The NCAA announced plans to add a one-time replacement bowl game for this year's bowl season, according to The Action Network's Brett McMurphy.
After the Division I Football Oversight Committee approved a request to waive the April 1 bowl game certification application on Thursday afternoon, this year's bowl season will now include 42 games and allow for all 84 bowl-eligible teams to participate.
At the start of the season and prior to the Committee's vote, the bowl system consisted of 41 games with 82 teams to fill all necessary spots.
Among the teams that are now eligible for a bowl game after the approved change is Hawaiʻi (6-7) because the Warriors played in 13 regular season games and finished with six wins.
Per the NCAA, teams that reach six wins are bowl eligible. However, before the committee's vote, Hawaiʻi was not being considered for a bowl game.
The Rainbow Warriors will now play in the Hawaii Bowl against Memphis, according to McMurphy. The date and time for the game has not been determined but is reportedly expected to be televised on an ESPN network.
The San Francisco Bowl—one that is normally features the Pac-12 and the Big Ten—told the NCAA that it would not hold a bowl game in September. That move prompted several conferences—Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference and the Mountain West Conference—to push the committee to make adjustments to the bowl system, per ESPN's Heather Dinich.
The two spots that were previously utilized from the San Francisco Bowl are now being used for the one-time bowl.
