The WAC schedule not being set yet is making it harder for UH to keep costs down for the conference road trips

HSA Note: "Eleventh-hour dithering by breakaway schools Fresno State and Nevada has been blamed for sending the 2011 schedule "back to ground zero," commissioner Karl Benson told members in a frank e-mail recently. At a time when most major conferences have already announced their schedules and TV lineups, Benson added it will be later this month before a WAC schedule or TV lineup is finalized."


About how the delay in finalizing their schedule makes it harder for UH to book their road trips at a cheaper price, JD said:
"For us, the biggest concern is that we don't know when we are playing on the road, so we haven't had the opportunity to go ahead and grab the air (arrangements). Seemingly, every week now airfare prices have been going up and so the sooner we know, the easier it is for us to make arrangements before prices get worse." (HSA)


HSA Note: "Nevada threw the first late monkey wrench into the schedule when it changed its mind about playing previously booked nonconference games on the road in succession against Oregon (Sept. 10), Texas Tech (Sept. 24) and Boise State (Oct. 1) — and sought to drop one of them. Then, "24 hours before, when we were going to announce the WAC schedule," the conference learned about Fresno State's Dec. 3 game at San Diego State, Benson said."


About how WAC schools had been asked to leave the Dec. 3 date open for a conference game, so Fresno State scheduling San Diego State on that day upset the WAC, Karl Benson wrote in a e-mail to Fresno State's AD:
"For you (Fresno State) to do this without our knowledge and now cause (associate commissioner Jeff Hurd) to start over making the schedule is neither fair nor equitable to the other seven WAC members. Jeff will do his best to establish a fair and balanced schedule for all eight WAC football teams, but you have just made his job much more difficult." (HSA)


About how they would like to avoid having back-to-back road games again, JD said:
"I certainly don't feel like, if it happens, that it is something that it is, quote, something being done to us, unquote, because we're leaving the WAC. (Rather) it is just the nature of trying hard to get everybody in." (HSA)


About how UH fans have been trying to arrange their schedule to be able to attend road games, but he can't tell them anything about the conference schedule, JD said:
"I get e-mails all the time from people who want to (attend) away games, and we don't know what it is yet." (HSA)


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