At least half of the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl's Dec. 24 "dream match" is expected to be set this weekend.

Which could be one reason the game's executive director, David Matlin, will be attending Southern Methodist University's regular-season finale against Tulane Saturday in Dallas.

An SMU spokesman said Matlin and a representative from the New Orleans Bowl will be the only bowl officials attending.

The Hawai'i Bowl hopes to match the University of Hawai'i against its former coach, June Jones, and SMU in the Christmas Eve game.

While the bowl waits to see if UH (5-6) will win out against Navy Saturday and Wisconsin next week to become bowl eligible, it should be able to lock in the 6-5 Mustangs this weekend.

The Hawai'i Bowl has the second pick of bowl-eligible Conference USA teams after the Liberty Bowl. The Mustangs (5-2, C-USA) are bowl eligible and host Tulane (3-8) at Ford Stadium but could still earn a berth in the conference title game if they beat Tulane, and Houston (9-2, 5-2 conference) is upset by Rice (2-9).

Because the SMU-Tulane game starts five hours before Houston-Rice, an official invitation to SMU could come Saturday night or Sunday.

The winner of the conference championship game has traditionally gone to the Liberty Bowl, which has the first selection of C-USA teams. But it is unlikely the Memphis-based bowl would take a 7-5 Mustang team, leaving SMU for the Hawai'i Bowl.

Matlin declined to say if he would offer SMU a bid after the game, saying, "I'm going to watch the game. We'll have to see how the various scenarios pan out."

Should UH fail to become bowl eligible, speculation is that Fresno State, which is 7-4 with one game remaining, or Nevada (8-3), should it lose to Boise State, will represent the Western Athletic Conference in the Hawai'i Bowl.