The University of Nevada-Las Vegas athletic administration had a boulder-solid policy of home-and-home scheduling for its football team.

That meant, for competitive reasons, UNLV would go to, say, a Big Ten stadium only if the opponent agreed to come to the desert, too. There would be no so-called "body bag" games in which UNLV went on the road against substantial odds solely for a fat paycheck.

But to tread water financially in a declining economy amid diminishing state support, the Rebels recently signed to play at West Virginia for a $750,000 package, without a return game in Las Vegas.

Likewise, San Jose State dropped its backyard game with Stanford to take on a much bigger one-shot challenge — and paycheck — at Alabama in 2010. The Spartans also dumped a $450,000 payday at Arizona State and paid a $250,000 penalty to play at Wisconsin in 2010 for a $900,000 check. And Boise State has announced its willingness to venture off the smurf turf for the right offer.

So, you have to wonder how long Hawai'i athletic director Jim Donovan will steadfastly adhere to his home-and-home-only policy. Is the grip on principle loosening, even just a little, at a school staring at upwards of a $7 million accumulated deficit?

"I won't rule it out," Donovan said. "But, so far, we've only had two offers and none of them made competitive sense."

Or, apparently, enough dollars.

One, Donovan has said, involved traveling to a Southeastern Conference foe he refused to identify for nearly $1 million. Another came from a prominent member of what he described as "another Bowl Championship Series conference" for a substantial check that he declined to reveal. Both wanted UH to go to their places without a return game at Aloha Stadium.

"I told them, 'no' " Donovan said.

Politely, of course.

Wisely, too, given the Warriors' experience with eventual national champion Florida last year.

In this UH remains one of the few holdouts among the increasingly "have-team-will-travel-for-a payday" mid-major schools. But for how much longer?

With the 2010 schedule complete and just one opening remaining on a 2011 lineup that includes Colorado, Washington and Washington State, Donovan says there is no place — and no reason — to fit in a moolah road game in the near future.

Beyond 2012, when UH has two openings but road games at Southern California and Brigham Young, he's wagering UH will have turned the financial corner enough not to require taking a "body bag" game.

The hope is that he's right on the money.