Hawaii Bowl Safety Net?

[sbsmith]

Assuming bowl eligibilty, can SMU count on an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl as long as June Jones is the head coach? I would guess that having a familiar face present at that game every year would help keep it alive.

[huskerpony]

I would guess so--except in years that Hawaii is bowl eligible. They might want that matchup once, but I don't know how many years they would want to do that. Most bowls don't like to take the same team in back-to-back seasons because more fans travel when they haven't been there recently. I would think that would be even more true for Hawaii considering the cost, but maybe they don't care as much because they depend mostly on local support anyway.

TV would be the other consideration. How many years until the JJ returns to Hawaii story doesn't draw viewers in on Christmas Eve anymore? I would think they could only play that out a couple of times. Maybe the year JJ announces his retirement we could count on it--lots of locals would come out to watch his last game.