With the extension of its football scheduling with Washington announced yesterday, the University of Hawai'i says it is making a priority of trying to schedule Pac-10 opponents for future games.

By adding the Huskies for 2013 (at Aloha Stadium) and 2015 (at Husky Stadium), UH will play at least one Pac-10 team in five of the next six seasons.

"We'll play any Pac-10 team that will play us on a home-and-home basis," athletic director Jim Donovan said yesterday.

Donovan said he and associate athletic director Carl Clapp have contacted every Pac-10 team about future games. "Only UCLA and Arizona said, flat out, they weren't interested," Donovan said. "Stanford and California haven't ruled it out, but nothing is imminent."

He said the others had varying degrees of interest and mutual availability. "We're (currently) talking to some schools," said Donovan, who declined to be specific.

It is believed one of the most promising is Oregon State. An OSU spokesman said, "I'm pretty sure there has been communication. If it was up to (OSU coach) Mike Riley, we'd play UH every year, alternating sites."

Donovan said "we're mostly interested in teams West of the Mississippi but have a strong affinity for the Pac-10. I consider it to be a premier Bowl Championship Series conference. Plus it is a good fit geographically and there are (large numbers) of Pac-10 alumni that live in Hawai'i."

HOPING FOR 40,000

UH is hoping brisk walk-up sales will give it a crowd approaching 40,000 for Saturday's game with Fresno State.

As of late Monday sales stood at approximately 32,800, school officials said.

Donovan said the sales are about 4,000 ahead of the pace for the Sept. 4 season opener against Central Arkansas, which drew 33,298. That is the only home game to date for UH, which returns to Aloha Stadium after a 36-day absence.

"That puts us in the ballpark, plus or minus, of about 39,000 and, hopefully, we could hit 40,000 depending upon the weather," Donovan said. "Otherwise, we could be in the mid-30s."

Donovan said the projections are "a reality for the record (2-2) we have and how we played in our last game," a 27-6 loss at Louisiana Tech. "Also with Fresno's record (1-3). But our games with Fresno are always exciting and we expect another one."

Donovan said it is too soon to tell what impact, if any, the switch in game time to 5 p.m. might have. The game was originally scheduled to start at 6:05 p.m. but UH agreed to honor the Bulldogs' request for an earlier start so Fresno could fly out after the game, saving money on hotel costs.

All four of UH's home WAC games will have 5 p.m. kickoffs this season.