By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

HOUSTON — One by one the scores have been settled and paybacks meted out with a workman-like devotion bound to impress even the Sopranos.

First there was the victory at Texas-El Paso, where the University of Hawai'i football team hadn't won since the gloried Holiday Bowl season of 1992.

Then, the stirring fourth-quarter drive to win at Fresno State, where the Warriors hadn't been victorious since 1973.

Now, Rice, the only Western Athletic Conference team the Warriors hadn't beaten, was finally added to the list after three gnawing losses.

And, after the final seconds counted down on the Rice Stadium clock to a 33-28 victory Saturday, a celebratory roar could be heard from behind the closed doors of the Warriors' locker room.

"Another payback," quarterback Tim Chang acknowledged, savoring this latest one in a season of debts squared.

On the way to an 8-2 overall record and their best WAC finish in 24 years of membership at 7-1, the Warriors have shown a number of remarkable abilities.

The talent to score in a hurry and the knack to come up with a big play on defense chief among them. But perhaps none of their abilities has been more consistently applied or more noteworthy in its regularity than their skill at focusing on one opponent and one task at a time.

Gosh knows it couldn't have been easy, with the school-record 13-game schedule before them and the excitement surrounding them. Getting up for Nevada after the debacle at Boise State or San Jose State, sandwiched between Fresno and Rice, required major effort, especially working through injuries.

But hardly ever, whether it be rebounding from the disappointment that was the game that got away at Brigham Young or the resounding triumph of their milestone comeback at Bulldog Stadium, have the Warriors gotten too far ahead of themselves or caused themselves to stumble through the job at hand while mulling the past.

Because they haven't, they find themselves at a juncture reached by few Warrior teams before them. A season of double-figure victories is within the realm of possibility for these Warriors with four games, including the Christmas Day ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl, still awaiting.

But first comes another test of concentration and focus: Cincinnati. The Bearcats (5-5), a team UH hasn't played since before head coach June Jones was born, is the mystery guest on this year's schedule.

That they come the week before Alabama, the only opponent to be nationally ranked the week of playing UH, and needing wins to become bowl eligible themselves makes them all the more dangerous.

If there is a "trap-door team" looming on the schedule, Cincinnati is it. If there is a week to be especially wary, this would seem to be it.

After all they have done to get this far, it would be a shame if the Warriors overlooked this one.