Houston headed
to HawaiiThe Cougars will face the
Warriors for the first time
in the Hawaii Bowl
on Christmas day
Hawaii finally got its Hawaii Bowl opponent, but the rest of the Western Athletic Conference postseason picture remained murky last night after Conference USA finished making its moves.
Houston (7-5) will play the Warriors (8-4) on Dec. 25 at Aloha Stadium in the Hawaii Bowl, C-USA announced yesterday. The league also said that No. 19 Texas Christian (11-1) -- which turned down a GMAC Bowl invitation -- will play on its home field by accepting an invitation to the Dec. 23 Fort Worth Bowl. TCU officials said playing in the Dec. 18 GMAC Bowl would interfere with final exams.
Instead, Louisville (9-3) will play 11-1 Miami (Ohio) in the GMAC Bowl.
Louisville or TCU would have been a more attractive opponent for the Warriors in the Hawaii Bowl than Houston, which finished tied for sixth in C-USA with a 4-4 league mark.
But Dave Matlin, Hawaii Bowl director of operations, said Houston's high-powered offense (33.3 points per game) will match well with that of the Warriors (33.7).
"They play a wide-open offense," Matlin said. "They were picked to finish ninth in the league but went 7-5, so it's similar to what (Hawaii coach) June (Jones) did his first year."
Hawaii and Houston have never played each other, but Jones saw the Cougars on tape two weeks ago.
"Their defense looked pretty good to me," Jones said.
That might have been because the tape was of Houston playing Army, which is 0-12 and lost 59-28 to Hawaii on Nov. 22.
Houston played in the Aloha Bowl in 1988. The Cougars lost 24-22 to Washington State, despite being quarterbacked by future Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware.
Hawaii was the only one of four bowl-eligible WAC teams to have its postseason situation resolved as of last night.
"We should be done (today) or Wednesday at the latest. This gets us closer," WAC commissioner Karl Benson said last night. "Fort Worth still has to decide on an opponent."
Benson would like the choice to be Boise State or Tulsa, which would open up the Silicon Valley Classic to Fresno State. WAC champion Boise State and second-place Tulsa are guaranteed bowl games, but fourth-place Fresno State could be the odd team out since the WAC has only three bowl game ties (the Hawaii Bowl is contractually obligated to take the Warriors when they are bowl eligible).
Air Force, Northern Illinois and UConn all want to play in the Fort Worth Bowl, too, Benson said.
The other C-USA teams in bowl games are league champion Southern Mississippi (9-3) against Mountain West champion Utah (9-2) in the Dec. 31 Liberty Bowl and Memphis (8-4) vs. North Texas (9-3) in the Dec. 16 New Orleans Bowl.
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Hawaii's bowl history
Date Result Game Dec. 25, 1989 Michigan State 33, Hawaii 13 Aloha Bowl Dec. 30, 1992 Hawaii 27, Illinois 17 Holiday Bowl Dec. 25, 1999 Hawaii 23, Oregon State 17 Oahu Bowl Dec. 25, 2002 Tulane 36, Hawaii 28 Hawaii Bowl
