After a year when the Pacific-10 was unable to provide an eligible team, the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl has signed an agreement to bring Conference USA back into the mix for this year's game.

The loser of the C-USA championship game or another selection will be invited to take on a Western Athletic Conference team in the Dec. 24 game at Aloha Stadium. Hawai'i automatically secures a berth if it is bowl eligible.

"Conference USA was one of the original partners of this game, and we're pleased to have them return in 2009," said Pete Derzis, senior vice president & general manager of ESPN Regional Television, which operates the game.

Conference USA's last appearance in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl was in 2007 when East Carolina pulled out a 41-38 win over the WAC's Boise State.

The seventh bowl-eligible school from the Pac-10 was to participate this year, but because the conference only had five bowl-eligible teams last year all parties agreed to void the Pac-10 selection for 2009.

Notre Dame beat the Warriors, 49-21, in last year's Hawai'i Bowl.

Hawai'i athletic director Jim Donovan said in the long run it would be better for the Warriors to be matched up against a high-placed C-USA team than an at-large team.

"We have had a great relationship and some exciting bowl games with Conference USA teams," Donovan said. "The possibility of not having an eligible Pac-10 team was very real."

In 2008, six teams from C-USA played in bowl games: Tulsa, Rice, East Carolina, Houston, Southern Miss and Memphis. Other C-USA teams are Marshall, SMU, Tulane, UAB, UCF and UTEP.

The inaugural Hawai'i Bowl was played in 2002, when Tulane defeated Hawai'i, 36-28.

Other C-USA teams who have played in the Hawai'i Bowl are Houston (2003), UAB (2004) and UCF (2005).