It is not so much the universities of Houston and Hawai'i share the same acronym — and wide-open offense and attacking defense — but they are the same team, at different points in time.

The 2003 Houston team, under a first-year head coach with ya-gotta-believe charisma, is a genetic match of the Hawai'i team of 1999.

Back then, in June Jones' first year as Hawai'i head coach, the Warriors played in a postseason bowl for the first time in seven years.

This year's Cougars also have finally scratched their seven-year itch of postseason absences. They have relied on cohesiveness and the visionary leadership of coach Art Briles.

"It's all about the coaching staff and making the players believe and wanting to play for (Briles)," wide receiver Brandon Middleton said. "This group (of players) is probably the closest unit, as far as friends. We got away from cliques and things like that. I think this team is a lot closer and we play a lot harder for each other."

Warrior linebacker Keani Alapa, a freshman in 1999, said, "we can see how much pride they have in what they did this year and how they feel about their coach. We feel the same way about Coach Jones and what he did for us."

For the Cougars (7-5), there was no easy access to the postseason. They had to win two of their final three games to become bowl eligible, then needed the wheeling-and-dealing of conference and bowl leaders to end up in what Middleton calls "Paradise Island."

Along the way, the Cougars have had to fight for space on the cover of the sports pages that are dominated by the Houston Astros, Houston Texans and Yao Ming. "If we get coverage, we've earned it," Briles said. "There are a lot of things put out there on the front page. If we get there, it means we've done something right."

Now the Cougars are learning from last year's Warriors, that qualifying for a bowl is part of the reward.

"We know why we're out here," Houston linebacker Lance Everson said. "We came out here for a purpose. Hawai'i is a beautiful place. I mean, we love to be here in Hawai'i and enjoy Hawai'i. But there's a time for fun and there's a time for business. Come Christmas Day, it's all about business. This week, starting from Monday, it's all been about business. We came here to take care of business."

The Warriors had that wide-eyed enthusiasm in 1999 — when they beat Oregon State, 23-17, in the O'ahu Bowl — but were admittedly not at their best in last year's Hawai'i Bowl against Tulane. They squandered a 14-0 lead after quarterback Tim Chang departed with hand and knee injuries, and lost, 36-28.

"We're a little more focused this year," said wideout Jeremiah Cockheran, the captain of the Warriors' offense. "We don't want what happened last year to happen this year."

Safety Hyrum Peters added: "We understand and we know and realize from last year how we didn't show up to play. Everybody knows that. To me, I felt kind of bad, especially for the seniors. (Last year) I totally looked at myself and thought, 'that better not happen to me next year.' "

This year, Jones decided not to split up the 10 allotted bowl practices. The Warriors had two-hour practices for nine consecutive days before tapering to 90 minutes yesterday. Between bowl activities, the team spent hours studying videotapes of the Cougars. Offensive lineman Brandon Eaton said he even studied the Cougars' offense.

"We know what it takes," Warrior cornerback Abraham Elimimian said. "In a bowl game, you tend to relax more. We understand if you relax more, you'll get your butt worked. Part of (the problem) last year was losing Tim Chang. We were up 14-0 and as soon as he went away, we got destroyed. This year, I mean, our offense should do good against those guys, and our defense will hopefully hold up."

Not surprisingly, the Cougars have a similar goal. Averaging 33.3 points per game, they're more concerned about slowing the Warriors rather than scoring against them.

"You know you're in every game because your offense has a chance to score," Houston defensive coordinator Ron Harris said. "Our job (on defense) is to somehow — somehow — limit Hawai'i's scoring opportunities, which is tough because they're as good as anybody in America at what they do. It should be interesting."