UH-Boise State The way ESPN sees it, Hawaii and Boise State might play for the Western Athletic Conference football championship this fall.
game moved at
ESPN’s request
The Warriors will host the
Broncos on Dec. 6 in a game
that the network could televiseBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com
With that in mind, the Warriors' and Broncos' game at Aloha Stadium has been moved from Nov. 8 to Dec. 6 at the network's request.
Sept. 13, at USC Hawaii schedule
Sept. 20, at UNLV
Sept. 27, Rice*
Oct. 4, at Tulsa*
Oct. 11, Fresno State*
Oct. 18, at Louisiana Tech*
Oct. 25, UTEP*
Nov. 1, at San Jose State*
Nov. 15, at Nevada*
Nov. 22, Army
Nov. 29, Alabama
Dec. 6, Boise State*
*WAC games
"They're probably thinking about us for national TV. That's very good," UH coach June Jones said last night.
There is no promise yet that the game will be televised, but the shuffle sets up the possibility.
"The biggest reason for the move is it's Championship Week and this has huge potential to be a national TV game," Hawaii athletic director Herman Frazier said. "This is something we've been contemplating for awhile."
Frazier had been waiting to move the game until UH had secured a replacement for Akron, which pulled out of its Aug. 30 game at Aloha Stadium. But as of last night the Warriors did not have a new opponent.
"This move has nothing to do with Akron bowing out and actually takes away one of our prime dates for filling their void," Frazier said.
Boise State, the 2002 WAC champion, beat Hawaii 58-31 last Aug. 2 in Boise.
Also, a spokesman for ESPN said yesterday Hawaii is still a possibility to play in the BCA Classic, but it might be several months before the participating teams are chosen.
The BCA Classic is an exempt game that will be played Aug. 23. It would have to be a road game for UH, since the network wants it played in a stadium that seats at least 70,000. Such a game would be against a big-name opponent, and involve a payout in the neighborhood of $1 million per team.
"Basically we can't say much else except that it's really early in the game to be matching up teams," Michael Humes of ESPN said. "Because it's an exempt game, we can book the teams up to two months before the game."
Exempt games do not count against the 12- or 13-game limit per team, so participating teams don't have to drop other opponents to participate.
UH Athletics
