule, but I'd be hard-pressed to see Cal taking a home game off the schedule that would be an easy win--that would mean they would start the season with two road games, with their first home game being Texas. If Cal wants to move down to 12 games, it's more likely to me the Bears will try and reschedule the San Diego State game.

My guess is the schedule will stay intact as is. Cal will use the extra Hawaii provision the NCAA grants to play 13 games, needing only six wins to get bowl eligible (the Bears should be favored pretty solidly in their first three games, meaning they'll only need three wins in their final ten games to get to be a bowl game). With Cal likely in a rebuilding year and losing all of their offensive starting skill players, it might be more of a season to work out kinks and figure out who will lead them going forward if a certain someone decides to leave early.

What do you all think? Are you ready to make an August trip to the Southern Hemisphere?