ESPN2 will show the University of Hawai'i's final regular season football game against Cincinnati, UH confirmed yesterday.

Kickoff for the Dec. 6 nonconference game at Aloha Stadium will be moved back a half hour to 6:35 p.m. to accommodate the broadcast, a spokesman said.

Under the terms of its contract with the Western Athletic Conference, the network had several months ago reserved the right to pick up either the Nov. 29 game against Washington State or the Cincinnati game.

But with Cincinnati 5-2 (1-1 in conference) a Big East title contender, UH at 4-4 (3-2 WAC) and Washington State suffering through a 1-7 season, the decision became clear.

"To me, it was the obvious choice based upon performance," said Jim Donovan, UH athletic director. "The first Saturday in December provides a nice time slot and great exposure for our football program, the school and the state."

Donovan said, "It also comes during our recruiting period."

It will be the first meeting between the Warriors and Bearcats since their 2002 matchup resulted in a post-game melee.

The Washington State game will kick off at 6:05 p.m. and will be included in UH's Oceanic Cable pay-per-view package. It will be shown on a delayed basis on KFVE-TV, UH said.

The Cincinnati game will be UH's second ESPN appearance of the season. The Oct. 17 game at Boise State, a 27-7 loss, was also shown on the ESPN network.