Sopoaga, who suffered a sprained right knee last week against Rice, has been rated as the Warriors' best prospect for the 2004 draft.

The 6-foot-3, 336-pound native of American Samoa, was raved about by the scouts who attended UH's last road game at Nevada-Las Vegas.

Tulsa sports information director Don Tomkalski said he expects six NFL scouts for the game. Houston is sending two with one each from Pittsburgh, Carolina, Washington and the New York Jets.

Jim Cochran, an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under Bob Wagner in the 1990s, is here representing the Jets.

Scouts have said they are also looking at cornerback Kelvin Millhouse, defensive end Travis LaBoy and wide receiver Jeremiah Cockheran.

UH will have three more road games after this, Oct. 18 at Louisiana Tech, Nov. 1 at San Jose State, and Nov. 15 at Nevada.

• Benson talks to Houston AD: The behind-the-scenes diplomacy continues for the Western Athletic Conference with commissioner Karl Benson meeting yesterday with University of Houston athletic director Dave Maggard about the option of WAC membership.

Benson, who met earlier with Tulane, is trying to sell Houston and Tulane on the option of joining the WAC if major changes come to Conference USA.

Benson has been pushing a 12-team, two-division format for the WAC that would put Tulane, Tulsa, Southern Methodist, Rice, Houston and Louisiana Tech in the East.

"I'm doing my job, presenting the WAC option and what it could mean, and they (the other schools) are doing theirs, looking at their potential options," Benson said.

Conference USA is also talking to Rice, Tulsa and SMU about their options should Louisville, Cincinnati, Marquette and DePaul leave for the Big East.

• Alama-Francis, Cockheran make trip: Former basketball player Ikaika Alama-Francis, who has yet to play this year, was a surprise addition to the travel squad. Alama-Francis is listed as a defensive end. Jeremiah Cockheran, the WAC's second-leading receiver, did make the trip after being listed as questionable because of an ankle injury. He showed no signs of a limp yesterday.

• Conference baseball tourney: WAC associate commissioner Jeff Hurd said conference baseball coaches have voted unanimously to recommend again that a conference tournament be held.

Conference athletic directors, who have twice failed to approve the concept, are scheduled to vote on the proposal again in the spring.

Hurd said coaches would probably have to agree to play fewer conference games in order to have a better chance of the tournament proposal passing.

• On Oklahoma time: The UH football team arrived in Tulsa at 5:45 p.m. (Central time) last night after spending Thursday and part of Friday in Houston, where the Warriors worked out at a high school field.

• Chill factor: The weather forecast is for temperatures in the mid 50s for the 6 p.m. (Central time) kickoff today. That's 40 degrees below what UH played in during its last road game, Sept. 19 at Nevada-Las Vegas. Also, there is a slight chance of thunderstorms and rain.

• Scarce at Skelly: A spokesman for the TU ticket office said a crowd of 15,000 is expected for the game in 40,385-seat Skelly Stadium.