The University of Hawaii is hoping a late surge in ticket sales will propel attendance for its football season opener to the 40,000 mark on Saturday.

Based on box office sales and season-ticket yields, athletic director Jim Donovan has projected a turnout of "from 35,000 to 40,000" for the game against Colorado.

At the close of business Tuesday, UH said it had distributed 29,590 tickets for the game, including 20,629 season tickets. Season-ticket sales are down about 360 from last year.

"It is not impossible for us to go over 40,000 for Colorado, but it would take a very sunny day and a very large walk-up crowd," Donovan said. "Our normal walk up is about 2,000 to 2,500 (on game day)."

A turnstile crowd of less than 40,000 would be the smallest for an opener against a Bowl Championship Series opponent since Arizona drew 33,804 in 1998, the last season of Fred von Appen’s tenure.

Last year’s season opener against Southern California drew 41,776.

"What I think we’re seeing is that people’s income has either stayed the same or gone down but costs keep going up and that’s putting a bite into their disposable income," Donovan said.

In addition, the game is being shown live on ESPN2.