The Western Athletic Conference football schedule for 2009 is running a little late and the University of Hawai'i is waiting more anxiously than usual.

Indeed, the Warriors are crossing their collective fingers the WAC will give them either an open date or a home game for the Sept. 26 slot that follows back-to-back non-conference road games in order to avoid what would be an unprecedented three consecutive games on the Mainland.

It is a fair enough request given UH's geographic issues and one you'd like to see the WAC honor.

UH opens its season Sept. 4 with Central Arkansas at Aloha Stadium, but then plays Washington State in Seattle Sept. 12 and at Nevada-Las Vegas Sept. 19, and school officials said they have chosen to keep the team on the Mainland between games.

It is already a rare back-to-back non-conference road scenario for UH which has done it just once (2003) in 30 years of WAC membership, though the Warriors have played back-to-back conference games the past two years. They've also combined WAC and non-conference games in succession, though never in threes.

Because UH usually books its non-conference games well in advance of the WAC schedule being drawn up, there are no guarantees where the conference schedule will place additional road games. UH athletic director Jim Donovan said he has asked the WAC not to schedule UH on the road Sept. 26, but says, "that's all we can do. They have to put the schedule together the best way they can and I don't envy their job, especially this year."

UH will play WAC road games against Louisiana Tech, San Jose State, Idaho and Nevada this year but doesn't know on which dates yet.

Commissioner Karl Benson and associate commissioner Jeff Hurd both said they would attempt to accommodate UH. "We take special requests and try to balance them the best we can," Hurd said.

Complicating options for the WAC is the 2009 schedule comes with just 14 Saturday openings, one fewer than 2008, and there may be more midweek games this year under terms of the ESPN contract. Midweek games pose problems because teams that play Tuesday or Wednesday nights don't play Saturday of the same week. UH, because of its travel, is not required to play midweek.

Under the WAC's TV contract, ESPN first selects the games it wants and works out the dates with the conference. For example, two years ago ESPN chose to have the UH-Boise State showdown placed on Nov. 23, the penultimate weekend of the regular season.

Then, the rest of the conference schedule is assembled and, generally, released by mid-February. But ESPN, which was to have made its selections by Feb. 1, has yet to do so, WAC officials said.

For the Warriors, the waiting isn't getting easier.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.