June Jones’ Southern Methodist University, along with Southern Mississippi and Houston, have emerged as the early contenders to represent Conference USA in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.
The Dec. 24 game will match Hawaii, as long as it is bowl eligible, against a C-USA member. The Warriors (4-3) need three more victories in their six remaining regular-season games to become bowl eligible.
Houston (7-0, 3-0 C-USA) and Southern Miss (6-1, 2-1) are already bowl eligible, while SMU 5-2 (3-1 C-USA), requires one more victory.
The matchup of UH and SMU has been much-anticipated since Jones left Hawaii following the Warriors’ 2008 Sugar Bowl appearance. SMU made it to the Hawaii Bowl in 2009, beating Nevada when the Warriors were not bowl eligible. Bowl officials have long been intrigued about the sellout possibilities and TV interest in a Jones vs. UH scenario. ESPN Regional Television owns and operates the game.
HAWAII BOWL
» Dec. 24 at Aloha Stadium. UH (if the Warriors win three more games) vs. a Conference USA member. |
David Matlin, the game’s executive director, declined to speculate on the chances of an SMU-UH matchup.
"Right now, with Hawaii at four wins we know what that side of the equation looks like if they get seven wins, but Conference USA is just too fluid right now to say anything," Matlin said.
"There was a time when we used to be able to announce early, but now, more and more, we’re not able to announce until the last Sunday (of the regular season)," Matlin said.
SMU and Houston meet Nov. 19.
If Houston goes unbeaten it could complicate the situation this year, since whether the Cougars receive a Bowl Championship Series invite would affect the bowl lineup for C-USA, which has six bowl tie-ins.
The Hawaii Bowl gets the second pick of bowl-eligible C-USA members after the Liberty Bowl, but is not required to take the conference runner-up.
