FACTS & STATS: Site: Aloha Stadium (50,000) -- Honolulu, Hawaii. Television: Local. Home Record: Idaho 2-4, Hawaii 3-1. Away Record: Idaho 0-5, Hawaii 2-4. Neutral Record: Idaho 0-0, Hawaii 0-0. Conference Record: Idaho 1-6, Hawaii 4-3. Series Record: Hawaii leads, 7-1.

GAME NOTES: The defending Western Athletic Conference champion Hawaii Warriors play the first of three straight home games to close out the 2008 regular season this weekend with a meeting against the Idaho Vandals at Aloha Stadium. Hawaii, which still has the potential to earn bowl eligibility, has won two of its last three outings and four of its last six after taking care of New Mexico State in Las Cruces back on November 8th by a score of 42-30. As for the Vandals, their season will draw to a merciful end this weekend as they hit the road for the first time since the middle of October when they dropped in on Louisiana Tech. Since that journey, Idaho has beaten New Mexico State for its second victory of the season, but then bowed to both San Jose State (30-24) and Boise State (45-10) at the Kibbie Dome. Idaho has dropped seven of the previous eight meetings in the series with Hawaii, with the only victory for the mainland dwellers taking place in 1960. Last year, the Warriors posted a 48-20 win on their way to the WAC title.

A sellout crowd of 17,000 at the Kibbie Dome looked on as their beloved Vandals got whipped by Boise State last weekend by five touchdowns. It appeared as though Idaho might be up to the task of taking on a nationally- ranked and undefeated in-state rival, thanks to an 81-yard touchdown pass by Nathan Enderle just 24 seconds into the event, but from there it was all downhill. Enderle finished with just 225 yards passing even with the long TD strike, was intercepted twice and sacked four times, bringing the team's rushing total down to just 104 yards on 37 attempts. After losing to Arizona by 70 points in the opener it has been a battle for the Vandals just to gain some respectability. The squad has had a hard time keeping Enderle upright in 2008, allowing more than two and a half sacks per game to rank 106th in the nation. Because the offense continues to be stuffed the group is averaging a mere 19.8 ppg, which has them eighth in the conference and 102nd in the country this week.

Take away the defensive touchdown scored by the Broncos and the special teams TD logged on a punt return and the defense for the Vandals still couldn't stop BSU. Quarterback Kellen Moore was allowed to complete 23-of-31 for 210 yards and while he didn't post a touchdown he did get plenty of hope from a rushing attack that abused the Vandals for 315 yards and four touchdowns on 38 attempts. Justin Allen led the home team with nine tackles and Paul Senescall tallied a fumble recovery, but that was it for the good news. As bad as the offense has been for the Vandals this season, the defense has been even more woeful, giving up an obscene 42.2 ppg to rank ninth in the WAC and 117th in the nation. Only once has the program held a team to less than 27 points and just three times has an opponent come up with less than 42 points in 2008. The pass defense has been picked on for 260.3 ypg and with minus-1.00 turnovers per contest (tied for 110th), the group has given the offense little chance of competing on a regular basis.

After so many years of having a dominant passing attack that could score at will, the Warriors are finding life post-Colt to be a long and lonely one at best. The squad has seen four different signal-callers stand under center at one point or another and combined they've thrown for just 14 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. The coaching staff thought they had the right man in Inoke Funaki, someone that could run with the ball if need be, but his accuracy was far from perfect. Funaki has tossed a dozen picks already, compared to just six TDs, prompting the Warriors to switch gears and go with Greg Alexander. By completing 66 percent of his passes and limiting his mistakes (two INTs) it looks like Alexander has cemented himself in the lineup. Not only is the passer different this season, the outlets down the field have changed quite a bit as well with Michael Washington one of the hold overs, now leading the program with 41 catches, leading to 474 yards and four TDs. The running game has come up with 12 touchdowns, but without much experience there's no one Hawaii can really count on as a go-to guy.

There are a few constants on the defensive side of the ball that the Warriors have been able to count on week in and week out, but for the most part it is a group that never was tested previously because of how little the team had to worry about stopping opponents. When Brennan was around the goal for the defense was little more than to stop opponents every once in a while because the offense could put up points at an alarming rate, but this season is quite different. Solomon Elimimian has started all 10 games for the program and has used his time to come up with a team-leading 78 tackles, while David Veikune follows behind with his 56 stops. Between the pair there are 18 tackles for loss and eight sacks, while no one else on the roster has more than 1.5 sacks to date. And yet, somehow Hawaii is not at the bottom of the list in sacks in the WAC, ranking fifth in the conference and 48th in the nation this week with two per game.

Traveling out to the South Pacific is always a difficult venture and for a team like Idaho which has failed to win a single road game this season, this isn't the time for that to change.