[ WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
Hawaii’s magic number
will be 7 next season
Hawaii needs to win any seven of its 12 football games to be bowl eligible this season, UH athletic department officials said Friday.
"We just received confirmation of that from the NCAA," said Daniel Arakaki, UH's compliance coordinator.
The seemingly simple fact was unclear to many for two reasons.
Last year was the second of two consecutive seasons when most Division I-A football teams could play 12 games instead of 11 because of a calendar quirk. Teams were bowl eligible if they won at least six of 12.
UH -- and teams that play at Hawaii -- are allowed to play one more game per season, so UH played 13 regular-season games in 2002 and 2003.
Now that the schedule maximum is back to 11 for most schools, Hawaii's limit has returned to 12. But the NCAA bowl eligibility rule has also reverted back to requiring more wins than losses, without exception.
Also, a victory against Florida Atlantic can count as one of UH's seven wins for the purpose of bowl eligibility, Arakaki said. The Owls are a "probationary" Division I-A team ascending from Division I-AA, so a win against FAU would not count as one against a Division I-A team.
But a win against a Division I-AA team can be counted toward bowl eligibility once every four seasons, and the Warriors haven't had to use their victories against Eastern Illinois in 2002 or Appalachian State last season to count toward their eligibility for the Hawaii Bowl, which UH played in both years.
"So it is a moot point," said UH athletic director Herman Frazier, who booked the Sept. 4 game against the Owls last Monday.
Frazier also said talks with UCLA have led to the possibility of a three-game series, with two here and one at UCLA. Such a series would not begin until 2006 at the earliest, as UH's nonconference schedule for 2005 is set.
In another matter, Frazier said UH might not have to plan on adding another men's sport for 2006-07 because of NCAA rules, as was previously thought.
"There's pending legislation that might let us remain where we are for now," Frazier said.
If UH does need to add a sport, it will likely be cross country, he said.
