Hawaii, USC
stick to Sept. 3

ESPN and the WAC
aren't able to move
the game to Sept. 2

Hawaii football fans who still have Sept. 3 circled in pencil for the start of the season can now change it to ink.

Don't write in a starting time yet, though.

The Western Athletic Conference announced its ESPN football schedule yesterday, and considers the USC game at Hawaii its hallmark national TV event.

The league and the network wanted to move it to a different day of the week, but both schools insisted on keeping the season opener on Saturday.

"We have taken orders for 7,250 seats for SC fans," UH athletic director Herman Frazier said. "I think that's healthy not only for us but for the entire state. Thus the reason why we kind of stayed fast, in conjunction with USC, to try to keep that game on a Saturday."

As for the time of the game, that remains undecided.

Said Frazier: "I can't guarantee you it's going to be in the evening."

"We don't know when kickoff will be," UH spokeswoman Lois Manin said. "But we know ESPN likes 4 p.m."

That's why Warriors fans who don't have the day off after Thanksgiving might want to sneak out of the office early this year.

UH hosts Wisconsin at Aloha Stadium on Nov. 25, and kickoff is 4 p.m. The game was scheduled for Nov. 26, but moved a day up for ESPN2.

"Wisconsin has inquired about some additional seats as well," Frazier said. "(The Badgers are) also bringing their women's basketball team."

The Hawaii High School Athletic Association usually holds its Division I football state championship semifinal games at Aloha Stadium on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

"That shouldn't be a problem as long as we can play on Saturday instead," HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said.

As for future nonconference games, the Warriors have scheduled as far ahead as 2010, when they will again host USC. Negotiations are also under way with Navy, Florida, Kansas and UNLV. Frazier also said he is talking with Big Ten teams about future games.

But two holes remain in the nonconference schedule for 2006, the first year when UH will be allowed 13 games on a regular basis. Hawaii has games set up with Alabama (on the road), Purdue and UNLV.

Also, Frazier met yesterday with representatives from KHNL-KFVE and Oceanic Time-Warner, the two entities that have bid for the rights to televise UH sports. He declined comment on the meetings.