Selection Process
The Hawaiʻi football team normally receives an automatic bid to the game unless the team is selected to participate in a BCS game or is not bowl eligible. If either of those events happen, the WAC selects its next-highest ranked team to compete in the game. In 2007, Hawaiʻi was selected to play on January 1, 2008 in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, marking just the second time since the creation of the Hawaiʻi Bowl that Hawaiʻi would not participate. The only previous time that Hawaiʻi failed to make an appearance was in 2005, when the Warriors finished their season with a 5–7 record and were not eligible for a bowl game.
Conference USA fields the other team in the Hawaiʻi Bowl. The Liberty Bowl has the first selection of C-USA teams, and GMAC Bowl picks second. After those two are picked, the conference provides a team for the Hawaiʻi Bowl and three other bowls. In 2007, the University of Central Florida accepted the bid to compete in the Liberty Bowl, Tulsa accepted the bid to compete in the GMAC Bowl, leaving East Carolina to be selected by the Hawaiʻi Bowl on December 1, 2007.
Boise State was undefeated in conference play going into the final game of the regular season, and suffered just one out-of-conference loss. In that final game, BSU lost 39–27 to undefeated Hawaiʻi. Following the game, the Broncos decided to travel to Hawaiʻi, rather than play at home in the Humanitarian Bowl, which is located at Boise's home stadium in Boise, Idaho and features a matchup between a WAC team and one from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Boise ended its regular season 10–2 overall and 7–1 in conference play.
East Carolina, meanwhile, had been in first place in the C-USA's East Division with just two games remaining. A loss to Marshall University in that second-to-last game, however, put ECU into second place in its division, and thus out of competition for the Conference USA Championship. After winning against conference foe Tulane in the final game of the season, the Pirates decided to travel to the Hawaiʻi Bowl. East Carolina ended the regular season 7–5 overall, and 6–2 in conference play.
Read more about this topic: 2007 Hawaii Bowl
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