Fresno State vs. East Carolina is emerging as the most likely matchup in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, should the University of Hawai'i earn a Bowl Championship Series berth.

A victory by 11-0 UH over Washington (4-8) in Saturday's regular season finale would likely put the Warriors in the Sugar Bowl or Fiesta Bowl, opening up a vacancy for another Western Athletic Conference representative against a team from Conference USA in the Dec. 23 Hawai'i Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

"We're hoping (the Warriors) go to the BCS. We want them to win that one remaining game," said Jim Donovan, executive director of the Hawai'i Bowl. Donovan said he believes the WAC would deliver a "quality" representative to the bowl in Hawai'i's absence.

The WAC, so far, has three bowl-eligible teams — UH, Boise State (10-2) and Fresno State (7-4) — and will gain a fourth with the winner of the Louisiana Tech-Nevada game. Both are 5-6.

Boise State is likely to play in its hometown Roady's Humanitarian Bowl against an Atlantic Coast Conference team, probably Maryland (6-6). The Nevada-Louisiana Tech winner could end up in the New Mexico Bowl against a team from the Mountain West.

C-USA, which is in its final year of a contract to send a team to the Hawai'i Bowl, would likely dispatch East Carolina (7-5) here.

Central Florida (9-3) and Tulsa (9-3) will meet for the C-USA championship with the winner appearing in the Liberty Bowl and the loser likely to go to the GMAC Bowl. Southern Mississippi (7-5) has already accepted a berth to the Papajohns.com Bowl and Houston (8-4) is expected to play in the Texas Bowl. Memphis (7-5) also is bowl-eligible.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson said the conference will work with the Hawai'i Bowl and C-USA to determine, "based upon geography and competitive matchups, the best pairing for the game." Benson and Donovan said it is too early to know which teams those would be.

The Hawai'i Bowl was created to offer UH a postseason opportunity after the Warriors were left without a bowl invitation following their 9-3 finish of 2001. Since the bowl's debut in 2002, UH has appeared in four of the five games. Nevada represented the WAC in 2005 when UH was not bowl-eligible.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.