The University of Hawaii football team can do just about everybody involved a favor by beating Brigham Young University on Saturday to become bowl eligible.

With a victory in the regular-season finale, Hawaii would improve to 7-6 and represent the Western Athletic Conference in the Dec. 24 game at Aloha Stadium.

But a loss would leave the bowl and the WAC with an expensive opening to fill since an appearance by UH would not involve airfare and a replacement would require a flight from the mainland, costing an estimated $240,000-$400,000.

The WAC is obligated to provide a representative for the bowl unless a mutually agreeable substitute can be found, officials said. The WAC, which has three bowl tie-ins, already has three bowl-eligible teams and is reportedly looking for a trade for Nevada (6-5 with one game remaining) if UH is ineligible.

The WAC has placed conference champion Louisiana Tech (8-4) in the San Diego-based Poinsettia Bowl and is sending Utah State (6-5) to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson said, “I think there’s more moving parts,” in whether Nevada would be the conference’s representative.

“I mean (Nevada filling in for UH) sounds like a simple outcome, (but) I think there are some outstanding issues, some pending issues that could (impact) it,” he added.

While Nevada would be the logical choice to fill any vacancy here, the bowl might balk at having to take Nevada for what would be the third time in seven years, since the Wolf Pack have brought few fans in each of their two previous appearances.

The Wolf Pack replaced UH in 2005 and ’09, the years in which the Warriors were not bowl eligible.

Southern Methodist (7-5) or Southern Mississippi (10-2, one game remaining) are the front-runners to represent Conference USA in the Hawaii Bowl. But Nevada would probably cancel out SMU since the two teams met in the 2009 Hawaii Bowl.

Benson said he is “confident” all bowl-eligible WAC teams will have bowls to go to.