Last season the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl hit megabucks with Notre Dame.

This year the bowl is — cross-its-fingers — hoping for a jackpot with Southern Methodist against the host Hawai'i Warriors.

But after that, what?

The Pac-10's bowl lineup for the 2010 season — and beyond — is up for renegotiation and, unfortunately, several signs point to the possibility of the Hawai'i Bowl not being part of it.

The Pac-10 said it is not negotiating with the Hawai'i Bowl and the expectation is the game will re-exchange vows with its original partner, Conference USA, for the foreseeable future.

The Hawai'i Bowl-Pac-10 tie was great while it lasted, which, sadly, was just four quarters. Despite three years of agreements, the Pac-10 is destined to find itself here just once, 2006, in the game's first eight years. But what a game it was, a UH 38-point second half in a 41-34 victory over Arizona State.

The Hawai'i Bowl was to have had the sixth choice of Pac-10 teams last year, but the conference only produced five that were bowl eligible. Executive director David A. K. Matlin made that a resounding plus, securing Notre Dame instead.

But this year, with the Hawai'i Bowl scheduled to get the No. 7 pick and major doubts about whether the Pac-10 can come through, the two parties agreed to part ways.

With no Notre Dame on the horizon, the Hawai'i Bowl has opted for a one-year deal with C-USA. It is hoping, if not praying, June Jones can deliver SMU. Jones, who inherited a UH team that went 0-12 in 1998 and produced an NCAA-record turnaround to 9-4 in 1999, is being asked to do the same with the Mustangs, who were 1-11 in his debut season.

This time the magic number is six: the number of victories that will get SMU bowl eligible and deliver it to a game that has the second or "mutually agreed upon" pick of C-USA teams. At this point that looks to be the best of imaginable scenarios, since, say, Southern Mississippi and most of the other C-USA teams would spark much less interest.

Ideally, the Pac-10 offers the most to the Hawai'i Bowl: better brand, better teams, more compelling matchups. But with the bowl's limited pockets, the Pac-10 is apparently wary of the expenses.

Meanwhile, since the Pac-10 is one of the few to retain a round-robin (every member playing each other) conference schedule, it means one fewer non-conference game and a tougher road to bowl eligibility (6.8 teams per year on average). Last year two teams missed eligibility by one game, reminding the Hawai'i Bowl how risky it can be counting on sixth and seventh picks.

For two parties that seemed to have had much to recommend a relationship, it would be disappointing to not see one take hold.