BYU in the mix for the Hawaii Bowl

Entering the final weekend of the regular season, Brigham Young University remains a strong candidate to appear in the Hawaii Bowl.

The Cougars, currently 8-3 as an independent, are contracted to play in either the Hawaii Bowl or Las Vegas Bowl in 2015 under terms of an agreement with ESPN Events, the owner and operator of the two games. Whichever bowl does not get BYU this year would get the Cougars in 2019.

"We’ll have an American Athletic (Conference) team and either a Mountain West team or BYU," said Daryl Garvin, executive director of the Hawaii Bowl. "We really don’t know which way things are going to go right now."

Garvin said an announcement of the pairing for the Dec. 24 game at Aloha Stadium will likely come after next week’s conference championship games.

The AAC and Mountain West have ties with the Hawaii Bowl this year, though one of them can be replaced by BYU.

Currently the Mountain West has seven bowl-eligible teams for eight bowls. San Jose State could become bowl eligible if it beats Boise State.

The AAC has seven teams already qualified for the postseason.

But previously the Hawaii Bowl has been able to add a so-called "wild card" team through swaps with other bowls, most recently bringing Oregon State here in 2013.

"The main goal is to try and have a compelling matchup for local fans, for the television audience and the participating schools," Garvin said.