The University of Hawaii is expected to open its football season with a Mountain West Conference game against Colorado State Aug. 25 and thereby gain an open date on the 2018 schedule.

The game, when it receives final approval, will be played in Fort Collins, Colo., according to people briefed on the impending schedule. The conference is expected to release its 2018 schedule next month.

UH had been scheduled to open its season Sept. 1 with a non-conference game against the Naval Academy at Aloha Stadium and play CSU in late September or early October.

The game with the Midshipmen will still be played on the original date but by invoking the so-called Week Zero option of a game in August allowed by the NCAA, UH will gain an open date to break up what otherwise would have been 13 games in 13 weeks.

Week Zero is part of an amended Hawaii exemption campaigned for by UH and approved by the NCAA beginning with the 2016 season.

UH and CSU have reportedly signed off on the switch and are awaiting approval by the MWC.

CSU is one of two opponents outside the MWC’s West Division UH plays this season. Utah State is the other. The Rainbow Warriors lost to the Rams, 51-21, in 2017.