Back on the mainland for the third time this season, the Hawaii Warriors shoot for their first win away from home in 2008 as they challenge the 22nd-ranked Fresno State Bulldogs in Western Athletic Conference action this Saturday night.

In the two previous trips away from the islands, the Warriors were roughed up by both Florida and Oregon State, outscored by a combined 101-17. More recently, Hawaii opened its WAC slate against San Jose State and former head coach Dick Tomey last Saturday and was topped in a 20-17 decision. The lone win for the Warriors this year came against Weber State at Aloha Stadium back on September 6th by a score of 36-17.

As for the Bulldogs, they've again carried out the notion of playing anyone, anywhere, anytime with three of their first four games coming against members of BCS conferences. If not for a 13-10 loss to Wisconsin at home back on September 13th, the Bulldogs would have an unblemished record at this point. Last week, Fresno remained in the Golden State and paid a visit to UCLA, a venture that provided the visitors with a 36-31 triumph. With the victory, the Bulldogs became the first non-BCS squad to defeat UCLA in the Rose Bowl in the last quarter century.

The last time the Warriors dropped in on Fresno the visitors produced a lopsided 68-37 win two seasons ago. Last year Hawaii, ranked 12th at the time, came up with a 37-30 victory at home, which drew the team within a game of tying the all-time series which currently favors FSU at 20-19-1. The Warriors have had their problems over the years against nationally-ranked opponents, sporting an 8-29 record in such games, with an 0-10 record on the road against those opponents.

The defending WAC champions looked like anything but in their meeting against San Jose State last weekend as former head coach Dick Tomey came back to haunt his old squad. Running back Kealoha Pilares had touchdown runs of 34 and one yards in a span of less than 11 minutes in the first half, but even his efforts failed to get the home team back on top. Quarterbacks Inoke Funaki and Tyler Graunke combined to hit 21-of-36 passes for 225 yards, but the pair also threw four interceptions and fell victim to six sacks. As has been the case for quite a few years now, the Warriors have had a difficult time putting together a running game that is a threat to opponents. At this point in the season the team is ranked second-to-last in the conference and 107th in the nation with an average of only 95.3 ypg.

Compared to the Colt Brennan-era and before that Timmy Chang, this passing offense is just a shell of its old self with a mere 216.3 ypg, 58th in the country. Overall, the offense has had serious issues trying to put points on the board, averaging a mere 17.5 ppg to rank last in the wild, wild WAC and 107th in the country this week. The depth chart for this week shows Graunke as the starting signal-caller, which means head coach Greg McMackin is hoping the senior's experience will pay dividends this time around.

Except for surrendering a 77-yard touchdown pass early in the first half, the Hawaii defense actually played rather well against the Spartans. In fact, the Warriors ended up stopping SJSU on two crucial drives in the fourth quarter, forcing the visitors to attempt lengthy field goals of 50 and 47 yards, which ended up giving the Spartans the win. Adam Leonard led the way with a game- high nine tackles, two of which came behind the line of scrimmage. On the watch list for the Lombardi Award this season, Leonard was a First Team All- WAC selection a season ago when he finished second on the team with 105 tackles, but that was during a time when the focus was solely on the offense and the defense was able to sneak up on opponents.

This year, Leonard is tied for fourth on the team with his 21 stops through four starts, while Solomon Elimimian tops the tackles list with his 25 stops. What this unit lacks right now is impact plays because they've yet to post a fumble recovery and have just two interceptions, which makes it easy to see why the team ranks last in the nation in turnover margin with -3.75 miscues per outing.

Although it was nothing fancy, Tom Brandstater again was clutch for the Bulldogs as he converted 21-of-30 pass attempts for 236 yards and three touchdowns, with just a single interception against UCLA last weekend. Just as impressive was the efforts of Ryan Mathews as the running back generated 166 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries and added a 25-yard scoring reception as well. Not only is Mathews first in the WAC with his 117.5 ypg on the ground, he's moved into the nation's top-10 in that department as well. As for Brandstater, he's done well to move the team up and down the field without many issues. He's already thrown for eight touchdowns and has just two interceptions in 109 pass attempts. Bear Pascoe and Seyi Ajirotutu have been the primary targets down the field for the signal-caller, combining for 31 of the team's 69 receptions.

"We've had our troubles with Hawaii," head coach Pat Hill noted in his weekly press conference. "Defensively, they are one heck of a football team. I think this football team defensively is as good as I've seen at Hawaii."

Holding the Bruins to 384 yards of total offense was no real feat by the Fresno State defense, but allowing the home team to convert just 2-of-9 on third down certainly was notable. Perhaps most impressive was the fact that, in combination with the offense, the Bulldogs permitted the Bruins to control the ball for a total of just 8:01 in the second half. Tied for third on the team with his six tackles, Moses Harris was credited with the only sack for the Bulldogs and one of only two TFLs. By no means is this Fresno State defense close to what coach Hill expects of the unit, but to this point it has performed well enough to get the team into the polls nonetheless. Certainly the narrow 55-54 double-overtime win against Toledo at home a few weeks ago has skewed the numbers a bit, but there's still no reason for FSU to be ranked eighth in the conference in both sacks (.75 per game) and TFLs (4.25), which has the group rated 113th and 105th in the nation, respectively.

"Defensively, we're going to have to play and be ready for anything," coach Hill admits. "I think Hawaii is a very dangerous team right now, they've got good athletes on that side of the ball and they're going to do everything they can to come over here and get themselves going again."

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