UH seeks Big East foe for football season opener

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	UH football schedule Sept. 4 — Open Sept. 18 — At Rice Oct. 2 — Tulsa Oct. 9 — Nevada Oct. 16 — At Texas-El Paso Oct. 23 — San Jose State Oct. 30 — At Boise State Nov. 6 — Louisiana Tech Nov. 13 — At Fresno State Nov. 20 — Idaho Nov. 27 — Northwestern Dec. 4 — Michigan State

UH athletic director Herman Frazier recently vowed to replace Division I-AA Sacramento State, which dropped out because of financial concerns, with a Division I-A school for the Sept. 4 opener at Aloha Stadium.

Indiana of the Big Ten turned down UH's invitation because of a scheduling conflict. Frazier rejected offers from two schools to play the opener on the Mainland.

Tom Sadler, UH's associate athletic director, yesterday confirmed school officials are in discussions with football teams from the Big East.

But he added: "The scenarios are vast. There are so many things that could happen. We continue to plug away."

Frazier had raised the possibility of a game against a team from Conference USA. Such a game would draw wide interest in Hawai'i — the Warriors' last two games against C-USA teams were heated meetings — although it would shrink the available pool of candidates for the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. The Christmas Day game is contractually obligated to match teams from the Western Athletic Conference (usually UH) and C-USA.

By targeting only Division I-A schools, UH is expected to not pursue a three-game offer from Grambling State, a Division I-AA team with a rich football tradition. Grambling is proposing to play the Warriors this year in Hawai'i and the next two years in Japan.

Sadler said UH has been contacted by Grambling, but the specifics of the proposal have not been discussed.

"We're looking at some other things right now," Sadler said.

The telecast of the 2003 Hawai'i Bowl was shown in Japan, a country UH considers to be a future market for its products.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.