The Western Athletic Conference is selling its version for the second straight season.

Undefeated and unloved Hawai'i looms as the WAC's latest possible entry to the Bowl Championship Series, following Boise State. While Hawai'i is one of just three Bowl Subdivision teams without a loss, along with Ohio State and Kansas, it's 16th in the last BCS rankings.

The Warriors must finish 12th or better in the final BCS standings for an automatic bid.

"It is reminiscent of last year," WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said in a phone interview. "People last year at this time were somewhat questioning Boise State's strength of schedule and whether they were going to make it to the top 12. We are getting a lot of the same questions that we did a year ago."

The Broncos answered the skeptics in the Fiesta Bowl, beating Oklahoma in a game that people still reference. The 43-42 win overshadowed the national title game.

Benson admits that the Boise win — Statue of Liberty and all — brought validation and credibility to the WAC and other conferences without an automatic BCS tie-in.

Now the pitch suggests that Hawai'i is this year's Boise State.

The problem is the schedule. Hawai'i has played Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern in a nonconference slate that went beyond cupcake to the entire dessert cart.

Benson notes the problems began with Michigan State, which bought its way out of a game this year.

Few big-time teams wanted to face coach June Jone's spread offense and quarterback Colt Brennan, who needs just three touchdown passes to break Ty Detmer's Bowl Subdivision career record. Hawai'i scrambled to schedule name opponents including Michigan, Indiana and several Pac-10 schools.

Michigan opted to face Appalachian State instead. Other schools declined.

"They got stuck with that nonconference schedule," Benson said. "That's probably the only way you can defend it."

In the WAC, Hawai'i was forced to overtime by Louisiana Tech and San Jose State, both sub-.500 teams.

But if the Warriors can finish 12-0, handling a decent closing schedule that begins Saturday with Fresno State, they'll probably get enough love from the computer polls to crack the top 12.

For everyone who questions if Hawai'i belongs, Benson has a counter. He points to Boise, to the unsettled current landscape and to Brennan and Jones.