East Carolina has its way paid to the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, but you get the idea the Pirates would have gladly picked up the check to get a shot at Boise State Sunday, even at holiday airline prices.

Maybe they would have even been willing to sell whatever the Greenville, N.C., version of Portuguese sweetbread is to do it.

It isn't that the Broncos are a pushover. Far from it. Boise State is a hefty 11-point favorite on the Las Vegas betting lines for the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

But the Broncos offer what few other bowl matchups could have brought: An opportunity positively 24-karat golden in possibilities. Not just for an eighth victory but for the kind of validation the Pirates crave and no other available opponent could supply.

Ever since their 13-0 run through the Fiesta Bowl last season, the Broncos have achieved a standing unlike any other team in a non-Bowl Championship Series guaranteed conference. They've taken on an aura beyond that of plenty of BCS schools.

If you want a label of legitimacy, beating Boise State is the way to do it.

"I think (the Hawai'i Bowl matchup) is huge when you look at the success Boise has had," said ECU head coach Skip Holtz. "You look at the national exposure they received a year ago when they went undefeated and beat Oklahoma in the bowl, they are 10-2 this year and have a great reputation and have done a super job of building that program."

All of which can rub off on any team fortunate enough to beat the Broncos. The few that can, anyway.

Indeed, you need look no further than what beating the Broncos did for Hawai'i. After a Charmin-soft schedule, the victory over Boise State on ESPN gave the Warriors the kind of credibility that none of the 10 previous victories could confer. It vaulted the Warriors to the all-important No. 12 position in the Bowl Championship Series standings from a precarious No. 15. It raised UH to No. 11 in the Associated Press poll from No. 14. It gave the Warriors' unbeaten run a quality and perspective it had been lacking up until that point.

If you're East Carolina, you have to look at that enviously, hopefully — and appreciatively. For a team with a 7-5 record like the Pirates to get a shot at No. 24-ranked Boise State is better than what the teams that finished ahead of them, Conference USA's two championship game entries, Central Florida and Tulsa, ended up with.

Call it the luck of the draw in this the last year of C-USA's deal with the Hawai'i Bowl. But realizing anything from it requires a lot more than luck.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.

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