Steve Pederson was fired as athletic director at Nebraska on Monday.

Tom Osborne was named interim athletic director at Nebraska yesterday.

What does that have to do with the University of Hawai'i?

A future football game between the Cornhuskers and Warriors could be at stake, according to UH athletic director Herman Frazier.

"We were talking to (Pederson) about a game here in 2009 or '10," Frazier said. "They were about ready to come here. Now I have to call Dr. Tom (Osborne) and see if we can continue those discussions, but I don't know what the situation is like there now."

Frazier said he needs one more opponent to fill the 2009 UH football schedule and two more to fill the 2010 schedule.

"I hope they're still interested in coming here," Frazier said.

Frazier said he considers Pederson "a good friend," but also got to know Osborne when he was the football coach at Nebraska.

Pederson was fired by the school chancellor amid a series of poor performances by the Nebraska football team, including a 45-14 home loss to Oklahoma State last week.

"I don't know enough about the situation to comment," Frazier said.

Frazier added that he was close to signing Oklahoma State as an opponent for this season, but the Cowboys opted for a road game at Georgia.

Hawai'i last played Nebraska in 1982.

In related UH football matters, Frazier said he feels "pretty good" about the Warriors being No. 18 in the Bowl Championship Series rankings.

"I think 18th coming out of the chute is pretty good with seven games under our belt," he said. "As I look at the future schedules, teams five through 12, a lot of them have to play each other. I think that's going to make a difference in what happens as we go forward."

When asked of the chances of an undefeated Hawai'i team being left out of a BCS game, Frazier said: "I don't even think about that."

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.