Hawaii is taking flak for a schedule that includes two Football Championship Subdivision teams, formerly known as Division I-AA. Hawaii’s first nine opponents have a combined .259 winning percentage.

“You’ve got to understand that this team has played the worst schedule in the 10-year history of the BCS, by a lot,” said BCS analyst Jerry Palm, who runs the collegebcs.com Web site from Indiana. “I look at this team and I think, they’re no better than seventh or eighth in the Big Ten.”

WAC commissioner Karl Benson takes issue with that. He said the schedule isn’t Hawaii’s fault; the Warriors lost a date with Michigan State and ended up filling it with a second lower-division opponent.

“They offered to play games on the mainland,” he said. “They offered to play at Michigan, at Indiana. They were willing to go on the road to fill a game.”

Tell that to the computers.

Palm said the Warriors can expect a bump in the computers if they beat 5-4 Nevada (that’s their record, not their height) and 9-1 Boise State. But the computers may hold their noses when Hawaii meets 3-7 Washington, its lone BCS-level opponent.

If Hawaii wins out, Palm gives the Warriors “better than a 50-50 shot” of finishing in the BCS Top 12, which would mean a guaranteed BCS berth, probably in the Sugar Bowl, for Colt Brennan and Co.

Oregon’s chances of reaching the title game may be better than 50-50. Or they may not. Nobody can say for sure.

All we know about the BCS is that we never know about the BCS.

MORE FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL

College football Section Front

Get ready for mass exodus Trash Talk: SEC not all it’s cracked up to be Predictions 101: Ohio State to roll, N.D. to win squeaker Opinion: 10 bowl matchups that would be a treat Bowl Projections: Big Ten blows BCS spot   CFT: ‘Worst of the Weak’ — Michigan back at No. 1 CFT: ‘By the numbers’ — McCoy goes for record From Big 12 snub to possible BCS for TCU Idaho AD refuses to board Boise St.-themed plane SEC's season one of contenders and complaints College football Section Front   Add College football headlines to your news reader: