By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Amid the grim disappointment over a fourth-quarter loss to the University of Hawai'i last October, Fresno State coach Pat Hill observed from the darkness of the Aloha Stadium tunnel, "Only over here are they (UH-FSU games) close. It is never close at our place."

He was brutally right, of course. In four Western Athletic Conference bouts at Bulldog Stadium, the Warriors have lost by an average of 25 points a game, never having come closer than two touchdowns.

But that could be about to change. Suddenly, the Warriors' best opportunity to rewrite that bitter chapter of history stares them in the face mask Friday.

For one thing, the 5-2 (4-1 WAC) team UH puts before the ESPN2 cameras will be the most explosive one it has ever taken to Fresno. For another, these are not the 4-4 (2-1 WAC) Bulldogs they expected to find waiting for them. Trent Dilfer, Billy Volek, David Carr, etc. are long gone.

While quarterback Tim Chang, the ever-expanding list of receiving threats and the UH offense have shown signs of coming into their own, the Bulldogs are struggling in ways and in numbers not foreseen when the year began.

While the Warriors are as confident as they have been all season thanks to routs of woeful Tulsa and Nevada that have taken the edge off their own thumping at Boise State, the Bulldogs are scrambling for answers after Friday's head-spinning 67-21 loss on the blue turf.

Their respective lickings at Boise State have made this an elimination game of sorts for both UH and FSU. The winner gets to hold on to long-shot hopes of getting back in the WAC title race in the rare event the Broncos stumble. The loser, with two defeats, is further exposed and all but cashed out.

That the Bulldogs would miss a beat after losing Carr, the No. 1 pick, and three other NFL draft choices against a tough schedule was expected. That UH would now find them with Carr's painstakingly nurtured air apparent, Jeff Grady (hip injuries), on the bench, and without the conference's biggest game-breaker, receiver-return specialist Bernard Berrian (redshirting because of knee ligament damage), their top running back, Derrick Ward (academic casualty), and a handful of other projected starters were not expected.

While the Warriors have had their own injury setbacks, they at least are still with the marquee skill players — Chang, Justin Colbert, Thero Mitchell, etc. — they planned on having.

What was supposed to be a largely veteran Bulldog team has gradually tilted toward youth with 20 freshmen and 12 sophomores, including redshirt freshman starting quarterback Paul Pinegar, among the top 54 players.

The combination of inexperience and the annual ambitious schedule has meant the two most lopsided losses in Hill's six seasons, 59-19 at Oregon State and the Boise State debacle, and no small amount of desperation.

As usual, UH figures to arrive in Fresno as an underdog on the betting line. What is different this time, however, is that the Warriors actually have an opportunity to end a trend of double-digit losses before they leave.