NCAA to review UH's bowl eligibility
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Western Athletic Conference will ask the NCAA to review the potentially crucial point of how many games the University of Hawai'i football team must win this season in order to be bowl-eligible.
The conference will make the request on behalf of the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl and UH, officials said.
At stake is whether the Warriors must win seven of their final 11 games or just a simple majority of all their 12 games in order to earn a berth in the hometown game on Christmas Eve afternoon.
"Now that Hawai'i is guaranteed a slot in the bowl (if the Warriors are bowl-eligible), we need to know what it will take for sure," said Karl Benson, WAC commissioner.
"We'll play by the rules they lay down," said Pete Derzis, vice president of ESPN Regional Television, which owns and operates the game.
The Warriors' bid for a bowl could potentially be affected by not being able to count Florida Atlantic, their season-opening opponent, toward the the victory total, should they win the Sept. 4 game.
"They (the Warriors) must have more wins than losses in order to be bowl-eligible and a win over FAU may not be counted due to the fact the institution has not averaged at least 60 equivalencies over the past three years," the NCAA advised by e-mail last month.
That would require at least seven wins in UH's final 11 games.
Normally, schools must win a majority of their games to be bowl eligible, and can only count Division I-A opponents. However, NCAA rules allow an exemption to the rule, permitting the counting of a victory against a I-AA opponent to be employed once every three years provided the I-AA team has offered an average of at least 60 scholarships over the preceding three-year period.
FAU officials have said the school offered only 51.79 scholarships over the past three years. I-AA schools may offer a maximum of 63 scholarships. I-A schools are limited to 85.
FAU does not become a full-fledged I-A member until 2005.
"You can make the argument that by playing a 12-game schedule Hawai'i is at a disadvantage," Benson said.
UH got the 12th game — one more than the 11 permitted most I-A teams — because of a special NCAA exemption designed to encourage travel to Hawai'i.
Ironically, the team UH had been contracted to play in its 2004 season opener, Sacramento State, would have ben a countable opponent for bowl purposes. The Hornets have averaged 61.8 scholarships, according to a Big Sky Conference official. UH picked up FAU after Sacramento State asked out of the contract.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
