This time, the Broncos hope their visit to Aloha Stadium has a happier ending than the last one.

Boise State (10-2) accepted a bid Sunday to play East Carolina in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 23, exactly one month after losing 39-27 to Hawaii. That defeat handed the Warriors the Western Athletic Conference crown, snapped the Broncos' run of five consecutive league titles and shattered the Broncos' thin hopes of a second-straight BCS appearance.

"Hopefully we can redeem ourselves and have a little bit better memory of that field than we had the last time," Boise State senior safety Marty Tadman said today.

For the Broncos, the invitation marks the fifth different postseason destination in the last five years and the second consecutive year away from playing in front of the home crowd at the Humanitarian Bowl. Last year, Boise State won a BCS thriller in overtime, beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.

Coach Chris Petersen said the decision about whether to stay in Boise for the postseason was difficult, especially considering the cost and distance involved in traveling to the tropics.

But he said the players overwhelmingly voted for the sand, surf and sun of Honolulu. Playing in Hawaii also provides an opportunity to maintain the program's national standing and bolster marketability to the next batch of recruits.

"I really think of a bowl game as a players' reward," Petersen said. "The tough part of it is we love playing in front of our fans ... and we understand how important the H-Bowl is to us, this program, this community.

"But I think that opportunity isn't going to come along every day for us to go to a different bowl. And when it is there, it's nice to be able to have an option to go and experience something different," he said.

East Carolina (7-5) finished tied for second in the East Division of Conference USA with a 6-2 league record. The invitation is the second straight bowl for the Pirates after a four-year hiatus from the postseason. The Pirates lost to South Florida 24-7 last season in the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.

The Pirates, coached by Skip Holtz, son of legendary college football coach Lou Holtz, won six of their last eight games and scored 30 points or more in seven games this year.