HONOLULU — If the Hawaii football team has any remaining designs on realizing its preseason goals, Saturday night would be a great time to make it known.
UH (2-5, 0-2 Mountain West) has lost three straight and, after a 42-10 defeat at Washington State last week, dropped to 0-5 against FBS opponents this season.
However, the Rainbow Warriors can still make a bowl game and are not mathematically out of the Mountain West title race with five straight conference games left, including a seemingly winnable homecoming contest at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
“Definitely not the position you want to be in, right? But it is what it is,” UH coach Timmy Chang said on Tuesday. “We’ve got to go out there and fight and make sure we’re ready to execute against a good Nevada team.”
UH opened on betting lines as an underdog, but the Warriors are 1.5-point favorites as of Friday night. That could have much to do with the uncertain status of Wolf Pack quarterback Brendon Lewis, and the anticipated return of top UH receiver Pofele Ashlock.
Ashlock, who missed the WSU game in the concussion protocol, reportedly practiced in recent days. He remains the Rainbow Warriors’ top threat and the favorite target of quarterback Brayden Schager in the run-and-shoot offense with 43 catches for 470 yards and four touchdowns.
Of any opponent for Chang, a former Wolf Pack receivers and tight ends coach, matchups with his former program have been the most conducive to success in his three years leading his alma mater. Chang’s Rainbow Warriors topped Ken Wilson’s Wolf Pack home and away the last two years; the latter game remains the only road win of Chang’s tenure.
In December, Nevada replaced Wilson with Jeff Choate, the former co-defensive coordinator at Texas who had head-coaching experience at FCS contender Montana State.
Choate was on the defensive staff at Washington in the mid-2010s and coached All-American linebacker Hau‘oli Kikaha, a Kahuku High product and the national sacks leader in 2014.
In his rebuilding job in Reno, Choate has employed a number of undersized players.
“This week, I promise you, if you walk through Hawaii’s guys and walk through our guys, you’re going to pick theirs,” Choate said on his weekly radio show. “But don’t count us out, because our will is going to be more important than our skill. That’s what we’re trying to get accomplished over time.
“Effort’s the price of admission in our program.”
The Wolf Pack have embodied his grit with a run-heavy, clock-control ethos. UNR averages just shy of 200 rushing yards per game compared to 180 through the air. Its top back is Savion Red, who averages 81.1 rushing yards per game and has a team-high eight touchdowns. Lewis has been Nevada’s second-most productive rusher at nearly 70 per contest and five scores.
Four of Nevada’s five losses have come by five points or fewer.
“I expect Coach has a philosophy there, where they play defense, they run the ball and they play good special teams,” Chang said. “In doing so … you have a chance to be in the game at the end, and so that’s why a lot of their games are as close as they are, probably. It’s a formula for success.”
The Pack beat Oregon State 42-37 in Reno on Oct. 12, but lost 24-21 to Fresno State at Mackay Stadium last week, in which Lewis took a hit to the head.
Lewis’ status is unclear. Backup Chubba Purdy stepped in against FSU. Maui native and Saint Louis School graduate A.J. Bianco, a third-year sophomore who has starting experience, is also preparing in case his name is called.
UH has two former Nevada players in defensive lineman Dion Washington and receiver Spencer Curtis who followed Chang over from Reno.
Washington said he still exchanges text messages with his best friend from childhood, lineman Tanner Vaughan, a Wolf Pack redshirt junior defensive lineman.
“I would definitely say that this O-line that we’re going against is more together than what they were, what they have been,” said Washington, who leads UH with six tackles for loss. “A lot of the guys that didn’t get as much time last year have made some improvements.”
In something approximating a frustrating version of gridiron Whac-A-Mole, UH minimized its penalties, a frequent problem, at WSU last week but could not convert on third down in eight attempts, and lost the turnover battle 3-0 and points off turnovers 21-0.
"You can’t make mistakes in college football to win games, and right now we’re making too many," Chang said. "Whether it’s penalties and third down and other things, we have to be better at executing, being fundamentally sound and doing our jobs."
Curtis, a graduate student who has played at four different schools, has nine catches for 80 yards as a Rainbow Warrior.
“It’s hard to get out of a rut, but once you get out of it, you can get rolling, get going and ride it out to the end of the season,” Curtis said.
With turf resurfacing work set to commence at Les Murakami Stadium, UH is shifting its football pregame activities to upper campus. Its first “Pa‘ina on the Path” with food and drink vendors will take place between on UH’s Legacy Path between Dole Street and Campus Center.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.